Kinver
An early start back to the mooring as we wanted to go home via the Forest of Dean to check on Heddi’s dad. Luckily almost all the locks were in our favour so we had packed up and left by two o’clock.
Mitton
A long and tiring day today. We called Gloucester lock and asked to be locked down at 8:00. Because of the current low-water restrictions we had to wait until 8:45 in case any other boats wanted to go as well. There were a few other boats about, but no-one had appeared by 8:40 so we went down on our own. There wasnt much flow on the river so we made good progress, about 4mph up to the parting, then around 5mph on the main river. A quick stop for a cooked breakfast at Lower Lode and then settle down to the long boring plod up to Worcester.
Commercial traffic on the river
From Diglis onward we shared all the locks with a Black Prince boats crewed by seven young men. All male crews on hire boats have sometimes caused problems with too much drinking and dangerous activities, but these were great, helpful and courteous, and we had a natter with them in each of the locks.
We had hoped to moor on the river at Stourport, but there was no space. No space in the basin either, and only one space above York St lock. That was right outside the noisy “Black Star Inn”. So we left it for the guys on the Black Prince boat and carried on round to Mitton, where we just about squeezed in before the old railway bridge.
Llanthony Quay
It was our latest granddaughter’s christening today. Nik & Paul, the proud parents, had planned a barbecue in our garden. They had spend a lot of time and effort planning it and tidying up the garden. Unfortunately it poured with rain all day. Very disappointing after the good weather we have been having. But they still went ahead with the barbecue, with everyone under a couple of huge gazebos. Despite the rain it all went very well with everyone enjoying themselves. I had expected that we would need to leave mid-party, but most people had to travel quite a distance so everyone had gone by 5:30.
Our other son in law Simon then drove us back to Parkend, where we picked up the boat and cruised on up to Gloucester and are moored for the night on the floating pontoons near Llanthony bridge. It is convenient for the city here, but the seagulls make an awful noise all through the night!
Parkend (boat), Home (us)
The second stage was done by first moving the car from Fretherne bridge to Sandfield bridge. We then chugged to just north of the Saul footbridge, moored up again and walked over to the marina chandlery to buy some fuel additive. Another short chug to just past Parkend bridge. Here we made the boat safe and then took a walk back to the car by way of a detour to Epney & Framilode. This was across the fileds to Epney, along the Severn Way to Framilode and then up the old towpath of the Strodwater canal back to Saul where the car was parked.
We then drove home to prepare for our granddaughter’s christening on Sunday.
Saul
A bright sunny morning so we had breakfast outside and then waited for Rachel, Steve & Emily. They spent the morning at the Wildlife & Wetlands Trust and then joined us about 12:30. We had a picnic lunch then set off for Sharpness. It was fairly windy, but warm & sunny. After winding we moored up for a while, watched the tides and had a cup of tea. Then back to Patch bridge to top up wit water and drop off our guests.
We wanted to get to the north side of Parkend bridge so that when we return on Sunday, even if we are later than 7 o’clock, we wont be stopped by the bridges as Rea & Sellars are high enough to get under without them opening. The car shuffle was done in two stages. First we cruised up to Saul and moored up midway between Sandfield bridge and Fretherne bridge. A walk back to Splatt bridge to pick up the car and park it by Fretherne bridge was the first stage.
Patch Bridge
The day started bright and sunny, so even though we had had a late night we got up about 8:00, had breakfast then headed up to the oil depot by Fretherne bridge to top up the diesel and get a new gas cylinder. Then down to Patch bridge.
We had arranged to meet Jim, Mo & Patrick for an evening meal. Previous experience led us to think, rightly as it turned out, that mooring space would be limited, so we wanted to arrive before noon.
There was just one available space so we moored up and spent a lazy afternoon reading & people watching.
J,M &P arrived at about 5:30 bearing pizzas and w e sat outside in the warm evening eating, chatting & drinking until they left at about 10 o’clock.
Swansea!
The day started off cold, grey and windy. Nikki, Izzie & Roxie arrived at about 10:30. We strted to take them for a short trip, but the weather wasn’t good, so we turned round. By lunchtime the sun was out and it was warm enough for another barbecue.
After lunch Izzie spent a while feeding the ducks, and then we all got into Nikki’s car and she took us home to pick up our car. The plan was to then drive to Swansea to see Rod Stewart in concert at the Liberty Stadium.
We had gone less that half a mile in Heddi’s Smart car when the was a loud bang. I thought that it was a stone flying up off the road, but when the steering wheel was turned hard there was a crunching noise. We took it to Kwik-fit where a very helpful guy jacked it up and found that a front spring had broken!
I didnt fancy driving 150 miles on the motorway with a broken spring. So we called Nikki and then drove to Patchway and borrowed her car. It was getting a bit late now, but we made it to Swansea in time and had a great evening at the concert with Rod.
It was just after 1 o’clock by the time we got back to the boat after swapping cars again at Nikki’s house.
