Photo post #2

We arrived in Gloucester late yesterday arvo and managed to score good moorings on the full length jetty, as opposed to the short ones that suit the yoghurt pots but are not to easy for the long narrowboats ...

The leaflet said it was 1.5 hours from Tewkesbury (Lower Lode Lock) to Glastonbury. Not so for narrowboats - David and I realised last night that by far the majority of boats on the river are GRPs or yoghurt pots, so the timings apply to them, not to us. It took us over 3 hours, because we were following 2 very slow narrowboats. Even so I am sure we couldn't have done it in 1.5 hours.

Today we have Keith and Ann who used to live on nb Oakfield coming to us for lunch! Yippee! It will be lovely to see them. So I had better get this photo post done so I can start cooking! (Change of plan - cooking is done, so I can relax: ciabatta is in the grill area over the oven doubling in size, the pork stroganoff is almost done, ready for finishing off. I haven't yet made salad, but that is the work of just a few moments, given my rooftop allotment ...)

OK, so photos: Most of these were taken some days ago (over a week, to my shame and tardiness) when were moored at George Billington Lock before we got to Evesham, for heaven's sake! Lots has happened since then, so there will be more photo news later!

The lovely Dana bought me a pair of Skechers in Stratford upon Avon. I offered the box to Mick, but David declared he had a use for it. Keep looking for a plan so cunning you could pin a tail on it and call it a weasel!

A charging box - still lots of snakes in there and I am sure they will reproduce, as they do and have in his office at home ...

But look at that - no mess, no snakes, just a few tails ready to be plugged in! He is clever - such a boffin!

BBQ evening. Where is the third witch?

Oh, there she is!

Washing line up, clothes drying at George Billington Lock moorings

At George Billington Lock - a lovely peaceful mooring apart from our noise! John angle-grinding, me following up wiping away the dust, paint and metal then coating with rust preventer/remover. Amazing how much rust John uncovered and removed from what looked like happy, smiling, impenetrable paint! Dean, please note all the safety gear: goggles (no) ear muffs (no) face mask (no) protective gloves (no). Wrist brace (me - yes).

 

Sanding the grey undercoat which was over the rust preventer, ready for a coat of black gloss - early in the morning before it got too hot.

Candle Cottage in Harvington

with this freestanding old wall behind it

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John and I are being stalked by the paparazzi - he has been strangely absent this trip but appeared again that evening, on our way back from a well deserved dinner in Harvington after the day spent angle-grinding and rust preventing.

Those steps are all that remain of the 'ferry terminal' that was used to get people from the road at Offenham across the river to the George Billington lock and beyond to Harvington. It seems strange but there are no road bridges between the outskirts of Evesham and Stratford upon Avon!