Left at 09:10
arrived at 13:00.
Its a celebration day in
Gloucester , Independence Day, not the American one, celebrating Independent
Shops in the City, needless to say we’re on the move again. 9 10 off to the water point, its at the other
side of the lift bridge, then on to Sainsburys for provisions, before heading
from Saul Junction to suss out the Marina where we will be leaving the boat on
the 16th to go home. Its greyish and cool, but see how the weather
goes its supposed to be getting warmer.
Through the bridge and on to the water point, Derek decided to do the
toilet as well, Yuk, but need must.
The suns starting to come out and its getting hot in the cratch but the
flaps are shut because its so windy.
Moored on the pontoon is a massive Dutch Barge, called Stanton Rose,
London. I don’t know if its ever been to
London or if it lives here but its really beautiful to look at. Its cream with wooden framed windows and its
even got a carved wooden mast with a lovely bobble on top, I would love to have
a nosy round it. ?? We went on to
Sainsburys, it was great, we brought the trolley back to the boat and unpacked
it all set for another week or so. There
was an old tug moored, doubled up with NB Bancroft a modern NB, they had been
on the other side of the dock in Gloucester, so were obviously travelling in
tandem. The skipper of the tug took the
rope for Derek, he had his dungaree overalls, belted round with an old leather
belt,a neckerchief, trilby hat and a mass of wild grey hair and beard spilling
out from underneath it. His wife had a long skirt on (so Im not the only one)
her cardigan belted tightly round the middle, a pair of stout boots and a
little wooly hat, they really did match the boat. They sailed up the Canal in tanden with Bancroft
and waved as they left !! The weather
is still very windy and getting greyer as we approach the swing bridge, we were
holding back for the keeper to open it, I was a bit apprehensive for a few
minutes, the traffic light flashes red,
which means he is preparing the road barriers, then green and we are able to go
through. The next two bridges, no
traffic lights, we are able to go under them.
Along this canal there are small groups of NBs moored, I think they are
their homes, we pass Hazel Laprohig, who we saw ages ago, it seems so anyway,
we met them after skirting Birmingham and shared a few lock with them. We waved to Mrs Laproahig, and she told Derek
this was where they lived ?? Its very
winding along this canal with large hedges on either side so not a lot to see
yet. A flotilla of cruisers came by and
boy did we bump about on their wakes,
weeeee. A strange craft just sailed
slowly by, a flat metal base with posts and chains round it, outboard on back and
a young man with his sunhat and shorts on, oh and his bike? It certainly full
of surprises on the water. We went under another bridge, passing groups of
boats in little clusters along the way, it seems to be quite well used here and
we were now getting some nice views over the hills, its quite a sleepy canal. We saw a couple of white cottage style
properties with columns on to the front porch, making them look a little
grander than they probably are, one was for sale, so we may look it up on the
“Interweb” and find out a little more about them. Someone was building a new chalet/cabin, its
looking very smart and will look good when its finished. I had a couple of drives after I had made
lunch and taken it down the back to Derek, I let him take over at the swing bridges though. Approaching Saul Junction 2 sets of 2 Kayaks
fastened together with 4 kids in each set were coming towards us, they shouted
to ask how far it was to the last bridge, Derek told them and they rowed on, its really very very windy
on the back of Esme but they looked pretty fragile to me, weaving along the water,
the kids looked well equipped though and were quite unperturbed by the weather.
We moored at 1 just passed the entrance to the Marina, we were going to have a
look see ready for when we leave the boat on the 16th. Derek decided
he needed some pilling chains, as he didn’t like tieing the ropes to the
pilling hooks because it chaffes them.
We went to the Marina, but didn’t realise we had taken the long way
round over the little walking bridge we had just come through, it seemed like
miles, particularly as it was now getting quite warm. We finally got to the Marina office and it
was shut till 2, 30 minutes to wait. We
had a sit with the dogs, there were dog mooring posts and a water bowl for
them, then we moved out of the sun and sat round the other side in the shade
and even took a parcel for the office. I
did a bit of gardening, wrapped the clematis round the the rope fencing and the
guy came exactly on 2 0 clock and opened up.
It was a lovely office with a couple of settees in there and lots of
Chandlery stuff. We told the by now 2
men, what our intentions were and they took the relevant details and gave us
instructions as to what to do, we will come back on the 15th ready
for Matt on the 16th, leaving the boat till the 22nd.
Derek bought his pilling chains and ice creams and we set off back to the boat,
the short way this time over the road bridge, we got back to the boat and he
settled her in for the night, talking to a couple of narrowboaters that had
joined us on the moorings and sorting the tele out. It was by now very warm and there were lots
of comings and goings, there were boats, walkers and people driving here to sit
and watch the world go by, or go to the cafe just up the way next to the canal,
quite a busy little place all round.
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