Worcester

I seem to be moving around very slowly this year but I am happy with that. This week I have moved three times, covered thirteen locks and found three friendly and helpful CRT guys, two were staff and one volunteer. I met the first when starting down a flight of six locks to be informed that the bottom pound was empty as paddles had been left up. The pound was about a mile stretch so it was a good couple of hours before it had enough water for us to cruise on. A hire boat had been left high and dry as it left the bottom lock and was stuck fast until the level had risen enough to refloat it. The unexpected break gave me a chance to sort out the anchor and anchor rode ready for the river next week. Dunhampstead and Tibberton are good mooring spots and there are several pubs in the area. I went to The Bridge where I had a decent enough pie, chips and peas. My next mooring was opposite Perdiswell Sports Club and it was a good spot. It was a bit of a trek into the city centre but it was a sunny spot and the natives were very friendly, stopping to chat as they walked their dogs or fetched their papers. This is where I met the second CRT man who gave me lots of information about the local area and the morning that I started out he helped with the gates on a couple of locks. In Worcester I spent a morning mooching around the museum/gallery; visited the cathedral and walked along the river to look at boats going through the river locks. It all seemed quite familiar as Sonia and I had passed through when we did the Severn Way walk a decade and a bit ago! And so I met the third CRT chap who looks after Diglis Basin's shenanigans. He told me everything I think I need to know about going on the river and he tells me he will be on duty next week when I go through, so that is very reassuring. Today I drove over to Upton Blues Festival for the day; it was only ten miles and would seem rude not to go. What a beautiful day it was too. Just right for the festival which has grown since I first went there, which I think was six years ago.

Collisions, sunken boats and days out

I started out from Birmingham on Monday 29th June and was pootling along nicely until I met a Birmingham trip boat on a bend. It didn't seem to be making the turn so I hugged the bank. It hooted but still did not start to turn. I realised that it was not going to make a turn before hitting me, I threw Olivia into neutral and then into reverse but too late, the biggest smack I have ever had from a boat. Several of the trip passengers were lifted inches off their seats. Once he was rectified and passing me by, me with a puzzled expression on my face, he says, "Sorry Love, I couldn't do anything, the engine cut out." He then added "I've just scratched some of your paint". I carried on as there was really nowhere to pull in. When eventually I did stop I found a blooming great dent in the bow and when I went downstairs, everything that was not tied down was piled on the floor including my oil lamp which luckily had not broken, although I had to put up with the smell of paraffin for a few days. I know we have a few scrapes on the boats but this was ridiculous. The next day as I approached Alvechurch there was a sunken boat (a nice looking vessel, it was too) with just enough room for a boat to squeeze between it and the offside bank. At least that put my dent into perspective :-).

The next day I had friends, Heather and Jim, come over to help me down the Tardebigge flight. We did 30 locks in just about three hours on what seems to have been the hottest day of the year so far. Good fortune had it that there is a pub at the bottom of the flight which served us ice cold drinks. Very nice and they went down a treat while we watched Heather Watson win her game.

The next day I went to visit Avoncroft Museum which is well worth a day of anybody's time. It seems an amazing idea to rescue condemned buildings of historic interest and reconstruct them on the museum site. I don't think that I have mentioned that I have had an oil leak that I've been keeping my eye on for a few days. Anyway it seemed to be getting worse so I arranged to have someone look at it and, for a change, it was fixed straightaway and did not break the bank. However, I now have an oily bilge to clear up when I can get the motivation.

On Saturday, a beautiful day - although fairly breezy - I popped over to the Stratford River Festival as Luke was trading there. It was busy busy busy, which is good as Luke made enough to keep him happy. A very good fireworks display but disappointing that only three boats entered the illuminated boats parade.