Double 0 Life

 We left Worcester behind again after a close shave with Real Estate. Too easy to get tempted back into the Rat Race. We travelled upstream on the River Severn into new territory, passing Beverley Lock and on to Holt, where the clever Lock keeper welcomed us with the phrase ….”We’ve been expecting you, Mr Bond!”.  Oh the British humour; what a delight! We experienced our very first disturbed night here, thanks to some quiet fishermen who started up a conversation about every 45 minutes, enough to keep breaking us out of our reverie. At 2am I took control and politely asked them to stop nattering. They said it was such a lovely night, they couldn’t give it up.  They all disbanded except for this gentleman who obviously had nowhere else to be that night! Our engine is now behaving ok, but we have discovered that on Rivers water tends to leak into the bilge, probably because we’re going faster. Andy has got used to being completely anal about engine checks daily.  We ha...

We have had a lovely time on the River Avon. In fact it was so beautiful, we got to Stratford and decided to go back down the way we came. We had a spell of very warm weather, which sounds great, but on a narrow boat you don’t want to get too hot, so we found ourselves searching for shade.  We found an idyllic spot in Pershore, not before having a few dramas such as leaving my jacket in the lock. I had hung it up because it was so warm, forgot about it, and when we arrived in Pershore realised that it was still by the lock. I walked for miles backtracking, and across the Pershore bridge into the countryside, only to find that there was no way of getting back to the lock other than by water Fortunately, we had met some other boaters and we saw them coming through the lock from the shore. We shouted over to them and they picked up the jacket. Saved the day! We headed to Evesham after a couple of lovely days in Pershore. Everyone was out on the water on their water toys. It was deligh...