Marooned in Evesham for the forseeable future...

Photo's from Thursday...

One of the Mill Houses along the way

Another Mill House

Doubling up to share the load - unusual diamond shape at Wyre Lock


A house on stilts to that it doesn't float away in future floods!

Another very swanky house on the Avon

A fabulous thatched roof

Coming into Evesham, lots of private moorings for cruisers - mostly with 'floating pontoons' in case the river level rises so the boats rise accordingly

Riverboat trips on the Avon

Hampton cable ferry, just outside of Evesham (it's manual!)

Some swan shots...

All swans are the property of the Queen of England and have a tag on them

Such elegant and graceful birds

And the cygnets are just the cutest things you can imagine!!

No ugly ducklings here

Thursday night in Evesham: The trees by the river with pretty green lights - our narrowboat is behind the one with lights on!!!

The Bell Tower in Evesham at night

Thursday evening out for a curry

Barry trying the hottest curry they had - still not quite hot enough!!!

Friday 22 May
We went for a walk to Evesham Lock to see the Lock-keeper to check out possible moorings. Lovely man and his wife living there, who are happy for us to moor up by the lock on a little island, close to the weir, for 3 pounds a night. If I want to leave the boat they will look after it, just costs another pound a night. Hurrah! I can think of much worse places to be stranded in!

We then looked at booking Barry’s flight back to NZ and were advised to go to a Travel Agent who specialised in Australia and New Zealand. We did give them a go, but their prices were so high we politely made excuses and left, and booked the flight on the internet from the boat for tomorrow afternoon. I'm surprised travel agents haven't gone out of business yet, it's so much cheaper and easier to book on-line!

We then took the boat up to Evesham Marina and filled up with water and pumped out you know what! I'm going to have to try not to empty one or fill the other over the next 2-3 weeks while Barry is away! We also managed to arrange for the boat’s bottom to be blacked, and its central heating system – a ‘Wobaster’ – to be serviced; as well as getting the safety certificate sorted. That should, with a bit of luck, all get done the week after next. The only challenge now is how on earth I'm going to drive the boat from its mooring, through the lock, then up the river to the Marina! I think I shall be calling on our new-found friend Bob who's said I can call him for anything while I’m here, to see if he has any ideas. The only certainty is that I shan't be travelling alone or the boat is likely to be permanently beached somewhere and I'll have had a stroke with the stress of it!!!

So we spent the day getting everything organised on the boat before Barry leaves me alone. That’ll teach me to say that I was never going to be alone on the boat previously!

We went into Evesham in the late evening for a drink, but the pubs were mostly full of youngsters, not like the quaint little country pubs that we love. But Evesham is a lovely little place.

Our initial mooring in Evesham, Thursday night

One of the riverside walks

Evesham town across the river


Sandra looking very serious on the computer, trying to get internet coverage - OMG! look at that lovely boat hair!!!

Saturday 23 May
Barry left on the train at 1027 to catch the 1615 flight to Los Angeles and then on to Auckland and Gisborne, arriving in Gisborne at 0845 Monday morning, 2145hrs Sunday evening UK time. Very sad to see him go, but it’s good that we have managed to organise it so that he can spend some quality time with his dad along with other members of his family.

The blog may be written from 2 Hemispheres for a couple of weeks, not sure how it will work! Obviously there won’t be any of Barry’s gorgeous photos, apart from the ones he took before he left that I have to try and get on. But there will still be notes from me, and the occasional photo!

It’s a strange feeling being on my own on the boat, I’ve spent the day walking around Evesham and then cleaning and tidying just to keep myself busy. The sun has been shining, a beautiful English summers day, typical isn’t it now that Barry has left the country!!!

"What a bugger!"

Tuesday 19 May
A very wet and windy day in Tewkesbury. Barry spent the morning pulling piping and taps off the basin in the bathroom and the shower outlet as there were a few leaks. He found a good hardware store in town for his bits and pieces, his handyman skills are all being put to good use, no slacking here!

We stayed moored up by the bridge until late afternoon when the sun came out, and rather than pay another £3 for a night’s stay, we travelled up to the Marina to fill up with diesel and water and then on to Eckington.

There aren’t many moorings along the rivers, very different to the canals, and at Eckington there was only room for 2 narrowboats. Luckily we were the only boat wanting a berth for the night, we’re not sure how boaters manage during high season? I felt quite isolated being the only narrowboat moored in a place that appeared to be in the middle of nowhere, but close by a frequently used by young people car park! But all was well, and we were still moored up Wednesday morning…

Leaving Tewksbury

The River goes underneath the M5 - frequently travelled on my way down South

Lovely bridge at Eckington

Dusk light on the river, beautiful

Our isolated mooring...

Wednesday 20 May
Not the best of days, we received a phone call from NZ with some bad news that may mean Barry has to return in the near future for a couple of weeks. We think our travel insurance will cover a trip back, so that’s good news, but heaven knows what we will do with the boat if it comes to that. We will be looking at seeing if a Marina can give us a mooring for a few weeks. There is NO WAY I am going to be travelling anywhere alone on a narrowboat.

The locks on the river are infinitely more scary than those on the canals we have experienced so far, they're huge and would fit at least 2 boats in them and the lock bridges are so heavy I find it really difficult to open them. And when the lock gates are opened the boat moves all over the place so has to be tied up fore and aft (I know what that means now!), though Barry did decide in one lock that he really didn't need to do that but could just hold the middle rope - not a good idea Barry, the poor little boat didn't like it all, go on, admit that you were wrong!!! Take me back to the canals soon…

Anyway, we had a walk into Eckington, another very pretty little village with lots of black and white thatched cottages. Some very large homes, I think it may be a rather priviledged place to live! We had a drink in the Anchor Inn where they had a pensioners special for lunch ₤3.75 – I must tell my parents as they are always looking for a bargain, especially my mum so she doesn’t have to cook bless her! The pub was filled with pensioners getting their money’s worth, and Barry had a pint of ‘Piddle Down Under’ – one of the many ‘Piddle’ Real Ales from Wyre Piddle! I tried one of the local ciders, very nice.

One of the many thatched cottages in Eckington

Another one...

Amazing work on the windows

We left up the River Avon early afternoon and cruised up to Pershore. The evening was spent sitting on the path by the river (is it still a towpath? I think not, but not sure what it’s called! A riverpath maybe?!) in the setting sun. It’s been a lovely day weather wise, which makes a change lately and I think is just one day out of many as the forecast is for rain once more tomorrow. We were anxious to know what was happening on the other side of the world...

Great Comberton Church

'Parson's Folly' at the top of Bredon Hill, built by an 18th century eccentric so that he could stand 1,000 ft above sea level!

Another amazing riverside home

Pershore Great Bridge (400 years old) and Pershore New Bridge

A ttree full of mistletoe - not birds nests!

A collection of shots of the local wildlife spotted along the riverbank...

We were not sure what the next few days would bring, our plans would be altered somewhat, but that's life…

Thursday 21 May
Not good news, Barry will be going back to NZ for a couple of weeks due to family illness so we have to find a mooring for me and the boat. Luckily I spoke with our travel insurance and they'll reimberse us for his trip - fingers crossed some red tape doesn't decide otherwise, but no matter, it's only money.

So we've travelled further than we were planning up the River Avon and arrived this evening in Evesham where we're hoping to get somewhere at the Marina here. At the same time we may be able to get the boat's bottom blacked so that we can use the static time usefully. We met some lovely people on a barge coming up the river who may know someone, who knows someone, who may be able to pull some strings…

More horrid huge locks, though we did share the work with other boats along the way so not as bad as just the two of us!

We're off out in to Evesham tonight, I just can’t be bothered to cook. Life is strange with its twists and turns isn’t it? Barry lives the whole of his life in one small city in NZ, apart from 6 months in UK in 1976, and 6 weeks after he finally leaves for a 6 month sojourn his world is turned upside down once more. As I said, one never knows what the next day will bring…

Tootling about in Tewkesbury

Monday 18 May
We stayed put in Tewksbury today and had a good look around. Another lovely town, full of very old black and white and mostly completely crooked buildings. My friend Sarah came to visit us and we had home baked rolls and soup (Heinz, not home made, I’m not quite that domesticated and I don’t have a blender!) for lunch.

The High Street

Tewkesbury Abbey

One of the weirs/floodgates in Tewkesbury - a huge flood in July 2007 almost wiped out the town!

Cool door knocker!

One of the many alleyways in Tewkesbury

Another of the many alleyways in Tewkesbury. There were 90 but now only about 30 remain.

Buildings in all sorts of shapes and designs

Dinky church

Our mooring in Tewkesbury

Tewkesbury lock, from the River Severn to the River Avon

The bridge at Tewkesbury - boats can only go under the right hand arch!

Some beautiful black and white buildings in Tewkesbury

How crooked is the old mill building?!

The weather remains very changeable; bright sunshine one minute and pouring with rain the next, and still that ear biting chill in the wind – when is the warm summer that Barry promised us all going to appear?! I may have to sue him for breach of contract if it doesn’t come soon!

We had a lovely meal and a few drinks this evening in The Black Bear, the oldest pub in Gloucester, built in 1308. Celebrated it's 700th birthday last year. Allegidly haunted!!

Ye Olde Black Bear Inn & one of the few photo's of us together with a little camera trickery!!!

We’ll amble up the Avon tomorrow, but won’t go too far as we have to stretch out the next 15 days to get our money’s worth out of the river license…