Shakespeare Country

Northern Pride at the Marina with a shiny new bottom!

Thursday evening
We said our farewells and gave thanks to the lock keeper Chris and his wife Joan – what a friendly and generous couple they are - how lucky was I to be marooned on their island? I'm very grateful.

Some more Evesham shots ...

Evesham (Workman's) bridge in the early morning light

Moored up by the bridge at Evesham

The other side of the river

Evesham Abbey

The riverside walk

Unusual boat Steering handle

'Castles and roses' - seen at the top of many narrowboats

Evesham Rowing Club

The 'Round' House - not sure why it's called that!

Leaving Evesham ...

We’ve driven up river today, it’s great to be on the move – but it was all against the flow which at times meant it felt almost as though we were travelling backwards! We met a nice couple in one of the locks, on narrowboat Crystal Haze, who've come up the Bristol Channel and through Sharpness and Gloucester – oh no! They told Barry we can get insurance for 10 pounds to go up there, and I had told him that our insurance wouldn’t cover us so thought that idea would be gone! Hopefully he isn’t going to change his mind now and say he wants to travel south, I’m pretty sure he won’t!

The Bridge Inn at Offenham - where Bob took me out to dinner while Barry was away

Barry tried once more to lose his camera – is it doomed I wonder? He put it down on the side of the lock and then forgot all about it until we were leaving. Suddenly the boat stopped and he hurriedly tied us up, and very sheepishly said “I’m just going back for my camera” – I think its days are numbered! Twice in one day is not good. I think he must still be a bit jet lagged, bless him!

Derelict old mill - I think they must have had 'trouble' here

We moored in Bidford-on-Avon; a very pretty place. Barry went for a bike ride to explore the local villages - he returned with mud up to his knees and stinging nettles stings up his legs from cycling down a very muddy hill! Honest, he’s like a little boy on a new adventure everyday, it’s wonderful!!

After dinner we explored Bidford and the local cemetary then found a good village pub, the Falcon Inn, where Shakespeare indulged in a drinking bout in 1616 and while wandering home and sleeping under "Shakespeare's Crab" on Tower Hill, the bard caught the chill that led to his death.

Evening walk - the graveyard at night - the church of St Lawrence dates from 1276 but was replaced in 1835

Friday 12 June
We had a walk along the river to Barton and went to a little pub called ‘The Cottage of Content’ – a very quaint establishment with a very friendly landlady and clientele.

Cute houses in Barton

Drinking at the 'Cottage of Content'

After lunch - a fresh roll from the bakers eaten sitting beside the weir - we set off up river again. We tried to moor at Welford-on-Avon, but found no public moorings there despite our map saying there would be! So we had to continue on to Luddington where we moored up for the night. Barry went off again on his bike ride and returned saying there must be an awful lot of money around here – the houses are all huge – where do they all get so much money from we wonder?!

Oh yes, and Barry really did leave his camera at a lock today – only remembered when he went to take a picture of a poppy field and we had to turn around and go back to the lock. Luckily no-one else had come through and it was still there sitting on the grass at the side of the lock …

Saturday 13 June

Today we've travelled up to Stratford-on-Avon and visited Shakespeare's birthplace (photo's to follow tomorrow). I also persuaded Barry that we should see a Shakespeare play while we're here so we have tickets for 'A Winter's Tale' on Monday night. I just know he's going to try and get out of it though!

My mum and dad are coming to see us tomorrow and we'll go up river and then back to Stratford where we'll do an open top bus tour on Monday. Barry asked whether Stratford is famous for anything else other than Shakespeare - not that I know of! Isn't that enough thinks I, but then that may be because I love Shakespeare!

Photos and stuff

We're making the most of the internet access here in Evesham and putting the photo's on from Barry's trip back to NZ and the last couple of days. After today our internet coverage is pretty naff, so we may not get back on-line until we reach Stratford-On-Avon on Saturday.

The Teutenbergs (and Suki-Lou our cat who's been adopted by June and Frank!) - back row - Mariam, Tom, Ray, Peter, Jenny; front row - Barry, Suki, June & Frank

The lovely Frank

The return flight - over the English Channel

The River Thames - coming into London

Jamie's bedroom - she'll be sharing with her friend Moni by the end of this month

The lounge at Jamie's place in Hammersmith

The front of Jamie's building - a converted public house!

Having a glass of rose in the Wetherspoons

Note the double chin disguise!

Cheers! So lovely to have you home/be back!!

We bought our supplies at the Co-op in town this morning, and Barry almost lost his camera bag - he'd put it down in one of the aisles to reach me some fruit tea-bags and forgot about it until we reached the check-out! Luckily no-one had spotted it - that would have been a bit of a disaster!

We're heading up stream now to Bidford-On-Avon where we'll spend the night. The forecast wasn't good today, but so far the sun's been shining and it's a farily mild day at around 16 degrees. It'll just be fabulous to be moving once more ...

Back on board and all ship shape!

Barry arrived safely back into Heathrow yesterday afternoon, and after a short debate with customs about where he would be living and how he was financing himself, they 'allowed' him back in! Hurrah! It was so lovely to see him again.

We met up with Jamie who lives in a neat place in Hammersmith, West London, and went out for 'an English' at a local Wetherspoons (good cheap English pub chain!).

After a good night's sleep, we made it back through London, despite the tube strike (typical that they'd have a 48 hour strike just when we arrived!) and got to Evesham this afternoon and picked up our boat. She's looking well lovely with her new blacked bottom and the 'Wabasto' - the central heating system - is now working perfectly after a service and a de-choking. We have it on this evening as it's a bit of a chilly night and pouring with rain here, having been out for a curry earlier and got soaking wet.

The new curtains are all hung and look so much better, it's like a shiny new boat! We'll be getting some provisions in the morning and then beginning our journey up river again - and we're going to head north we've decided, yaay! Back to the canals soon,

Barry's knackered and still has many hours of sleep to catch up on, so although there are some photo's to be put on from last night and today, we won't be doing that until tomorrow - so come back soon!!!

Almost back on board!

Barry's now en route to Hong Kong, then to Heathrow where he should arrive tomorrow afternoon. A sad time for him, though he wants to return to England and his dream trip, it was very tough for him to leave Gisborne knowing he may not see his dad again.

I’ve been into Brighton today to get a few bits and pieces. I went in on the bus and thought I’d have a lovely walk back along the sea-front – little did I realise it was about 5 miles and took me over 2 hours! My feet are killing me! Never mind, we’ll be out for either an Indian or an Italian dinner this evening, so I won't feel guilty about eating as I must've lost half a stone today!

Brighton seafront

Evesham Marina called to say that everything had been completed on Northern Pride and I think he told me how much it was going to cost, but it sounded a lot less than I was expecting so I hope I heard correctly but I suspect I didn’t! Apparently it’s a good job we’re not returning until Wednesday as the river levels have risen with the heavy rain they’ve had recently, and by then they should've subsided. It’ll be good to be back on board again and actually moving! Not sure yet where we shall go after Stratford-Upon-Avon - north or south?

Two days to go ...

Friday’s long day of train and car travel went smoothly, but my arms were aching yesterday after lugging my suitcase up and down many flights of stairs at train stations!

Exeter is a neat place, Kim and I went shopping yesterday while Viv got ready for the 21st party, but the heavens decided to open and it poured with rain the whole day so we got soaking wet!

A beautiful rose between 2 thorny sisters!

The party was great fun; it was held upstairs at a pub called The Winchester’ in Exeter. Viv bought a chocolate fountain for dipping marshmallows and strawberries in, yummy …

Me and Ray check out the chocolate dip!

The music was very ‘young’ and I craved a bit of Abba or anything that I could make any sense of and that didn’t sound as though it was the same record being played over and over again - boom boom boom, bass bass bass!! But I managed to get a bit of dancing in anyway, the drinks were very cheap, and it was great to be with Viv and her lovely family.

We're driving vack to Brighton today after a Sunday roast, then tomorrow morning Barry will be setting off to return to England – not long now before we’re back on board cruising once more. Fingers crossed that customs lets him back into the country!!

Viv and Rex chilling on a Sunday afternoon ...

Curtains, cats and cute babies

Goodness me, curtain making is a very tedious business! Thank heavens I don’t have to do it very often. My whole day, apart from a walk to Sainsbury’s, a lunch-break and dinner-break, has been spent sewing them up. There are still 10 hems to do once they're hung on their rods on the boat and I’m really not looking forward to that! But they will look a damn sight smarter than the ones that are currently up, so it’ll be worth the hard slog!

My great niece was born this afternoon after much more hard work than my curtain making, all 8lbs 12oz of her (ouch!) – I’m not sure what that is in kgs – English people still work in old weights! Somewhere around 3900g I think. I haven’t seen my sister since last night; she left here at midnight, though I slept through her departure.

The only interesting photo’s I could think of to take today were of Kath’s amazingly different cats – check them out!

Romulus stretching out ...


Remus on the TV - not sure what's actually 'on' the Tv!

I'm off to Brighton tomorrow on the train, then a drive with Kim, my daughter, to Exeter to my sister Viv’s. It’ll be along day travelling, so a blog tomorrow is a highly unlikely event …

Cracking on with the curtains

A bit of a change in the weather today, quite overcast and probably only around 18 degrees. Ah well, it was lovely while it lasted …

My mum and dad's cosy home on a grey day ...

Left mum and dads after lunch and drove to my sister Kath’s in Sutton Coldfield, North East of Birmingham. The curtain making has begun in earnest and curtains and linings have been cut out - tomorrow I shall sew them up and try not to make a complete mess of them!

Cutting out the lining and getting the sewing machine ready

The chances are good that Kath may become a grandma for the first time tonight, which will make my parents great-grandparents; so fingers crossed that all works out OK. The midwife in me is sending positive vibes for my beautiful niece to have a lovely, kind, caring and competent midwife to care for her … It’s ironic that I tried to get permission to look after her in labour, but the NHS is so anal that they couldn’t possibly ‘allow’ a midwife from New Zealand to have a contract in an NHS hospital. I’d wondered how I could be here for her as we would be travelling around, had they said it was OK ,and now she is probably going to go into labour while I'm staying with her mum and I can’t be her midwife. Bugger! Ah well, I suppose it would’ve been a bit of a busman’s holiday!

Nothing else happening, no more news on the boat – no news is good news they say!

More ramblings ...

Wow! Thanks for the clicks in the boxes everyone, and the comments Deb & Steve, most encouraging! I shall continue to ramble on then …

A lovely chilled day with my parents, and once again the sun has shone, the sky's been blue, and it's been in the 20’s – unfortunately the forecast is that it's likely to drop by 10 degrees tomorrow :-( But the word on the street is that the warmth will return, maybe at the weekend, and fingers crossed will be here when Barry returns next week. Less than 7 days to go now ;-)

A couple of small dramas occurred – my dad got to the pub in Droitwich where we were having lunch (they have all these little places dotted about the area they live that do a good lunch deal, normally for less than £3-4 each), went to the bar to order the food and discovered that he didn’t have the cash he’d just gone to the cashpoint for! Bless him he’d withdrawn £100 – happens to many people I’m sure but he did panic. Happily he returned swiftly to the bank and after a phone call he was given his cash back, the machine had retrieved it in time before someone else came along and thought it must be their lucky day!

The other one was a phone call from the Marina – OMG, did they read my blog yesterday I wondered and have taken offence?! Lol! Nothing so simple – the boat failed its Boat Safety Certificate. How can that be I said; it passed 6 weeks ago apart from some welding that was completed and a new fire extinguisher which was replaced, but then we didn’t catch up with the surveyor again to sign it off hence we’ve had to re-do it?

“They must be more thorough here,” was the response.

“So it seems!” said I!

Ah well, only minor things like a chain on the gas bottle, a kinked tube on the cooker (which it seems they may be able to ‘un-kink’?!), a fire extinguisher in the engine room that looks as though it’s been set off (wouldn’t the previous surveyor have noticed that?) and some other tube or chain that I can’t recall. Amazing; and of course that will take about 2 hours work, so heaven knows how much the labour will be! Am I just cynical? Absobloominglutely I am!!! I suspect we are a captive audience …

On a more posotive note, I’ve booked a nice hotel in Hammersmith for next Tuesday when Barry returns; so we can catch up with Jamie, and Barry can get a decent shower and a sleep in a bed before returning to life on the boat (and we get to part with a shed load of money - scary stuff!).

No photo’s today, sorry, nothing exciting to show you!! To my sister Kath's tomorrow for the curtain making marathon; I'm sure it isn't that hard ...

Woohoo! We made it there intact!!

Thank you to the 3 people (so far anyway!) who've ticked one of the feedback boxes for yesterday's post, much appreciated!

Two of the island's geese came to say goodbye to me last night, at one point I thought they were going to climb on board!!!!

OMG!!!! I drove the boat to the Marina and only almost beached it once!!! My heart was in my mouth, my hands were shaking, and Bob was at the front of the boat - not at the back with me ready to take over at a moments notice as I expected – in fact I may even have hoped that he would drive it, but no, he obviously thought I was able to or just wasn’t sure he could! Still it was good to have someone on board with me directing me and laughing with me when the boat didn’t want to go where I tried to get it to go, there was a bit of a wind blowing which didn’t help! But the only problem was leaving the mooring and trying to turn it to go to the lock (quite a sharp bend, so we had to go up river a bit, in fact we almost reached the bridge before I got it all under control!!), once I finally managed to do that it was ‘plain sailing’ so to speak.

Bob looking a little greyer I think after almost going into the trees at the side of the river - the flag got bent again, sorry Deb!! But it's still intact to fight another day ...

Safely into the lock and holding the fore rope

Looking back at the lower Avon


Chris, the Monday relief Lock-keeper, releases the upper Avon slowly into the lock - hold on tight!


The lock shop

I even managed to drive the boat into the Marina without crashing, so was very proud of myself! Well actually I tell a lie, as we parked up I did bang a bit into the side, but nothing major!

They are certainly not the most helpful people at Evesham Marina – is it just people who work in Marinas I wonder? Are they a special breed or something? Do you have to be incredibly stuck up and act as though anyone who comes in for anythig is just a pain in the preverbial? Is that on the 'essential characteristics' on the person spec??? Maybe we've just been unlucky and caught people at a bad time a number of times ...

Almost at the Marina

I hated leaving her, the boat has become like a friend or another child somehow, so I hope they look after her accordingly. I’ve grown very attached, especially over the past 10 days when we’ve had to look after each other …

Ah well, she'll be looking much better with a shiny new bottom when we pick her up next week, and it’ll be back to moving along and finding new places and people, hurrah!

For now though, I'm going to have a busy 8 days travelling around some of my family – people that I'm very grateful to have in my life (especially as I normally live on the other side of the world to them!), and I shall relish each magic moment.

Another hot day on 'my' island ...

Yes, sorry to those reading in NZ where it’s blooming cold right now, but it has been another glorious, hot day here in the Northern Hemisphere.

It’s my final evening on Northern Pride without Barry. It’s been very surreal to be on the boat alone, but in many ways has also been quite cathartic and somehow empowering to be by myself for a while. But six days of solitude (the other 2 days were at my parents) is sufficient I think! I’ve read 2 Paulo Coelho books – 'The Pilgrimage' and 'The Zahir' – both good reads though I enjoyed The Zahir the most; I’ve completed a module of my comprehensive writing course and one for my editing and proofreading course; I’ve taken the bags of household bits and pieces that were on the boat when we bought it but don’t ‘fit’ with us to the cancer charity shop in town; I’ve got to know most of the nooks and crannies of Evesham (what a lovely place it is – we may return for our English wedding ceremony in August!); and I’ve entertained 2 of my lovely 3 sisters!

Tomorrow the boat will be travelling up to the Marina – there may be some photos on tomorrow’s blog about any mishaps along the way, but fingers crossed all will be plain sailing! Bless Bob, he’s also giving me a lift to my parents tomorrow so that saves me from getting the train. There really is a law of Karma – what you give is what you get returned …

Is anyone reading this – do please tick any of the boxes at the bottom or make a comment, although the statistics say that 181 people have logged on in the past 7 days, no-one has made any comments for days and I feel as though I am talking to myself!!! Even if you just tick ‘rubbish’, at least I’ll know you’re there!

Roll on 9 June – I think we may make it one of our anniversaries – ‘The Day Barry Returned to the Boat’!!!!

Something I’d like to share with anyone who's reading (especially Barry and his friends and family) that had a profound effect on me earlier reading The Zahir follows, It’s called ‘Consoada by Manuel Bandeira (a Brazilian poet – hope I don’t need permission to print?!):

When the unwanted guest arrives …
I might be afraid.
I might smile or say:
My day was good, let night fall.
You will find the fields ploughed, the house clean, the table set,
And everything in it's place.

Barry will think I'm crazy as per normal, but that's OK.

Seven days down, ten to go...

It's been another glorious summers day – though I think summer doesn’t ‘officially’ begin until Monday. Such a shame that Barry isn’t here to enjoy England in the sunshine, let’s hope this decent spell lasts for the next few weeks.

Hurrah! The internet has 'allowed' me to publish a few photos this evening without too much hassle for once!

Me and Ray 'at the helm' - quite safe though, no engine running and all tied up! Note the pansies in bloom Barry xx

Me and Viv on the boat - looking very tidy I might add! (the boat that is!)

On 'my' island where we had dinner and then played cards - round ones! Oh yes, and a glass of wine or two... And note the geese in the background to Viv's discomfort!

Bob phoned and asked me out to dinner last night - for those of you wondering, Bob is a friend of the people who we gave a hand to in the locks coming into Evesham, and who's going to help me drive Northern Pride to the Marina on Monday. I was a little uncertain going out with someone who is, after all, a relative stranger, but as Barry had asked just that morning whether I had yet gone to the rowing club with him I thought he wouldn’t mind (he's so totally NOT the jealous type bless him). We had a pleasant evening at the Bridge Inn at Offenham, just up the river, and I was safely back on board the boat (alone) by 10pm. I did feel a little vulnerable, something most men never experience and find difficult to understand I think!

Not a lot else to report really. Just chilling on the boat; walking into Evesham and pottering around the shops (they have a huge NEXT store just out of town that I had to visit today, not letting on if I bought anything or not!); reading books; going on-line checking the blog & stats, hotmail and facebook; eating and drinking (have treated myself to some Pimms this evening, so having Pimms and Lemonade, mmm..); and of course sleeping (have had a couple of afternoon naps these past few days, bliss!); and generally reflecting on where we are and where we’ve been. It’s actually quite a luxury to just ‘be’ for a while, I do feel tremendously lucky. So many folks are trapped in the busy world of work and don’t get much time off – I remember it well!

It’s still very pleasant here on the island, the goslings have apparently gone to their nursery above the weir - they only stay on the island for the first 2-3 days after hatching, so I haven’t been able to catch any more glimpses of them.

I tried to book a ‘ghost tour’ of Evesham for tomorrow evening, it sounded like a fun thing to do, but unfortunately it was all fully booked. They're only held on a Thursday or Sunday evening, so that’s out now, shame…

Missing Barry heaps, but a week has already passed so only 10 days to go and he should be back, depending on how things are in NZ. It'll be so good to have him back on board and be on the move again, seeing the sights along the way and meeting new people - and of course publishing a more interesting blog with Barry's fabulous photo's!!!!