Not so 'ship-shape' so Sandra escapes from the boat in Bristol!

Due to circumstances beyond our control (i.e. having far too much fun!), we've slipped so far behind on the blog, that from now we'll post 'live' but put the date of the post at the header - Barry aims to keep the Google map up to date each evening showing our whereabouts ...

Sunday 22 August

Luckily I'd arranged some time ago to leave the boat at Bristol and take the train to my parents house in Ombersley, near Droitwich for a few days, and then to see my daughter Lisa, for her birthday on 26th August up in Cheshire.  What good fortune that it tied in with the broken toilet problem which meant I was looking forward even more to spending some time on land - in fact I said I was on strike and not returning until it was well and truly fixed. I was due back on Friday, so that gave Barry plenty of time to get it sorted!

Waking up on Sunday morning the first thing I needed to do was take a brisk walk to find some open public toilets.  We'd had a cassette toilet under the stairs on the boat when we purchased it, but foolishly didn't keep it (somehow it didn't feel right keeping someone else's) as it would've been a lifesaver!  The first public conveniences I came to were securely padlocked, but eventually I found one open with a friendly lady cleaning the stairs - much to my dismay though she asked me to come back in a few minutes when she'd have finished the job!  I didn't venture far away and managed to stop myself from skipping down the stairs - phew - what a relief, we take so much for granted in our modern world!  I won't call the lady 'old', as she told me she helps 'old ladies' over the road but she's only 75 years young, lol!  She obviously loves her job, and chattered away to me for a good ten minutes (after I'd used her facilities!), at one point asking me to guess how many hours she'd worked the previous month.  Incredibly she said 290 hours - how can that be true, isn't there some sort of EU Working Time Directive in the UK?!  Then again, you can opt out can't you, so I assume that's what she's done.

The photo yesterday of 'The Lily' was this amazing bridge structure - Peros Bridge

The bridge spans the moorings at St Augustine's Reach and is a lift bridge with the 'Lillies' being the counterweights - awesome

More views of the floating harbour ...

In it's heyday this is what this whole harbour area was like - a very busy, smoke-filled place

Now it's mostly used by pleasure boats with very little commercial traffic

If you've ever wondered where the saying 'Ship shape and Bristol fashion' comes from, the 'Floating Harbour' was constructed to maintain the water at a constant level to alleviate the strain on ships who'd previously become stranded on the mud for long periods.  A ship that was able to cope with the rigours of using the port at that time, was said to be 'Ship shape and Bristol fashion'.

This beautiful charter Ketch "Irene" (Sandra's mum's name) was moored close to us

A statue commemorating John Cabot who sailed from Bristol in May 1497 and discovered North America

Remnants of a bygone era apparent at every turn

A mix of rooftops in Bristol

I was sad not to be able to explore more of Bristol, but my train was due to leave Temple Meads Station at 1445hrs taking me to Worcester.  As seems quite a normal occurrence with public transport, the train was delayed by almost an hour due to 'electrical problems', and I then had to get off at Cheltenham where there was a coach transporting passengers to Pershore and Worcester.  I sat at the front to see the sights along the way better, and was horrified to watch the driver texting as we were hurtling along the M5 at considerable speed - do you say "Excuse me, can you please not do that while you're driving a coach-full of people?"  or would that make the situation worse?  I decided, rightly or wrongly, to keep quiet, forgetting I had my camera in my bag until after he'd put his phone down.  I did then take a photo to identify the driver that I may send to the powers that be, as when we were approaching Worcester Shrub Hill Station, he also had a phone call which he answered and chatted for a couple of minutes - I couldn't wait to get off, how can people be so reckless?!  It's bad enough travelling at speed after living on a narrowboat without all that malarkey to contend with!

Bristol Temple Meads Railway Station and Sandra on her way - well almost, the train was delayed almost an hour

"I'm sick of flying," said the pigeon, "I may take the train instead."

After I left, Barry took the chance to get to know some more of Bristol 'through the lens' ...

  Ornate posts and church steeples around the Station

 A variety of dramatic designs in this roof

Interesting piece of sign writing - he/she might have a stutter!

 St Marys Redcliffe church

Permanent moorings in the harbour are very hard to come by apparently

A magnificent old boat sits majestically on the water near to smart modern apartments

The statue of King William III in Queens Square (King Billy to the Irish) defaced with an Irish flag which itself is being defaced by a seagull!

  The elegant houses around Queens Square

Trying to find beauty in a 1960's car park building!!

Barry caught up with Jamie later in the day, and they checked out some Banksy's graffiti around Bristol before having an evening together - a special treat.  They'd called Tom, Barry's son, on Friday night as it'd been his birthday that day, and they said how sad they were that he couldn't be here with them - little did they know at the time that Tom and I had been plotting to get him over to UK before our return to NZ - but more about that later ...

Banksy began in Bristol - no-one knows who he is still - incredible!

The tower of Bristol University

Some of the gargoyles adorning the University building

We had 5 minutes in the City Museum and Art Gallery before being turned out at closing time

  Just a walk in the park on Brandon Hill 

Cabot Tower on Brandon Hill and an interesting street - very French looking

Bristol Cathedral

The statues of Raja Rammohun Roy outside the cathedral and Queen Victoria by The Marriott Hotel

 What about these for eclectic roof-tops?

Very 1920's Havana

Another Banksy spotted on a boat

Barry and Jamie set off for a harbour cruise at dusk to find a new mooring closer to the toilet facilities and boatyard for the morning.  They were amazed that of the 300-400 metres of moorings available there was only one other boat sharing the spot with them, and we'd been told moorings were hard to find! After dinner they went to the 'The Cottage' pub for a couple of drinks.

 A surreal sight at night

 A big crane for a small ship?!

SS Great Britain hiding behind the buildings

  A new mooring place on the other side of the harbour - looking out from the back of the boat

 Instead of a flower photo - a colourful wall (slightly enhanced!)

Sandra's worst nightmare comes true - a broken loo!

I must firstly mention that Captain Ahab, from Wand'ring Bark, wrote a blog on Saturday 21st August about our most enjoyable evening with them in Abingdon - it's a most entertaining posting containing information on most of the rules of Barry's 'Six Handed Rummy' card game - cheers again Andy and Helen (and Jeff of course) for your company that night, sorry Barry plied you with so much alcohol that you lost the game, lol!

We'd hoped for a prompt start on Saturday but unfortunately fate had other ideas - our toilet finally gave up the ghost this morning and adamantly refused to flush!  My worst nightmare had come true :-(.  We weren't sure what was wrong, but the power to the flush sighed heavily and wouldn't budge an inch.  Jamie, bless her, was completely casual about the challenge and just suggested we take a walk into town to find the nearest convenience - such a typical kiwi 'she'll be right' attitude again, I so wish I could inject some into my British veins and not be such a worrier!  We soon found a loo in the new Debenham's complex and relieved ourselves, but we weren't sure how we'd cope on the long journey to Bristol ...

Barry was mildly confident we'd find someone in a boatyard, somewhere on our journey, who may be able to sort out our problem - but of course it was the weekend so being a true Brit I wasn't too hopeful!

Weston Lock ahead, the first of only six locks for today

Though it looks like we're in for some queuing

Jamie was straight in and helping - she hasn't forgotten how, though these are the first double locks she's tackled

The very elegant A4 main road bridge in and out of Bath

There were several fishermen along the river, hidden amongst the overgrown bank

It's beautiful along the river.  We saw many large dragonflies souring past and at one point spotted a colourful Kingfisher flying close to the surface very near to us - awesome!  They're such gorgeous birds, I just wish they'd keep still every now and again so we could get a really good look at them - and get a close-up photo.  There's certainly less this year than last, but hopefully they'll re-populate if the coming winter isn't so harsh.

 A very calm river today

Moored boats outside Saltford Marina near to Kelston Lock

 

 

 

 

The very wide weir at Kelston Lock - all the locks heading into Bristol from Bath have a weir next to them with quite strong currents, which is a challenge when you have to wait for the lock and hover in the river

 

 

 

 

 

Sandra in a daydream waiting for the lock to empty

Jamie closes up after we've exited

There was no-one to be found at the first boatyard we stopped at, and at the next one their engineer had left at lunchtime after a half day, so things weren't looking too promising.  We did find a toilet at Bath Marina on the way which was lucky, and eventually arrived at Netham Lock around 1730hrs.  You have to moor up just past the open lock here, and go and see the Lock-keeper to buy a license which allows you to moor up in 'The Floating Harbour' in Bristol.  For our boat it was £18 for one night, £30 for two - we wanted to stay for three but that wasn't on the list and it took a bit of negotiating to work out how we'd manage that!

 When the sun peeped out it lit up the surrounding hills 

 Hovering in the river awaiting our turn at the Swineford Lock

 Flying swans are such an incredible sight

 If you have to live in a terraced house this wouldn't be a bad choice

 Seems to be mostly cruisers round here at Swineford Lock - Not sure what the building is

 We shared most of the locks with this boat 'My Lady Guinevere'

 

 

 

 

 

This tiny narrowboat looked insignificant in the lock

 

 

 

 

 

 

  There were plenty of boats coming and going, so the locks were quite busy

How to turn something as ugly as a diesel spill in the river to an arty image - not our diesel!

Entering Keynsham lock past the fishermen - why do they insist on fishing at lock approaches?

 

 

 

 

 

Plenty of hire boaters out on the river enjoying their summer holidays

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jamie trying to catch some sun going under the A4174 bridge

The Avon twists it's way gently through the gorge towards Bristol

Crew's Hole, one of the suburbs on the outskirts of Bristol

The rain chucked it down as soon as we got to Bristol, so our arrival wasn't the best.  From what we could see through the deluge it looked like a fabulous place, so in spite of the downpour we toured around the harbour.  I was catching the train out of Bristol on Sunday for a few days with my family and wouldn't get to see the Harbour area again so it was my only opportunity ...

Through Netham Lock and onto the floating harbour - although the river here is tidal, the harbour is kept at a constant level by the use of weirs, locks and sluices

Through a very modern stretch of offices and apartments

It was pouring with rain by this stage so Barry had to photograph this as we went under a bridge

Four giant cranes standing like creatures from 'War of the Worlds'

The harbour is circled by moored boats of every conceivable shape and type

The far end of the harbour with the harbour masters office, Underfall Wharf and boatyard and the lock entrance to the tidal Avon and then onto the Bristol Channel 

Such a striking splash of colour along the hill top

The new colourful apartments do blend in very well with the old 

SS Great Britain - Islamad Kingdom Brunel's creation 

The first steam powered iron hulled passenger liner built in 1843 

We moored up eventually in one of the three visitors mooring places in the harbour, which turned out to be the noisiest setting but very handy for Jamie to go out on her night on the town as it was right in between a number of extremely lively bars on a Saturday night!  Ah well, it meant we were near to facilities when we needed them!

Jamie went out with some friends she'd arranged to meet, so we had a night of trying to catch up with some blogs after our heavy week.  Later in the evening we went for a drink - mainly to use their toilet - so I only had a Baileys as I didn't see the point in emptying fluids from one end and filling up at the other!  Our mooring was close to the Arnolfini Arts Centre, and all around there and opposite was teaming with Saturday night revellers, so knowing we'd find it difficult to sleep unless we were very tired, we had a stroll around the part of Bristol called 'The Old City'.  Sadly Barry hadn't taken his camera, but I'm sure he'll make up for that in the coming days!

Looking over the wharf with an old chimney stack, Cabot's Tower and Bristol Cathedral

Eventually returning to the waterside, we came across a 'Bumper Cars' ride packed with young people enjoying themselves, and who should we spot in one of the cars but Jamie - we really should've had a camera, she may not believe we saw her as she didn't seem to be able to see us looking in from the dark so we left her to her fun and returned to Northern Pride to try and sleep amongst the revellers.

  No flower picture today, though this does look a bit like a lily