Tuesday 29th October to Thursday 31st October
Well I got that wrong then, the bridges don’t actually close on Tuesdays and Wednesdays until next week! However, it made little difference to our plans, we still stopped here at Saul until today. We have had a very nice couple of days too. The weather has been quite nice giving Ken the opportunity to do some day time fishing as the nights have drawn in alarmingly since we did the clocks!
There has been a lot of rowing going on too. When I say rowing I mean boat rowing not arguing! The Wycliffe College Rowing Club, which is based here, have been here almost all day and half the night. Practising for the Gloucester Rowing Club Autumn Head Race, which is on Sunday maybe?
I have finalised the arrangements for us going in to Victoria Basin, filling in and posting the contract form etc. Also, as we will now be spending the winter in close proximity to the railway station, I have arranged a trip to Southampton to see my brother and his family at the end of next month. I suspect other similar trips will follow.
We walked in to the village again both days, this time armed with the right change for getting the eggs! We also enjoyed some more Rucking Mole in the Bell.
This morning we went through Junction Bridge and found a mooring near the water point. We didn’t want to go in the waterpoint because we had to wait for the coal man. However, our hose wasn’t quite long enough to reach the tap from where we were moored. Rather than untie and pull the boat forward we decided to use the extension hose. This was easier said than done as it took ages to find the new hose connector we recently bought! Why didn’t we put it with the tap connector so we would know where it was? Who knows. Much turfing out of the back room ensued (with an expletive accompaniment) and eventually it was unearthed!
We also did cassette emptying (both) and rubbish disposal then settled down to wait for the coal man. I had rung him earlier and he said he would be with us 10-30 am to 11 am. He actually turned up at 10 am so that was a bonus, apart from the fact that it had just started raining and I had literally just that minute put the cratch cover down.
With the roof laden with bags of coal and the rain stopped we decided to leave Saul and go back to Rea Bridge. We needed a few things from the shop and although the shop in Frampton is ok in an emergency it is a bit pricey and we wanted some things they didn’t stock anyway.
Once moored at Rea Bridge we went off to Tesco’s for supplies and then to The Haywain. There was a wedding party in the pub today, with a heavily pregnant bride who was suffering so badly with her feet and legs she had discarded her wedding shoes in favour of a pair of crocs, bless.
Tomorrow we are going to Gloucester and hopefully will be able to moor near the lightship. There is a firework display in the docks on Saturday night which we will have a birds eye view of. We are hoping to be able to stay until Monday thus avoiding the aforementioned rowing race!
