Blimey, when will it stop raining? It has been doing so on and off, more on than off since I last wrote. Sunday it pissed down all morning. We titted about, having a shower and doing various other things of no interest really.
Lunchtime we braved the elements to walk to The Bell again. After a while it cleared a bit and we got a brief window of opportunity to get back to the boat later on in the dry.
Monday, as the forecast was not good we decided not to go further down the canal at this time and turned round and went back to Hempstead Bridge where we had two attempts at mooring up in the long grass! Finally getting settled we set off (in the rain) to walk first to Gloucester Marine Services for a shackle to put on the anchor chain.
However when we got there we discovered that Gloucester Marine Services are no more. This was a bit of a nuisance as we had also intended to get them to repack our stern tube. So that was that and we headed in to town. Passing the hardware shop on the Bristol Rd we got a shackle from there. Next stop was the fishing tackle shop for bite indicators.
In town we went to the Post Office to collect the Post Restante letter we were expecting and it was actually there so that was a bonus! Woody’s for veg was the next port of call and we got 2 punnets of strawberries and a punnet each of raspberries, blackberries and blueberries all for £2.
Just as we came out of Woody’s the heavens opened, deep joy! We went off to the pub and it rained nearly all the time we were there but we managed to walk back to Hempstead in the dry.
Yesterday, Tuesday it was wet again, surprise surprise, by the time we left Hempstead Bridge. We went to Llanthony pontoons to be nearer the town because having seen how pleased I was with mine Ken wanted to go to Skechers for some trainers.
Last night it was still raining and windy too. However because of the way round we were moored and the direction of the wind Ken was still able to fish and he caught a nice 10 lb Zander.
We didn’t get any rain today ………….. until exactly 12pm when it started pouring down and has barely stopped since! Well, it has now stopped actually (8pm).
FIrst thing we did the loo and rubbish at Llanthony but there was someone on the waterpoint when we wanted to go on it. That didn’t matter because after a visit to Sainsbury’s we made the trip to Sellars Bridge, got water there, turned round and moored on the visitor moorings.
And it started raining just as we left the boat to go to The Pilot. Good job it wasn’t a long walk like some recent days. We spent the rest of the day watching various football matches. It has become chilly so I have lit the fire!
I’m not sure what we’re doing tomorrow.
