Gloucester to Stratford on Avon

The week started with just about the worst problem you can get on a boat. A blocked toilet. It has happened before and and it's usually something stuck in the macerator. It's not a pleasant job to take it all apart but relatively easy ( or so I'm told ...man job - I don't get involved!) This time, however, the blockage was somewhere along the pipe from the toilet to the poo tank. After lots of poking with a length of garden hose, we finally shifted whatever it was ( I dread to think) and nervously flushed water through which we could hear going through to the tank. We are still too scared to put anything down which hasn't gone through us first! 

This all happened on the day we were planning to leave Gloucester docks and head up the Severn. As it happened we were delayed anyway by 40mph winds and the white horses re-appeared on the canal. 

One of the great things about this journey is chatting to people along the way and hearing their stories. My favourite one this week came from the lock keeper near Bidford. There is a caravan park opposite the lock which is very prone to flooding. To get insurance the caravans have to be fitted with flotation tanks so the when the river rises, they rise with them. The lock keeper joked that he gets his licence book out and goes round the floating caravans collecting fees. 

This is the lock keepers house. Very unusual and much photographed. In 2006 it flooded up to the top of the sign on the balcony. 

The River Avon is really beautiful. We stopped overnight in some lovely villages and passed some very picturesque spots..

400 year old bridge near Pershore

And another one at Bidford. 

Pretty spot

Spectacular weir

First t shirt day of the year

Off to Liverpool. Got to be there by 6th May. God help us!!