Keeping Up.

                 

Twas a lovely surprise when we saw nb Keeping Up gliding past our side hatch windows, so we called out to them. A few minutes later Alan and Debbie were breasted up with us for the night. Later on we joined them walking up to The Tall Ship by the dock entrance for an evening meal together. There was a wide choice of every kind of fish dish on offer that you could imagine. We ordered pints of Swordfish all round, then sat down as the menu took a bit of perusing! Anyway the food was just fabulous and so too were the puddings. We had passed by this tiny pub in the past, but it was deceptively bigger on the inside. Next morning they were off and made it down to Sharpness for the night. Then they came back up and with their granddaughter  on board we waved them goodbye as they descended Gloucester Lock onto the River Severn. It was fantastic to meet up with them again as we really enjoy their company, bon voyage, until the next time!

Sights in the City.

       

As you can see there are some talented artists hereabouts!

  Also some unusual people too.

Gloucester Docks.

   

Once in the Glos Lock we ascended with two plastic boats, then we turned to the left to moor on the pontoons. The’ dredging’ boat was sweeping around the basin stirring the mud up and making a heck of a racket until 6pm. The mud was being flushed out through the lock into the river. This seems to be rather an expensive pointless exercise as the water intake for the Sharpness Canal is just down river from the lock! Later the hoards descended to sit outside Fosters pub eating, drinking and making merry,    noisily! Then a massive plastic boat pulled in nearby, went up on his poop deck with a drink and played very loud ‘thump/bang music until after we managed to get to sleep at about 10.30pm. Who needs an alarm clock when loads of Seagulls start circling round screeching loudly at c 4pm! Nodding off again we were woken at 8pm when the dredger ground into life see-sawing all around the basin, luvly jubbly.

Gloucester City.

  

Whilst moored so near to the city we made the most of perusing the shops and going out for lunch. Nb Kalimi came to moor nearby so we had a chat with them as we haven’t seen them for ages. There are always some interesting boats to be seen in the dock area and in Neilson’s Yard for work. We popped over for a snack in the busy little cafe on the dockside called ‘Toast’. Here you can have any choice of fillings in a toasted sandwich, brilliant idea! We got chatting to a couple who live hereabouts who told us of all the changes that were due to happen. I was disappointed to see that at least two shops had closed and had changed over to posh coffee houses. When our 48hrs was up we cruised on down to Sainsbury's as the cupboards and fridge needed filling up. After replacing the thermostat and control panel in our freezer we gave up it and tried running it on a timer for a while. Now we have decided to buy a new one if we can persuade someone to deliver it to Oakfield and maybe collect the old one. Surprise, surprise, we saw Nb Balmaha en-route and when they stopped off for shopping Nessa came around for a bit of a catch-up chat.

River Severn.

  

We cast off from the pontoon just after 8am, then on through Diglis River Lock going with the low about 5mls an hour. The hotel boat ‘Edward Elgar was on it’s way up to Worcester, after which we met a barge laden with aggregate. It was a fab day for cruising, although it was very hot we had a cool breeze on our faces as we whizzed along. All the river moorings were full, so we continued on down, taking it in turns to steer while the other went in for a tea break.

  

The lads were out practicing on the river rescue boat, then ‘Ambulant’ came up past us. As dredging was taking place in Gloucester Basin we hung on the wall for a while from our stern rope until 4pm. Although we were away back we felt the force of the water when they opened the lock gate to flush the muddy water out. The lock operation at the moment is 8-9am, 12-1pm and 4-5pm only until ‘dredging ‘ stops in about two weeks time..