11th to 17th August – Shakespeare Marina to
Monday morning saw Paul working and me playing the waiting game. Our guests for the week had left on time – in fact actually a little before the planned time. They were expected at around 1 pm and sure enough, turned up bang on time. We got them aboard and stowed theri gear and spent the afternoon catching up and having fun with Lenny’s RC boat.
A little before Paul finished work, Bruce, Len and I set off for a quick hop down to Stratford to show them the sights. Bruce had done work experience at the RSC as a young lad and had stayed on our Dad’s boat for the duration. It brought back some great memories for him.
We returned to the marina (by which time Paul had finished work) and had dinner, followed by a few games before bed.
Tuesday morning dawned sunny and bright and we set off downriver. The first lock was just around the corner and we did it in tandem with a hire boat. The next lock was Luddington – one of our favourite spots to moor, but too early on this occasion.
As we were leaving the lock, Bruce spotted a plum tree – delicious little Mirabelles, all ripe and ready to eat. We quickly picked a bowlful and they were delicious – all the more so because they were free!
It was very hot indeed and there was no room at our planned lunch stop at Welford Lock. We cheekily moored on the lock landing and were prepared to move at a moment’s notice. As luck would have it, we had just finished lunch when a boat came up the lock, so we helped them through and used their water to go down. The convention on this river is that you leave the gates by which you exit the lock open, by the way.
We arrived at Bidford Grange Lock to find (whoop!) a mooring space vacant. The ANT (Avon Navigation Trust) moorings are identified by blue paint on the top of the pole (lock landings are white). We quickly nabbed it. There seemed to be no-one aboard the other boat on the moorings. Paul quickly got our swimming ladder out and we all had a very refreshing (although initially it felt chilly) swim.
The occupants of the other boat (a young couple) came back and said how envious they were of our swimming. We invited them to use our ladder and they were quick to do so. It was that hot!
Lenny went off for a bike ride with the boys and then we all had another lovely swim, before dinner. I say swim – it was more a bob and I would never enter without shoes of some sort. I always keep my mouth firmly shut, too – just in case. Although, to be fair, I’ve swum unscathed in worse places! Many times. A lovely spot and a great bathing place.
After a lovely quiet but sticky night, we awoke to a day that was already hot. We went through the lock and carried on down to Bidford. Bruce had to take a business call. What were the chances of the call being with a lady who actually lived in Bidford? Unbelievable! We passed straight through and then stopped and had a paddle in the weir at Marcliff lock, which is very attractively done.
We had lunch that day not tied up. Not even to a twig. We just kind of aimed the boat at the bank and just sat there, very comfortably. We were on watch for passing boats, but even the work boat – the only one to pass us – did not dislodge us! And yet when it was time to go, we slipped off very easily.
We made our way down to Harvington Lock, where there is mooring for just one narrow boat – us! We moored and out came the swimming ladder, quick as a flash, and no sooner it was out than we were all in and having a lovely, cooling, refreshing time.
The water was very clear and if you stretched your hands out, a myriad tiny fish came and nibbled at you. Very cute. And we found a load of freshwater mussel shells, which we had great fun retrieving. Another absolutely lovely spot, complete with bench, where we sat to drip dry.
It was such a lovely evening, we decided to give the Ninja Woodfire barbecue its first outing. And it performed very well! We soon had a sizzling plate of smash burgers, belly pork, lamb koftas and minute steak to tuck into. It looked like it might be a stinker to clean but an overnight soak in soapy water removed everything. Very happy with that and look forward to many more al fresco meals in the future.
We got some water level footage of Len’s remote controlled boat, by the way – pretty cool!
Paul was back to work on Thursday morning, so we Carters were in charge! We came down Harvington Lock and Offenham Lock, where we did domestics, and then down the long lock free stretch to just above Evesham Lock, where we had our luncheon. It was pretty blowy by then and – when we finally tackled Evesham Lock, we had to help a hire boater who had already made one attempt, gone full Suez and bottled it. We helped them on their second attempt and we were soon nestling snugly in the lock together,
We struggled a bit to find a spot on the Waterfront. There were one or two “git gaps” – this delightful term refers to gaps – less than a boat length – between moored boats. They can be caused by the coming and going of boats, the lack of sharing of mooring rings and even by sheer lack of thought and care. We eventually found somewhere that had loads of signs that looked like mooring was prohibited, but on further investigation were quite permissible.
Bruce and Lenny had a walk into town and came back shaking their heads in disbelief – Evesham’s glory days, it seems. are definitely over. The usual mix of Vape Shops etc etc and a disenfranchised population. Zombie-like youths. Even a shop selling Hitler models – I kid you not! And the moorings by the waterside seem to be frequented by groups of drinkers. I think it has gone downhill even since we were here last, to be honest. Very sad.
We decided to move on and return in the morning, rather than risk any “nocturnal incidents”. I’ve felt safer in some dodgy spots in London to be honest! We found a spot on the island between the Lock and the weir and tucked ourselves in. It definitely felt more boat friendly. Sadly we had only been there half an hour before someone came by to tell us that our mooring was no longer an ANT mooring (as indicated in the guide) and so we had to move on, up through Evesham Lock and back to where we had had lunch. Not ideal, but it felt reasonably safe.
We had a late start on Friday am, as we were not in any particular rush. Lenny is going home today, catching a train from Evesham direct to Paddington, then across town to Beckenham Junction where his Mum will pick him up. He is being replaced by Juliet, my brother’s partner.
Juliet has – so far – a rather checkered career when it comes to Old Nick. The first time she came on board, she sprained her ankle very badly on the first night and had to go home. The second time, Storm Clarence or some such tempest was going through and we had to stay on our berth. We were rather hoping for third time lucky. The weather is set fair, there is plenty of water in the river – it’s all looking good as I write this!
We repositioned on the Waterside ready for this week’s delivery. There was a VJ Day ceremony happening in the Abbey Gardens. It was quite tear-jerking when the Last Post was played. And without wishing to take anything away from dear Jacquie’s version, I feel that the bugler playing it just had the edge.
Bruce popped off to get his car from Stratford and we took delivery of this week’s groceries while he was gone, which was very simple. We also picked up our next couple of months supplies from the local pharmacy.
After lunch, it was time for Lenny to catch the train home. Bruce walked him to the station and we started cleaning and tidying ready for Juliet’s arrival. She had a pretty irksome Friday drive up, finally arriving at about 17:00. Bruce took her car to the booked parking space while she had a restorative G&T and we made our way down to Hampton Ferry, where we would be meeting Bruce.
The pick-up worked well and we had a lovely evening cruise down to Chadbury Lock – a nice spot – where we hoped there would be a space for us. And there would have been, had we not been overtaken by a couple of boats who nabbed the last couple of spaces (including one of the lock moorings). There was already a boat there when they had arrived. As it was getting late, we decided that we would moor on the lock moorings and – in the unlikely event of a boat turning up (no one did) – we’d help them through. We’d also get up early to ensure that we were off the lock moorings before people started moving. Decision made, I set about dinner and we had a short but sweet evening out on deck, interacting with the wild life, before bed beckoned.
We set off at 07:30 leaving Bruce and Juliet still sleeping and did the quietest lock EVER. It was a chilly morning although the sun came out in force later in the day. It was lovely cruising along all alone. The river is not actually that busy, to be honest – we rarely see other boats – although more at the weekend.
We pulled over for breakfast at the ANT moorings at Fladbury Lock for brekker and then set off again, full and happy. The river is at its beautiful best in sunshine and we were so happy that Juliet was able to see it looking so green and verdant. We passed the house where we had spotted no less than three robot lawn mowers doing their job on a house’s massive lawn. We had seen them with the Robertsons last time. Ask Anne to tell you about it.
We pulled over for lunch and flipping football – it being the first day of the 2025/26 football season. Pompey were playing Norwich – badly as it turned out. The chaps watched that, while we read and chatted. It was a somewhat odd mooring – one of those where Paul has to do a giant leap with the rope, bang a pin and jump back. It was a slight miscalculation as it was actually a little too far for him to leap back. We passed him the boat pole and he did one of those leaps like the Dutch do across dykes or whatever. Research tells me that its called “fierljeppen”! You can watch a video of it here. He had to repeat the process when we unhitched. SO athletic!
We had a spot booked for dinner at the Anchor in Wyre Piddle – also last visited with the Robertsons. The pub charges £20 per night including electricity. When I rang to say that we were on our way, they mentioned that there was a 21st birthday party starting at 17:00, so “it might be a bit busy”. Fair enough. What they failed to mention, both at the time when I had originally booked and also when I rang to announce our arrival, that said 21st birthday celebration would be playing very loud music until 00:30! Or that the food menu would be a cut down affair. Pizza or Basket Meals. We all chose Scampi and Chips and I quickly cooked up a melange of Peas and Edamame Beans to have with it.
The food arrived and we each had precisely 5 small scampi and a mass of thick cut fries. Haute Cuisine it was not, and imagine the brouhaha if one of us had been given six scampi instead of five! It was quite funny! As was the loud and largely awful music. We hoped it would stop at 11 but sadly not. We decided we’d go to bed and read. Hysteria set in when it continued past what we assumed would be the end, at midnight! At which point we were subjected to the mass voices of the party-goers hollering along to Abba and Queen & Four Seasons hits. And then at 00:30 – it stopped. Silence reigned once more!! Time for sleep! After a Night to Remember – for the wrong reasons.
We awoke a little later than normal and had a fairly drawn out breakfast as we reminisced about the previous evening. How we laughed. And then we moved on to Pershore, where we did domestics, before puttering off further downriver. Bruce and Juliet found a heavily laden Damson tree below Pershore lock and picked a small bowlful. We turned after lunch and made our way back up to Pershore, where more damsons were picked with the aid of the boat hook – enough for a lovely crumble. We also came across a lone and rather confused sheep at the lock. Difficult to know what to do in such situations?
We spent Juliet’s last night on the new moorings at the Angel pub, ensuring that we put a few quid across their bar for the privilege. And that was the end of this week.
Bruce is staying until Tuesday, so we will be going back up river towards Evesham to drop him off and then we’ll decide what to do with the rest of our week. Whatever we do, we will continue to enjoy this lovely river, on which we can stay until 8th September – but probably won’t.
| Period | Miles | Locks |
| 11th to 17th August | 32 | 14 |
| Cumulative 2025 | 338 | 219 |