Free at last

Today we left Upton marina and all the security and easy living that it provided.

                                                
                                            Leaving Upton marina

                                            We are happy

 

And so is he

 

 

The power of the river Severn.

 

 

We will be a lot happier when we are on the canals.

 

 

Entering Diglis lock (operated by a lock keeper)

 

 

We are now off the river Severn and onto the Worcester and Birmingham canal.

 

 

A bridge with a hole on the left hand side. I think it might have been for telegraph cables.

 

We are now moored on the outskirts of Worcester. We have covered 10 miles and gone through 8 locks. It has taken us 6 and a half very enjoyable hours. Now we are chilling with a glass or two of wine deciding on our next move.

Happy birthday

It was Carolyn's birthday and we had a visit from Susan , Danny , Chloe and Curly. They had a few hold ups on the motorway so when they arrived it was straight up the restaurant for a birthday meal.

                          Curly, Carolyn, Danny (Jamie's young lady),Chloe and number 1 cousin Susan

                                                      Birthday girl

                  That's me sorted ,a rack of ribs and look there is salad as well. And all for £7.50

                                                I love my nan

                                         Curly trying her hand at fishing.

As we had problems earlier in the week with our toilet cassette i thought why not kill 2 birds  with one stone. So for her birthday i bought Carolyn a new cassette for her birthday present .And it came with a free toilet seat. What a result i thought. I am not sure if  she was that happy with it , but she is smiling.

                     Larry , Moe and Curly. Those of you old enough will know who they where.

The main reason for Chloe coming to visit was to steal pick up our car which i was forced pleased  to sign over to her. Good old Mum and young Dad. .....again.




 

Busy

We have been really busy for the last couple of days sorting out Inca.We have bought more storage containers and small shelving units and have just about filled up every available space.On Thursday it was a trip into Worcester to buy a small tumble dryer (I was told we can't possibly live without one).So it was off to the retail park where we bought a small 3.5 kg one.

While in Worcester we decided to have a look at the locks we would be going up to get off the river Severn and onto the canal system.

 

This is the approach to the lock on the right. If you go left you meet the weir.

                    
If you get in trouble above the lock the flow of the river would carry you down and over the weir.As you can see in the photo there is a line of buoys to prevent this happening.Although 3 weeks ago a boat lost power and drifted down into the buoys.The people on board where rescued and the boat was recovered later.

 

                           The river Severn is now in green on the board and safe to navigate.

 

                                               What the colours mean.

                                        The approach to the next lock is on the right. Then it's off the river and onto the canal network.

It was then back to Inca and try to find room for a tumble dryer that we can't live without.

                             

Breakfast

While walking the dogs yesterday i saw a man fishing in the marina ,with in 10 seconds he had caught a Zander (looks like a pike). 10 seconds later he had another fish hooked.So it was straight back to Inca and on the Internet to buy a license. Photos of huge fish to follow.

 

It seems like i missed out on a bacon roll at my old companies breakfast meeting.Never mind we had a good breakfast in the marina restaurant instead .(sorry i couldn't be there lads, hope you enjoyed it and came out full of enthusiasm as usual),  I must stop eating like this as being a fat you know what and living on a narrow boat don't really go together.

Marina life

With the river Severn on amber boards and very strong winds we are staying in the marina a bit longer than planned.We are paid up until Sunday but can stay longer and pay on a daily basis although this is very expensive.

Molly and Hamish are now getting on well with marina life , but still not to sure about those Swans

                 On Sunday we had the Severn rescue teams practising in the marina

                                    Rescue team in action

                                                Still smiling

                                       Upton rowing club also use the marina slipway

Just like being back at work !

 

The toilet system we have on Inca is a thetford cassette.There is a magnetic switch to let you know when the tank is nearly full. The switch operates a light which tells you to change the cassette.If the light fails for any reason the cassette overfills. Guess what happened ? .I wont go into much detail but guess who was the qualified person to deal with this.  The switch inside had jammed .After removing the top slide cover it was possible to clear the float ,should be ok now. (I hope)

Carolyn is making the most of the car and gone into Malvern to get a few bits and pieces. She said she would not be long. Ha Ha.