Sloe, Sloe, quick quick Sloes!

As mentioned last week we have planned to moor at Fenny Compton whilst CaRT’s Winter Stoppage Programme is in progress, shutting off the Claydon Locks for maintenance. We set off yesterday morning and were rewarded with a lovely sunny journey up the seven locks enjoying the autumn colours in the hedgerows.

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Whether it was the sunshine or not I don’t know but Joy felt really well and thoroughly enjoyed the journey. We stopped for lunch on our mooring and filled up with water, our landlord had cut the grass and in the sunshine it looked beautiful, but we had to press on as we need to be near Fenny Compton Marina for pump-out facilities. There is no winding hole (turning point) between our mooring and the locks and we might just need ‘the facilities’ more than once before Christmas!

On our journey on up to Fenny I spotted ‘treasure’ on the offside canal bank… Sloes which seem very scare this year, we managed to reverse the boat up and pick a lunch box full; and today Joy has made two bottles of Sloe Vodka as an alternative to Sloe Gin which we made last year. If you want to have a go yourself there’s plenty of information at Sloe.Biz

We arrived at Fenny and found a Wrens-Nest sized space for which we were very grateful. It was back to work today with the students back after their half-term break, I continued with some reorganisation of the stores, attempting to fit a quart into the proverbial pint pot by moving my bookcase and hanging even more things on the wall!

A Busy Weekend!

This weekend we enjoyed a foray back to Gloucestershire to catch up with friends and family. We called in to see our son Jeremy whose boat was moored at Gloucester Docks, he wasn’t having a good day, not only was he feeling unwell for reasons we’d best gloss over, but his friend Rebecca’s car had broken down on her way to Gloucester to see him.

Eventually we all assembled for a rather late lunch at The Black Shed at Slimbridge with our friends Allison and Hazel.

Peter and Jenny, who like us, used to live in Dursley had invited us to their 25th Wedding Anniversary with a party and barn dance at Midway Social Club at Yate. We enjoyed seeing them and although I don’t really understand dancing I have to say that the ‘caller’ was excellent – Neville Higgins, available for Parties, Dances, Wakes and Weddings according to his card.

Allison was kind enough to provide us with a bed for the night after the event and we went to Wotton Baptist Church with her this morning and surprised another group of old friends, not least by me wearing a tie! I blamed Allison saying she didn’t want a couple of scruffy boaters showing her up, it’s a good job they understand my sense of humour, as she’s the last person in the world to have said such a thing. Another friend and blog-reader from there (who had better remain anonymous) said she felt she knew our friends like Bones, from reading the blog. Oh yes says I, we had a drink with her Friday night, her she exclaimed, I’d always assumed Bones was a man! Oh dear Bones, I’ll have to be be clearer in what I write. 😉