Sunday 16 July
Bristol to Redditch to Bristol
Now, it would be impossible to do Bristol to Redditch to Bristol in a day at four miles an hour so you may be wondering what’s going on here…
It is our humans youngest grand-daughters first birthday in a few days so she is having her party today. Cleo (our human-half-sister I guess is the best way to describe her) drove down to collect us. Rosie and I lay in the foot wells in the back of her car; quite happy to travel in a car for a change, we just dozed.
Stopping off to collect Cleo’s other half – Steve – the journey took about two hours. Now, children’s parties are not really my thing so Rosie and I took refuge in Leigh’s mums house whilst the humans attended the party. I have no idea what went on although I did hear that Leigh had fun on the bouncy-castle (I thought they were for the children?!) and all the adults and children had a fun day. The cake – made by Vince, who is the daddy of baby Isla – was gorgeous and Gemma, baby Isla’s mummy, was a super-attentive host.
Our journey home was a little more adventurous than the outward journey. Cleo drove us all back to Cheltenham (where she and Steve live) where Leigh and Tom had a cup of coffee before walking Rosie and me to the railway station. We then jumped on (literally – theres a massive gap between the platform and a train you know) the train to find our ‘reserved seats’ were taken. Leigh asked the man in her seat if he would ‘give it up’ so that the three of us could ‘get out of the way’ and Tom let the lady who was sitting in his seat remain there. She had a broken foot – poor woman!
The train was packed to overflowing. I am sure that this must be dangerous – how about if there was an accident, or someone suffered a heart attack? There really wasn’t more than a couple of inches between faces. I wondered to myself how the train companies regulate ‘number of passengers’. Taxis and buses are regulated (I think) so why not trains?
Boy, were we glad to reach Bristol Temple Meads station and take a leisurely stroll back to the boat. Leigh and Tom decided to go out for dinner – at a rather nice restaurant in the Bristol Hotel which we we moored close to – and Rosie and I slept. I really don’t mind trains but today’s over-full journey was not my idea of fun! There wasn’t even any room for me to lick Rosie’s ear or for Leigh to stroke me; it felt like being a human in a post-Christmas ‘Next’ sale-queue.
Woofs, Martha x
Monday 17 July
Bristol to Saltford
As Leigh was working today we planned just a fairly short cruise up to Saltford. We were actually hoping to book into the marina – usually great for wifi for work and launderettes for our ever-growing pile of washing.
However, the marina was full and, being on the Wiltshire Avon, moorings were very fewandfarbetween.
Although the Avon is a pretty river (this is not the Warwickshire Avon) there are definitely fewer moorings and it is not as well catered for – in our experience anyway. Eventually we came to a stretch of the river where several boats had jungle-moored. Now, for those of you not in the know, jungle-mooring is a tad like wild-camping. It is not illegal but you do it at your own risk. The only real risk with jungle mooring is that you have to put a gang-plank from the boat to the towpath to enable you to exit the boat. Now, this in itself is not a problem unless…you have to put the plank across from the bow and you have a static cratch like ours.
Here’s a small story about our cratch: when we bought the boat we loved the style of the cratch-cover. A cratch-cover fits over the bow and is usually removable, but ours is static – it’s super for when you want to lie in the bow of the boat, reading or simply relaxing. When we cruise we get lots of people (boaters and walkers) shouting, ‘I love your cratch’ or ‘I love the front of your boat’. The down side is that it’s a nightmare to try and exit the boat from the bow with the cover blocking your way. The guy we bought the boat off was a live-aboard – but we now know he could not have been a live-aboard ‘boater’. Leigh has to bend, stretch, struggle and flex her body in order to jump off the bow (when needed to tie up etc) and as for Tom…it’s hilarious watching him try to get on and off the bow. Leigh swears that one day she will just smash it off in frustration. We need to be somewhere for long enough to get it hinged – that’s the answer really I guess. So, jungle-mooring and trying to get on and off the boat via a plank is not our idea of fun. I found it fairly easy – Leigh says I am over-confident – but Rosie was very wary. Leigh ‘managed’ and Tom…well you just had to watch him. Yelp!
Woofs, Martha x
Tuesday 18 July
Saltford to Bath
I’m dog-tired. After a short hop from our jungle-mooring to a very nice morning right by Victoria Bridge in Bath, we spent today exploring.
Weather wise it has been another warm and sunny day so, although we had a few stops – some unplanned when Rosie just plonks down and won’t walk for a couple of minutes – Rosie and I are happy to be home and staying in tonight.
I won’t labour Bath’s beauty but…places like the Crescent and the Circus are simply grand and charming and inspiring.
I love the style of these – the long, sweeping curves of the buildings are inspirational. No wonder books and films use these for locations. Jane Austen – I haven’t read her myself, but Leigh has – must have found writing a doddle with so much to inspire her. (Leigh told me off for this – she says ‘serious writers’ do not find things a doddle – Yelp!)
I could write forever about Bath but…you just need to see it, to feel the place and to explore the little back alleys. Reading about it is not enough! Oh, and you’ll need at least two or three full days to really get a full experience.
As we meandered we spotted lots of students in their graduation ceremonial dress having their photo’s taken; I love it when they throw their hats up in the air with gay abandon – as they always do. Leigh will be doing so later this year; she had her results today and has passed her English Literature and Language degree with a 2:1 classification – not bad for an old gal! She can now use B.A (Hons) and E.L.L (Open) after her name…I wonder if I can too – as I surely helped her with all that studying. She stroked me when stressed – it calms humans down you know, petting a dog. She only had to mutter, ‘What’s another word for…?’, and I would bark in reply, ‘Look in the dratted thesaurus, you dope’.
Without me she wouldn’t have had anywhere near as much writing practice. I reckon I’m entitled. I may even go to the graduation with her.
Woofs, Martha B.A. (Hons) E.L.L. (Open) C.C. (Crazy Canine)
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