We were rather taken with Tewkesbury, and on our return from Chippenham/home had resolved to explore further and visit the Abbey. There seem to be lot of Abbeys on the Avon for some reason.

Anyway after driving back with a car load of clean clothes, and with the Captain safely reinstalled in his Captain’s chair on the boat, we set off for a quick curry. Most curry houses these days have “Chef’s Specials” or “House Recommendations” above and beyond the bog-standard standard CTM/Biryani/Bhuna/Madras/whatever concoctions, and if one goes off-piste on the menu, one occasionally comes across a dish rather hotter (or sometimes less hot) than expected. We can safely say that at Panache we came across our first two-hanky poppadum.  Ordering the standard “two plain, two spicy” to nibble while we cogitated, halfway through the first spicy one we were already wondering if we had enough napery to make it through to dinner proper. The food was indeed excellent and memorable.

But enough of runny noses: some pictures of a wander around Tewkesbury in some pleasant warm sunshine on the Thursday morning…

Some doorways and cottages on main street.

This ginnel led to an Old Baptist Chapel complete with graveyard looking out over the Ham lands, lying between the River Avon and the River Severn…

… and it came complete with a snoozing Old Baptist Chapel Court Cat.

These cottages at the “end” of the Avon navigation – where a big sluice drops the water down to the Severn level – have a lovely view of the Ham, definitely the largest wild-flower meadow we’ve seen this trip!

Some more old buildings (and another cat) – and we haven’t even been round the Abbey yet.