The visitor moorings in Gloucester Docks just by the Severn lock are superbly situated if you want to be close to the noise and hubbub of the waterside bars and restaurants (shades of Gas Street Basin in Brum), but not really suitable for a humiliated Skipper who liked a certain amount of privacy and space to wander and dig. So once tea and buns were over we headed out of the central dock area through Llanthony Bridge to somewhere more cat friendly.

The docks refurbishment hadn’t quite got this far so the breakfast room view left a little to be desired, but on the mooring side was a large area of cleared ground, which suited Sir just fine.

We were tucked in nicely behind the lightship Sula which used to be an alternative therapy centre but is up for sale. We were quite tempted, but thought getting it to Cropredy Marina for the winter might be a challenge too far…

Anyway, the mooring proved eminently suitable, 100 yards from a 24hr Sainsburys one way, 200 yards from the attractions of the docks the other, and – at night – even a little picturesque.

The Avon takes a very circuitous route from Stratford to Tewkesbury: places that seem a long way apart on the river are a surprisingly few number of miles as the crow flies. Leaving Evesham just after lunch on Saturday, we’d hoped to make Pershore late afternoon, as indeed we did, after a pleasant wander: it’s as bad as the summit pound of the South Oxford canal for changing direction. The river’s very pretty around here away from the towns, although you need to beware of traps like the rope ferry on the way out of Evesham. Three blasts of the horn several hundred yards from the rope, and a chap scurries out, winds a big wheel frantically, and lowers the rope onto the river bed so you can pass without decapitating anyone. Guess they can’t get that much traffic around here!

We managed to get moored up right at the end of Pershore recreation grounds, where it turns into meadowland. A highly convenient spot: no more than a hundred yards from the football club, the high street and an Asda.

The view out the back was splendid: these pictures were all taken from the back deck of Song & Dance on Sunday morning. The Captain scored this overnight spot very highly indeed; the crew slightly less so, as a local mate-seeking cuckoo and a family of sedge warblers were extremely vocal both during the dawn chorus (at about 04:30) and the dusk chorus as well (at about bedtime).

A complete contrast to Evesham, a sunny Sunday morning and the high street was humming, the coffee shops full of happy looking people: a nice place to wander for a bit.

In the Abbey grounds we came across a well carved tree.

The Abbey itself (or what’s actually left of it) is now a parish church. The industrial strength buttressing suggests it had seen difficult times in the past! And we can’t recall ever seeing a complete village war memorial inside a church before.

With a side trip to Chippenham Folk festival looming closer, and a date with a marina in Tewkesbury, we could only stay the one night, so a light lunch, and some more meanderings beckoned: hardly a chore in such pleasant weather.

Starting to think about where we might go in 2016, and looking back on last summer’s expeditions, Song & Dance proved a pretty good way to be busy doing nothing.

Some people said it wasn’t a good summer weather-wise, but we tend to measure things by how often we need to don waterproofs to go boating, or merely decide to stay put until the weather improves. By that yardstick it was a pretty good year. From the week after Easter until just before the end of October we covered 735 miles afloat, working through 485 locks, and hardly ever needed to tog up or abandon boating plans.

In hindsight, the decision not to head into London in the July heat-wave and then attempt the passage from Limehouse back to Brentford was clearly the right one: maybe another year, once they manage to fix Limehouse Locks! The trips up our local waterways (Basingtoke Canal and Wey Navigation) were entirely delightful, and the River Nene and Middle Levels a distinct change from our more usual canals.

Wonder what 2016 will bring!

We we were rather reluctant to leave the Wey Navigation.We’d stayed a lot longer than originally planned, even allowing for a lengthy trip up the Basingstoke Canal to Odiham  and someone’s side trip to the Cotswolds. The section between Pyrford and Stoke Lock on the outskirts of Guildford is just delightful, a million miles from anywhere yet so close to home, as are Dapdune Wharf and the stretch to Godalming. Moorings were not always easy to find, but worthwhile when one did. The locks were a bit fierce if you were careless going uphill, but well maintained and perfectly manageable once you’d sussed the issues.

And there’s the bonus of lots of friends within easy reach, who could come and visit Biggles without too much difficulty, or provide help ferrying us around. Rather think we’ll be back!

Mind you, there’s one thing we won’t miss: the seeming obsession of local boaters in exploiting dreadful puns. We’d already come across Weyward Lass so I guess Weyward Lady  was hardly a surprise, and the day trip boat company Weydays just about forgivable. Less so are the narrowboat Wey Out towing a small tender Wey In, while Hem In Way seemed a tad literate. We kept thinking we were going to come across one called And Now, The Time Is Neer…

… or the one that got away!

Back at the boat on the Friday, washing all up-to-date, cook suitably gardened-out and broke, Biggles sunburnt from sitting in the middle of the lawn in bright sunshine for several days showing the next-door incomer who’s boss… and Fran spotted a huge fish circling the boat, fin out of the water, just like Jaws.

Apparently he/she’s a well known local resident, having set up home in the marina at least 15 years ago, A Ghost Carp, probably weighing in at over 25 pounds, and as yet no-one has managed to get it to take a lure, despite years of trying. Seems it’s often accompanied by some other large-ish Koi Carp, but we didn’t spot those.

Reluctant to spend another night in the marina, we set sail for the long haul across to The Anchor, (5 minutes to get out of the marina onto the navigation, 1 minute to moor up). Then stayed there through to Sunday, as Pauline, our temporary crew member from the trip south to Godalming, offered to pick one of us at home after returning the car and bring us back via Waitrose in time for Sunday lunch. Nice weather, nicely positioned pub, Father’s Day… it was a leisurely lunch!

Nice to be back on the boat again, as well.