"Well we can get in, not sure we'll get out again"

The boat that had arrived late last night was 

NB Little Gem,  they had come down from their mooring at Bidford in the late afternoon, a good few hours boating.  This morning, we all left together so shared the lock.  We picked their brains on moorings further down the river and what was going to be convenient for us.

Little Gem was going to whizz into a boat yard on the way to Evesham for one particular thing, the next town and next lock. 

Fine we said, we'll prep the lock and wait for you....  

The upper part of Evesham is wide and exposed to the gusting wind today, there were lock landings on both sides of the approach to the lock, with the wind blowing us sideways of course, it was a job mooring up onto the metal staging which was over the weir, mummmm my favourite!

Well I got to the lock and filled it.  We waited and waited, then David brought WaL in and we waited some more.  Eventually, we shut the gates and emptied it, then this dawning came over both of us that it was a shorter lock and we were going to have to diagonally across the lock and  to wiggle to get out again, certainly no room for us and NB Little Gem together...  

Almost as soon as the paddles were raised of course Little Gem came into view.  

David after healthy use of the bow thrusters and me on a rope, got the nose around the gate.  He moored up on the lock landing below the lock and I filled the lock again for the other boat.  

In the mean time, they in the wind and without the benefit of bow thrusters had moored up on the far wall, the wifely crew had tried to walk around to the lock but the tall metal gate was padlocked to prevent this, not overly helpful. 

But they were grateful for the open lock doors in the wind.  It was a surprisingly challenging lock in the wind for novice hirers I think.

So after all that palava,  we crept around the corner into Evesham, under the bridge and masses of moorings.  Quick Supermarket Sweep to Lidl and after watering up we set off five minutes behind a Share boat and agreed to share the next lock with them.

approaching Evesham bridge

Leaving Evesham's generous mooring, if you like swan poo everywhere....

Still pretty windy at the next one Chadbury lock, so as we arrived we went straight in.  The sharers of a nice looking Diamond boat said they were on the way back to Worcester to return it.  Two couples and they weren't enjoying the river much.  They were used to and preferred canals where you can moor wherever you want, which I really do understand, but I do love rivers, especially when they are so benign as now.

Well this lock was the same shorter type as Evesham, so we knew we'd have to wiggle again, but this one took about 15-20 minutes to exit.
But eventually we were out from behind the inward opening lower gates.

Quite a few cruisers on the Lower Avon which aren't worth a photo to my mind but this one was.

A lovely pretty stretch of the river and we moored up at Craycombe Turn moorings.  Only room for us and one other boat, but beautifully out in the countryside.

I took the following pictures, I really liked the changing light.

Mirror thing going on.

Supper was a highly artistic salad made by David with steamed salmon and crayfish tails.