and so to Saul

29th & 30th June

A quickie blog post this time, squeezed in between getting Sanity all clean and shiny as we are tied on the towpath here at Saul, and going out for a drink after dinner with the wrgies that are here already.

Yesterday was a day for exploring Gloucester – an excellent city, but very quiet on a Sunday. The National Waterways Museum is good value – much better than either Stoke Bruerne or Ellesmere Port as we last saw either of those.

I've taken a load of pictures of Gloucester Dock and the Johanna Lucretia, a topsail schooner apparently abandoned there. I'll have to do a serious photo gallery after we've finished at the Festival here.

Apart from that, the dock is a great place to sit and watch the world go by on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Today, we left the dock as soon as Llanthony Bridge could be opened (not during the rush hour), and boated steadily down to Rea Bridge, from where you can access the Tesco at Quedgeley. It's a bit of a trek – about 15 minutes, and the First Mate's Guide map is invaluable.

Fully stocked up, we set off again at around 11, and arrived at Saul Junction a bit over an hour later. We found our mooring OK – one of the other two boats sharing it with us, Callum and Sue on Kalamazoo (nice one, guys), were there already. The third boat should be Nackered Navvy with Roger and Sue Burchett, but they are still tied nearer the junction at the moment.

We've spent the afternoon cleaning and polishing, as I say, then we wandered down to the show site and made contact with the folks who are there already.

When I've finished this, I'll cook the spare perishable food for our last dinner on Sanity for a week – we'll be eating on the WRG camp from tomorrow. I'll try and keep to the regular posting schedule, but they'll be brief bits, I expect. Normal service should resume in the middle of next week.