Today started by locking down on to the River Severn.  A passer-by commented that it was unusual to see “her” driving the boat and “him” working the lock machinery.  I have always assumed that a confident (or probably over-confident) male starts by driving while a timid female defaults to operating the locks.  If unchecked this quickly spirals in to him being the only one who ever drives.  I don’t think that would suit either of us.  For the record, Clare’s driving is far better than the average you meet on the canal.

We decided to try out our new life-jackets for the river section.  You don’t plan to fall in to a river, but if you do, you might be unable to stand up or reach the boat, unlike in a canal.  We switched to diesel for our passage up the Severn, switching back to electric only for the passage through the two locks.  This brought our battery bank to fully charged by the time we arrived at Stourport.

The basin was quite crowded, but we found a spot to moor.  While Clare was making lunch I spotted a better spot where we could also fill up with water.  I really enjoyed the way Bartimaeus  can spin round in her own length and drive sideways for single-handed mooring operations.

We set out for a more rural mooring this evening – and charged our glasses too!