Bartimaeus

We set off and got another lock done. This one was very pretty and planted out with flowers. There was a repurposed mill beside it, and on exit there was an attractive view. There were warning signs to look out for other boats as the channel was narrow for a little and the view ahead restricted.

We didn't meet anything, and it would only be an issue to meet a double width boat. The waterways are pretty quiet and despite being a series of double width locks in the river, we haven't seen many wide boats.

We are meeting more cormorants and herons than boats. For change they were both perched in the same tree. Shane had alerted me to 'two cormorants' but when I looked I pointed out the lower one was a heron. When we got close the heron , closer to water level, took flight, while the cormorant was unperturbed.

It was a lovely sunny day. Shane knew there was a mooring at a pub, but not if it would be open for lunch. It wasn't hard to spot with a host of umbrellas and flags flying. It wasn't that windy so they didn't move much and on discovering the place was open and provided electricity, Shane's mind was made up to have an outside terrace lunch and hook up overnight. Another boat arrived as we were finishing up eating and Shane went down to assure them they could moor alongside if they didn't think they fitted on the remaining jetty. I joined them to help rope up the bow. They were a shorter boat so I went along the gunwale to fetch their rope from the other woman. I tied their rope on our bow and when I turned round her husband had arrived and was on our gunwale reaching out to take the rope. He handed it to her and disappeared to the back to slacken, off as it was too tight there to pull the fronts in together. The woman then looked slightly flustered saying she didn't usually do ropes, she worked locks and he had left her with an untied end and she was possibly even less sure of tying up on a river. I went back along the gun whale to get on to their boat and tied it off for her.

They joined us for a swift drink and then sped on as they had an ambitious schedule that involved keeping moving dawn to dusk. They had met two closed pubs over the previous two days though, so had been keen to take advantage of a refreshment opportunity. 

We took advantage of the electric hook up and good weather to run the washing machine too. Then while it ran took the opportunity to look round the village. There was the odd thatched house with thatch birds.

There didn't seem any more businesses, apart from a marina and caravan park. The pub was working at keeping up it's clientele. By the time we returned from the walk they were offering afternoon tea or coffee and cake. We resisted. Meanwhile another boater with a shorter boat had arrived for a pint and fitted on the jetty easily.

Due to recent news of marches and conflicts over flags, I admit to not being enthused by seeing three outside the pub on approach, but minority extremists don't represent everyone who is proud of their country or who wants to put bunting up for a party or support their football team. These were permanent flagpoles not a reaction to. It was a successful stop all round. We had a tasty meal, a warm welcome and a timely battery top up. Shane took the time to swap over batteries and  then he tried the engine. Someone on the terrace whose first language was not English was enjoying a coffee and chatting throughout, looked up, hearing the engine and smiled when Shane called out 'it works!"

When we left in the morning the wind was brisker and made for a better flag display.

At the next lock, Shane decided he was due a chance at working a lock, so grabbed the windlass. I was a bit nervous as I had hardly been aboard during the Avon locks with their rule about tying up fore and aft. They had been gentle so far so probably there was little to do and Shane hadn't had any trouble. I was all the more perplexed to find it was the diamond shaped lock we had been told about. The lone boater who had mentioned it to us had noticed the ladder placement was unsuitable for a long boat. He had a short boat so had managed alright. I can see no advantage to this shape, it surely uses far more water than necessary .

Shane worked the lock and it looked very stiff to turn so it looked like I had lucked out with him choosing to work it. 

When we arrived at the next mooring I was driving and again feeling a bit unsure about driving in to moor. Still all was gentle and I needn't be flustered. Just as well as Shane spotted a better place once we had got ropes ashore, so I did it all again. Thank goodness I hadn't bothered turning the boat round to face upstream.

As we prepared to step off at the new spot, we saw a fluttering, and couldn't believe our eyes. The Avon has been great for bird life, and kingfishers particularly, but a midday bat was extraordinary. It flew over the water, fluttered over the boat, close enough to see it's furry body and over the grass and disappeared behind a tree. The trees looked full of holes that could easily house a bat.

It reappeared when we were crossing the park to look for lunch, maintaining its fluttering flight above us for several minutes, making our day.

We had a very successful lunch in town in a very friendly deli cafe.  Another diner was also very appreciative of the service and food that came his way, and chatted to us strangers too. He was having a good day too it seemed and hadn't even seen a daytime bat, as far as we know.

We had noticed in Evesham that all along the high street there were local flags mentioning a battle outside most of the shops. The battle had been it's main aspect of historic interest and was connected to the abbey. Here we saw the High street similarly adorned with a local flag. They weren't all the same colour but they did all have the same picture.

It had the slightly odd combination of the phrase "Welcome to our Georgian town" but depicted a few pre-georgian attractions, an eleventh century abbey, a medieval bridge and a hill. Admittedly the folly on the hill was Georgian and the bridge was remodelled a couple of times. It remains an attractive place to visit.

We went to visit the abbey and were fortunate enough to arrive when the organist was practising. We watched with interest his feet and hands playing together, quite a feat of coordination. When he came to the end of a piece and was looking out his next piece of music  I clapped lightly and he looked up and smiled, giving thanks for the appreciation. A "welcomer" who spoke to us later told us this was their regular organist and he was very good. It definitely added to our enjoyment. A little flattery was due for his fine playing of a fine set of pipes.