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We did not have any fixed plans when we left the Llangollen and rather than come straight back home we turned North for Chester so Pauline could go to Manchester for an OU residential school. I headed on to Ellesmere Port for a couple of days at the boat museum and then back to meet at Chester for a night before Pauline left again for teaching and I continued single handing down the Shropshire Union to meet up again a week latter at Gnossal. We stocked up with Diesel at Turners (13.9p/liter) then down the Bratch (see last years trip for pictures) and on to Kidderminster mooring at Sainsbury's to provision. The next day out with the anchor again and down the Severn from Stourport to Worcester for an evening entertaining David and Ruth. We moored on the canal as it was raining hard most of the day. Then on down the Severn and onto the Avon at Tewksbury where we waited for a friend from New Zealand to join us for a couple of days. We then went on up the Avon stopping at Pershore, where there was Morris dancing in the pub, to Evesham where we spent a couple of days and Peter did the run home to mow the lawn, collect the mail and into London for a Met Club dinner. Everywhere on the Avon there was evidence of the floods - the worst in 50 years. We spent two days in Stratford basin to go to the theater - Merchant of Venice was brilliant and Measure for Measure which neither of us had seen.
Next stop was at Wilmcote where Pauline did a run home and I waited as we had fixed up for a half day course in Falconry. The course was very good and we had and introduction into how to train and handle the birds and then went out with a Harris hawk for a couple of hours. It was then the start of the run home up Lapworth onto The Grand Union, down the Hatton 21 (3.25 hours in the rain) and through Warwick. We were in no hurry so we diverted for a couple of days up to Newbold for another game of Skittles before the final run South down the Oxford and home - 10 weeks, 665 miles and 453 locks during which it rained so much we only had to water the plants on the roof twice.
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