Narrowboat Vegvisir

We had a little break from the boat as we both had a heap of things to do back on the bank. At Saul Junction you can moor for up to 14 days, so we locked everything up tight and trusted that the solar panels would keep the bilge pump and fridge ticking over. The journey north was fairly intricate: 2 mile walk to Whitminster  Bus to Gloucester  Train to Birmingham  Train to Crewe Train to Nantwich Walk across town and drive home. Then a mad few days and on the 7th day reverse the process, except that this time the trains were Crewe: Stafford: Cheltenham: Gloucester. And we caught our bus with seconds to spare, so we got back just before sunset instead of 45 minutes afterwards . And the batteries were fine, 12.8 volts. Wouldn't have wanted to be much longer though. Before heading north, we took a walk along the western end of the Stroudwater.  There is a short navigable section leading to a marina, with long term moorings.  It's a huge marina:

The weather forecast threatening a dollop of rain around 10am before the main event in the evening,  we set off fairly promptly on the 2 mile walk to Whitminster bus stop.  This is St. Andrew's,  Saul, looking imposing in the murk: It was great to be back in Stroud, checking out the shops, old and new,  and the market. Prices pretty fierce but treated ourselves to local  honey, and a Tree of Life silhouette.  We had lunch at an old haunt, The Retreat.  It brought back memories from Rotaract when we had a number of lock-ins in the downstairs room. While there, we got the news that our train on Friday was cancelled. Worse, the first train north was not until 12 noon - hopeless. So we had a brainstorm and decided to travel from Saul on Monday, as we are on 14 day moorings. Booked tickets and sorted refunds then and there. The main event, though, was of course the canal. We finally got around to becoming members of the Cotswold Canals Trust,