Smiles all round on a lovely day ...

 Look at that grin as George sees the progress on Still Rockin'

Lesley and Joe will recognise this place ...

 … they introduced us to Hartlebury Common

 … when they came to visit us on Friday last week.

The long-horn cattle were wandering the paths and took not a scrap of notice of the numerous dogs and walkers

 Large areas of trees have been harvested

 Looking over Stourport

Thank you Lesley for introducing us to this lovely place and for yours and Joe’s company yesterday, we had a great time.

Shopping days

After calling in at Lambon Boats yesterday morning to see progress on our new boat build Still Rockin …

Beautiful!

… we made a visit to Channel Glaze where we met with Suzanna and Dave to discuss our window requirements for Still Rockin’.  All we need to do now is to order them pronto; the way this build is going we’ll need them all too soon!

The red sky last night brought us ice on the water this morning!

Our daily trip to Lambon Boats ... and there’s more progress - a bow thruster tube!
For more pictures on our wide beam build click here!

This after noon has been taken up with phone calls to firm-up information regarding solar panels (probably Panasonic 240w), the Beta 75 engine, the size of the Axiom propeller, and a Schilling Rudder.
It’s all go!

What a great day!

We had a visit today from Lesley and Joe and after a visit to Lambon Boats to show off our new build wide beam Still Rockin’ they took us to do a walk that they used to enjoy whilst their boat Yarwood was being built by the same fabricator.

 On the Common ...

… and ready to step out!

 The weather couldn’t have been better to see the views ...

… over Stourport-on-Severn ...

… and the longhorn cattle 

Hartlebury Common is a site of Special Scientific Interest and there were signs of what appeared to be quite severe management in the cutting down of broad leaf trees

After a good walk we were ready for lunch and so made our way to The Bay Horse - blimey what a line up!! [edited as per Lesley’s comment]

It was lovely to spend the day with Lesley and Joe, lots of catch-up, laughter and great company!

A birthday weekend runabout

Well, what a weekend we’ve had! It was our youngest’s birthday (he won’t appreciate me telling you that he’s now 42 though, so I won’t).

Mark came to collect us to spend the weekend in Shropshire and took us via Lambon Boats to see the start of our new wide beam build.

Friday late afternoon saw me and daughter-in-law Ange with grand-daughter Lucy shopping in Wolverhampton for school shoes whilst George helped Mark with some heavy work in the garden.

Saturday morning we collected … 

 our ‘runaround’ transport which we’ll use for the next 6 months during the new build and then sell again.

After the excitement of our first drive the afternoon was very relaxed (for me anyway) while Ange cooked a delicious roast dinner for all of us including Ange’s parents too.

17:15 from the garden - spectacular!

Sunday was a retail therapy day to Ikea for some new furniture ideas for the new boat - good stuff!

After another lovely meal cooked by the lovely Ange we made our way home to Rock n  Roll in our new car and made visit number 2 to see how Still Rockin’ was progressing this morning.

All in all - a fantastic weekend!

A quiet life at Droitwich

Taken by George on Wednesday evening - the light is from the galley of Rock n Roll where I’m preparing dinner, it looks like a cold night to come ...

 … and it was well below freezing as I made the morning cuppa just after 8am ...

Thick frost covers the pontoon when an hour later George takes Molly out for a walk.

A beautiful sky

Steam rising from the shell of RnR ...

… it’s going to be a beautiful day!

Great news … we’ve just heard that the steels have arrived to enable the start of our new boat built, click here to see more!

The morning after ...

After 12 hours of incessant rain yesterday ...

… dusk at 5:15 was pretty spectacular!

 … and this morning ...

… was pretty spectacular too!

The final leg ...

Sunday morning 3rd November 9am we left our mooring at Stoke Wharf and approached the first of the Stoke Locks; only 14 more to do so not such a busy today!

 We’re into our locking rhythm with George preparing the next lock as I descend the one above

 Coping stones on the last couple of locks - Josheph Hamblet, West Bromwich, 1893.  
The last of the Stoke locks 

Passing moored hire boats at Black Prince’s depot at Stoke Prior.  Some boats were moored 4 abreast so there wasn’t much room for manoeuvre; I just hoped that I’d not meet anything coming in the opposite direction!

We cruised slowly past a couple of angling matches and today they were all in good spirits, saying hello and having a bit of a banter with us.

I do hope though that they caught more than just a cold today, it must have been freezing sitting there!

Just enough time for a cuppa and to look at the views and we arrive at the next flight of 6 locks

The rather nice lock cottage at bridge 40 as I descend lock 18

Half past twelve and we’re at the bottom with a view towards Droitwich and the busy M5

The only boat to passed us today was a canoe!

Hanbury Junction … straight on under the bridge goes through Worcester to the River Severn but we’re turning right here onto the restored Droitwich Canal

Lock 1and we have a glimpse of our destination through the trees ...

Two of the first three locks on the canal have side-ponds partly emptying and filling the lock into the side-pond via side sluices

click here for video and explanation of how these work on the Droitwich Canal

Our destination … Droitwich Spa Marina.
This is where we’ll stay for the next 5 months or so until our new boat is built and is ready for us to commence cruising once more.