Rock ’n’ Roll on the move and a very special day ...

 We’re all in place ... George on the tiller, Molly in her bed on the roof and I’ve got my camera!

 It was a beautiful calm day on Thursday as we reversed out of our mooring slot

 There’s the exit/entrance to the marina but we’re not going out ...

 ... we’re going for fuel and gas ...

 The services at Droitwich Spa Marina.  The work going on in the background will be a reception/admin building to replace the temporary metal cabin you can see

 All done and we head back ...

 ... in the bright sunshine to our mooring ...

... once again.

Last night (Friday) we invited Becky and Mark (from the boat on the left in this picture) round for drinks and had a really good evening.  I remember looking at the clock just before 10pm and what seemed no more that half an hour later it was half past 2!

45 years ago today!

A bit choppy!

We’ve been rather busy of late.

George has been helping out Stuart at Lambon Boats most days with the painting preparation on Still Rockin’ and I’ve been packing up Rock ’n’ Roll ready for the take over by Ann and Kev on 1st March as well as starting on the curtains for Still Rockin’.

We’ve only a few days left now living aboard our narrowboat and life will change rather drastically after the 1st of March when we will be ‘downsizing’!  Watch this space!

In the meantime, Molly still needs a bit of exercise and so when the wind appeared to drop a bit yesterday we took a walk just around the marina.  Our mooring here at Droitwich Spa Marina is in the lee of the locks as is fairly well sheltered from the winds so it was a ‘bit' of a surprise when we reached the ‘other corner’ of the marina and wind nearly blew both of us off our feet!

Not nearly as rough as in places further south around the Thames and the Oxford areas.  We appear to be getting off quite lightly here in the midlands although the River Severn at Worcester is doing its best to make life difficult for house dwellers.

To all our fellow boaters and blog readers ... stay safe, stay dry, stay warm.

The new kid on the block ...

We saw this youngster with its parents a couple of days ago on the Driotwch Canal whilst we were out walking, the following day they were all in the marina and now he’s on his own but seems to like it and is sticking around visiting the pontoons forever hopeful!

First Snowdrop

It was yesterday morning in the glorious sunshine as we walked into Droitwich along the towpath ...

... the snowdrops were at the side of a bench and I couldn’t keep Molly out of the picture as she ‘picked up the messages’ left by other passing dogs!

Spring is in the air!

A wonderful sight at the marina this morning - let’s hope that the rest of winter stays as mild as it has thus far - we can but live in hope!

Around the marina

When I first saw this impressive building from the top locks of the Droitwich Canal I thought it must be Hanbury Hall but on further investigation realise that it’s actually Hadzor Hall. 

It’s a private house built by English architect Mathew Habershon in 1827 for a Mr Howard Galton and the address of the newer houses you can see is Habershon Court, Galton Way, Hadzor! 

The empty side pond at lock 2.  C&RT have been monitoring the flow of water from the locks into the river Salwarpe during the heavy rains we’ve had recently.

There’s Rock ’n’ Roll down there in Droitwich Spa Marina

Looking up toward Droitwich Top Lock ...

... and its rather grand new ‘shed'

Looking down the 3 locks towards the town of Droitwich about a mile away

Droitwich Spa Marina - our mooring is at the far end on the right.

A murmuration of starlings above the marina.

A change in the weather

It started off as a lovely day this morning and I managed to wash down the front cratch canopy with a mild solution of Milton steriliser to remove the green algae; it seems to have worked well.  I left it a couple of hours to dry in the warm sunshine before spraying it with waterproofer and hoped that it would dry quickly as the sky was starting to cloud over.  

It was about 15 minutes later that it started to rain, just a bit to start with and then heavens opened ... just as I’m writing this post!  The lights are on inside and the wind, hail and rain is making a hell of a din on the roof and now its thunder and lightening!  The weather tomorrow is rain, rain, rain ... I’m so glad that we’ve nowhere to go!

In the meantime ....

...  away from Still Rockin’ ... life continues back on board Rock ’n’ Roll ...

... the cassette toilet is in and varnished.  The fit has not allowed for a door so Stuart has made a sliding hatch that works perfectly.

 Mark and Becky on the next pontoon had spoken to us about ‘George’ who visits for bread, and for the past few days these two have been visiting us so we’ve named them George and Mildred.  If we’re not in the galley they’ll walk up and down the pontoon looking for us in each window and giving us a knock - cheeky beggars!

As in lots of areas throughout the UK it was beautiful here in Droitwich on Sunday and whilst George was busy I took Molly for a walk along the canal towards the town.

This is lock 7 and to the right of the picture is the weir which flows into the River Salwarpe and at the bottom of this lock the canal joins the river which was unnavigable as the level was well into  the red board.  You may just be able to see the bridge beyond the lock under which it was flooded to about 12” - time to turn back me thinks.

That same old chestnut ...

... toilets!
When we had Rock ’n’ Roll built we chose a pump-out system but changed it about 18-months ago to a composting loo and today ...

 ... the composter has been removed and the pipes and electrics exposed ...

 ... Steve is checking out both the water and electrical connections ...

 ... prior to fitting a Thetford cassette toilet for Rock ’n’ Roll’s new owners

Stuart (Barn Owl Boats) will be back tomorrow to fit the wooden panel over the ‘back’ of the loo for the removal of the cassette and to make good the wall behind it.

Me thinks ...

 It’s going to be ...

... very cold tonight here at Droitwich Marina.