Gloucester docks, Monday 27th July
Looking around the docks today, there was another blast from the past for me. The schooner ‘Kathleen and May’ was in one of the dry docks for cleaning and painting the underwater parts of the hull. I saw her last in 1958 or 1959 when I sailed my dinghy around her off Shoreham as she was under full sail on passage to Plymouth.
In the next dry dock was a square rigged 3 masted barque named ‘Earl of Pembroke’; she was built in Sweden in 1948, engaged in the timber trade between the Baltic and the east coast of England until 1974 when she was laid up in Denmark.
We walked along the canal bank, noting a security problem with one moored boat; (see photo) and found the newly opened Sainsbury’s store next to Llanthony bridge. We investigated further and ended up eating a breakfast on the terrace overlooking the canal in sunshine – wonderful! I would have given them 10 out of 10 for the new store but for the hideous notice above the STAFF entrance.
It proclaimed ‘Colleague Entrance’. I must contact my broker without delay and tell him to sell my complete shareholding. Lord Sainsbury or whoever is running the show, please note: this is ENGLAND definitely not America.
A visit to the Gloucester Quays designer outlet produced the inevitable and predictable result. We spent some money. Myra bought a swimsuit and I bought a pair of waterproof trousers; you can work out which of us is the pessimist and which the optimist. For those of you with a sweet tooth, there is a Cadbury’s outlet shop; do not bother with the bags of mis-shapes. They contain only three varieties, toffee, strawberry crème and a fondant crème egg type. (or so I am led to believe)
In the afternoon, we arrived at the cathedral just in time for a tour of the tower.
This time, we climbed 265 steps and enjoyed the building and the information given by the two guides. This small corner of England certainly has some very beautiful cathedrals and churches, owing mainly to it’s importance in days of old.
2009 Totals: 420 Locks – 734 miles – 20 Bus pass uses.
