One of the Best Mooring Spots in the Country!

Friday 25th and Saturday 26th July, 2014 in Stratford.
Yet more sunny days.  On Friday, M took the early train home and, after waving her off with (a) a tear in his eye; (b) a sigh of relief or; (c) a cheer (you decide!), R had second breakfast in Costa and girded his loins for the tasks ahead.
Actually, it all proved to be quite easy. The lock down on to the river is a wide lock and one's performance is watched critically by huge crowds of "gongoozlers" (those who sit and watch at locks, half hoping to see you mess up). However, the narrowboat moored immediately in front of MM was also going down on to the river, so we paired up and went through the lock together. As there were four "crew"on nb "Keynsham", R was able to take it easy as they worked the lock for both boats.

Once on the river, they turned downstream whilst R turned upstream to the local marina to do a much needed pump-out. Once the poo-tank was empty (hooray!!!), R sailed back down past the RSC Theatre.  All the moorings opposite the Theatre were taken, so he started to moor up a bit downstream when, fortunately, nb "Tom Bombadil" left the mooring immediately opposite the Theatre and R quickly moved in.  It felt appropriate that one Tolkien themed boat should take the place of another!
This has got to be one of the best mooring spots in the country - right opposite the RSC and all for £5 per night!

R definitely deserved a reward for finding such a brilliant mooring and so took himself off to see Henry IV, part 2 in the evening. Before going in to the performance he took a photograph of MM from the balcony of the RSC.

On Saturday morning, R caught up with some work for Peter and Capture before exploring the centre of Stratford. At teatime he met M at the station and both went for afternoon tea in a lovely old tearoom that we had seen earlier.
Back at MM, there was time to relax and watch the activity on the river and the hundreds of people in the park. We put out the picnic chairs and treated ourselves to a gin and tonic.

Many passers-by stopped to admire MM and M's flowers and we had long conversations with some of them. In particular, Robert and Tammy from King's Lynn wanted to know all about narrowboats as they were seriously considering getting one for themselves. M took them for a tour inside and while they were on board, R noticed a little Taiwanese lady crouched down, peering through the windows. She spoke very little English, but R invited her on board to have a look around and she thanked us in the most charming manner, repeatedly thanking us by bowing to us with clasped hands.
We also got to know Stuart and Dawn with their friend Carolyn on nb "Green Man" moored up behind us. Their boat was brand new, only on its second outing. We shared a bottle of wine together as the sun went down.

As a result, dinner was a bit late, but the Theatre provided unexpected entertainment in the dusk. Opposite us were the dressing rooms for the actors, who don't appear ever to draw their curtains and so we were vastly amused to see a procession of kings, noblemen, knights in shining armour and other sixteenth century riff-raff going up and down the stairs between their dressing rooms and the stage.

We felt that we had almost seen the play - and it was all for free!

Three Days: A Very Short Distance, 1 lock and 6.7 hours
Trip:  90 miles, 85 locks and 82.5 hours