Circe

I would definitely recommend it if you ever get the chance. Lovely river - one of our favourites

You’ve not done the Avon? The lock landing is on the opposite bank. That is a designated mooring spot (with signs indicating this). Many of the Avon locks work like this, but not all.

I don't think that would have bothered him particularly (he never gets off the boat and actually managed to do a full 6 week summer holiday on board once!). If I put a pic of the mooring up, you'd see why it was a problem - but the moored boat is then identifiable. Does the aerial view help? There was slightly more space to the right of the picture than the left, but the bank curves in and I remember more bushes there than in the pic. Plus yon bloke was fishing there...

We were much earlier than that and mooring alongside would have been absolutely fine with us if he had let us. Chap was fishing when we talked to him, so no imminent telly. Maybe we caught him in a bad mood on a bad day? If our boy could have seen no space, he would have got that. There was space though - just not enough at either end of the mooring to fit on. Ah well. Still planning on another hire in the near future

Must have passed you too yesterday on our way up to Valley Cruisers to drop the boat off! Hope the flight opens again soon, but Bancroft Basin is a lovely place to be stranded at least. Good to hear boating as we know it happens in other places - there's no other way of doing it really. Plus you meet great people along the way. What's not to love? Before we know it we're going to be looking for another boat :)

Don't blame you at all! Given half a chance we'd have been doing the same! We're already planning more boat time, so we'll make sure we say hello properly next time we see you

?

Having said that he’s denying occupying two spaces. ? I sent him photos so he’s blocked me now! Ah well...

We did! Almost certainly was us (although unusually not me at the helm!) We’re moored at Valley Cruisers now - going to have a potter around town once we’ve got our car back... and a stiff drink or three.

...And he’s apologised!

It’s his personal account rather than a group. I’ve sent him a very polite direct message! We’re past last night now and if it even helps him to reflect a little about the impact he could have on others in the future then I’m good with that.

Someone's found him on Facebook for us...

Genius!

Didn’t want to break any forum rules. Should I name and shame? I’m still grumbling about him this morning but son is much happier now. The thing we always loved about boating was the acceptance. Plus the boy sleeps better and is generally much happier afloat. Might start thinking about France. Something to ponder for next summer That’s really not good. Grumpy is one thing but the me-me-me culture is entirely something else. We have a TV on the hire boat but haven’t had it on yet. We’re clearly doing it wrong ?

Left before you were round and about this morning so couldn’t say hello! We did wave though. Enjoy the onward journey

Loving that as an idea! ? i have no idea what the picture is and am feeling bad now that my first thread in years is a whinge. Thank you all for being lovely and reassuring me that he’s just a plonker in a world full of much more lovely people

We’re at Welford lock now - are you the boat at the end furthest from the lock? If so, we’re by the lock and relieved to be moored up. Will definitely wave when we see you tomorrow. We’re in one of the Kate Boats fleet. We knew about the Wilmcote flight (thanks for the heads-up though) - we’ve only got to get as far as Valley Cruisers in Stratford and The lovely people at Kate Boats will rescue us from there.

Sounds really good. We’re getting out and about now a bit more but missing the cut like mad. We’re not quite at the boat hunting stage but once our middle son moves into adult residential, I think we might take the plunge again. Although doing Europe does sound incredibly appealing. Any regrets about giving up the water?

Hello you! Lovely to ‘see’ you. How are you both doing? Last time we spoke you were planning on Europe on land. Hope all is going well x

See, that’s how we remember it. Please tell me things haven’t changed! We always shuffled up or let people moor abreast. Have some gorgeous friends still from our boating days and have been thinking about getting another boat...

Love that! I was tempted to use part of the moorings, rope the rest of the boat up in some undergrowth and then light a barbecue by his drying washing. Hubby is far more grown up than me though ? Yes we were (and are) up north. Always a narrow beam though!

Hoping there might be a couple of old timers on here who might just remember me. We had a very loved narrowboat, which we sold a couple of years back when my hubby became ill and then changed jobs. We’re finally back on the water (in a hire boat) and smiling so hard you can probably see it from where you are! Or we were. Our middle boy is severely autistic so we generally look for quiet moorings and he likes following what we’re doing on the map, flapping and bouncing all the way. We’re on the Avon today, heading towards Stratford, so it made sense to avoid Bidford and use the moorings above the lock at Bidford Grange (also known as Pilgrim Lock) - from past experience, those are generally not used much at all. Today, there was a single 60ft boat right in the middle of the mooring. We went to chat to the chap who point blank refused to move either up or down the mooring as he’d “just tuned his satellite dish and didn’t want to move (in a straight line) to let us moor up. Meanwhile, our son is becoming hysterical because he doesn’t understand what’s going on (he can see there is space but hasn’t quite got the hang of how long the boat is!) Bloke on mooring is still refusing either to let us moor alongside or shift his boat. Have the waterways really changed that much? We always loved the cameraderie, acceptance and genuine kindness we found when we were afloat. Sorry for the rant. I so feel like naming and shaming. Grrrrrr!

I dunno - we haven't gone back by then...

Well done, Martin. Glad it's all gone smoothly for you. Here's to new adventures

I get ridiculous allergic reactions to insect bites (often involving being a hospital in-patient), but have found that Boots own brand repellent (the cream in the silvery tube) containing Deet is brilliant at repelling them. I slather it on twice a day and have no problems. Would thoroughly recommend it. I agree with SueH - a daily antihistamine is also a good preventative measure.