We set-off in the rain towards our first stop, a pub about two hours from the boatyard. Here was our lovely view.
In part one, I mentioned the green plants, called Duckweed, that clogged up the filters. It's thick and covers much of the river. Here's a look at it.
We passed this boat and liked the name.
When we reached the pub, there were boats everywhere. We were struggling to find a place to moor, when a woman shouted out and offered her help. She tied us to a boat, which was tied at the mooring. We had to climb over the other boat, to get to the dock. It turns out, the woman was the owner of the pub and not the owner of the other boat. The owners of the other boat were sitting inside, watching us, totally clueless as to what was happening. Luckily, they were very nice and just found the whole situation to be amusing. We watched the pub owner organize all of the boats and get a good crowd into her restaurant. Smart woman.
The rain had slowed down to a light sprinkle by the time we were eating dinner at The Lazy Otter, but everything was sopping wet as we walked up to the pub.
Even though we had only been on the boat for a couple of hours, I still felt scruffy coming to dine at The Lazy Otter. Despite the stuffed otter on the wall, it's an upscale-casual pub with an eclectic menu. I would have liked to have shown up looking a little more presentable. It's hard to get rid of the moldy boat smell!
I took the servers suggestion for a particular cider and ended up with the weakest, most water-downed cider that I've ever consumed. Elephant piss. Ick. Undrinkable. I had to send it back. The food was marvelous. I started with a summer pear salad and had a citrus salmon over couscous for my main. Delicious. Dan ordered a pate to start and fish n' chips for his main. The kids had mac and cheese. Felix liked his so much, that he ordered a second bowl!
On vacation or on days that end in "Y", desserts are mandatory. We ordered an assortment, but the Death by Chocolate Cup was to die for!
With two potentially noisy kids and not wanting to bother the neighbors, we untied our boat and headed away from The Lazy Otter to find a spot to moor for the night. We ended up placing stakes on the riverbank, next to a busy bridge and this beautiful piece of local art.
We had to turn the lights out early to conserve energy and as soon as we turned them off and got settled into bed, the rain started up again. I fell asleep listening to the rain and the cars crossing the bridge, the car headlights flashing bursts of brightness into my room. Occasionally, a spider or a fly would land on my skin or a drop of water would hit me from the condensation building on the window over my head. It was a restless first night and we made an unfortunate discovery in the morning.
What could possibly go wrong?