Pershore

This morning we did a bit of shopping in Evesham. I needed replacement cartridges for the printer and luckily there’s a branch of Cartridge World so we just got the empty ones refilled. I also needed some net curtain material to make a fly screen for the side hatch. We bought one from Aldi last year but it’s in 4 strips and the little blighters crawl in between the overlap. Hopefully I’ll be able to make something better.  The fabric I originally chose wasn’t available in the shortest drop so I had to buy longer fabric. I only needed 1 metre but when the man came to measure it for cutting he found there were only 3 meters left on the roll so gave me the extra for free. I love a bargain and I’ll post a photo of the finished blind sometime next week.

After lunch we carried on downstream towards Pershore.
At Osier’s Isle we rounded the bend and were stunned to see a black swan sitting on the bank. We’ve never seen one before and it was quite spectacular. According to Google they’re native to Australia and are the state bird of Western Australia. They were brought to the UK as ornamental birds like peacocks and golden pheasants. Like many other captive birds, they occasionally find their way out into the wild. Apparently this particular swan has been in the area for a while. You can read more about it HERE

A bit further along we came to the village of Wyre Piddle and passed a large house with a new thatched roof, complete with the thatcher’s trademark fox running along the ridge.

this was only a quarter of the roof!

Opposite Wyre Piddle is Tiddle Widdle Island, home to the micro-brewery which makes “Piddle in the Hole” ale.

Wyre Piddle on left, Tiddle Widdle Island on right bank

The last lock of the day was Wyre Lock which is the strangest shaped lock we’ve come across so far.

We’re now moored beside Pershore Recreation Ground with Asda and the market within sight.  It’s just started raining but it’s football practise night and there are lots of mad men in shorts either strutting and stretching or running around chasing a ball!