We set off from home at about 10am. It was a pretty nice day for this time in the autumn. There was plenty of blue sky and NO RAIN. This is good!
We managed to get our personal stuff for the week into our soft bag on wheels – all of course packed away in our trusty packing cubes. We also packed our baked items (some of which frozen), remaining perishables from the fridge and….. a large bottle of gin and selection of tonics. Bob has got a set of foul weather golfing clothes – hooded jacket and trousers – so we’ve packed them and the boathire people will give us two sets of gear too.
A pretty easy trip by road. It took about 4 hours. One delight was that after my initial post on this trip, I had a message from an old work colleague to say that he and his wife have recently opened the Ashleworth Hub, about 10 miles from Tewkesbury, so we arranged to call in. What a bustling place! Ashleworth is a small, picturesque village and the Hub which is a combined Post Office, Shop, Cafe and Deli is right at the heart of it. https://ashleworthhub.com/ We had a great catch up with Simon and had a light lunch there, at well spaced tables. The food and drink – they have a license – was delicious and well priced, no wonder it was so popular. They have only been open 2 weeks – perhaps not the best year – but clearly doing really well. Wish them so much luck.
We took a backroad route from Ashleworth to Tewkesbury, making a brief stop to visit Odda’s Chapel in nearby Deerhurst. The hamlet itself is very ancient with another Anglo Saxon church in the village. Odda’s Chapel is one of the oldest complete Saxon churches in existence, built around 1056. Lovely to see.
We are staying at the Premier Inn in Tewkesbury overnight. A bargain at £35 for the night including wifi. We have booked dinner here and breakfast tomorrow. It all feels very safe – good precautions at reception and our room is literally sparkling. Giving a view of the challenges of the hospitality trade at this point our one night stay effectively books this room for 6 nights – it was not available for 3 nights before we moved in and for 3 days after.
Tonight we got a quick dinner in the Chef and Brewer pub attached to the hotel. It was pretty good value for money, if not very exciting. Looking forward to getting on board tomorrow….