Slimbridge

Weather when we woke up was rather grey and cold, so we didnt want to move immediately. I did a bit of maintenance work on the boat - the bolts attaching the propellor shaft to the gearbox tend to work loose because of engine vibration so I checked and tightened them, nothing much required fortunately.

The weather improved quickly so we set off at 9:30 carrying on southwards. After 1.5 hours we stopped at Patch Bridge on the outskirts of the delightfully named village of Shepherd's Patch which also marks the the closest the canal comes to Slimbridge Wildfowl Reserve entrance.

The journey had been very enjoyable, the sunny weather complemented by the views over the Severn Estuary and hills beyond to the west and the Cotswolds to the east. The width and depth of the canal makes it feel like a river, but it does not suffer the river's disadvantage of high banks interfering with the views.

After mooring we made a packed lunch and walked the 3/4 mile to the Wildfowl Reserve where we visited the hides and did a bit of bird watching (we were not interested in the captive collection). Although there are comparatively few water birds around in the summer as most migrate to the Arctic we had a pleasant walk around, perhaps the highlight being the half mile path to the edge of the Severn with great views up and down the river and the opposite coast.