The Lady of Avenel on Gloucester & Sharpness Canal

Alice Through the Looking Glass has been being filmed in the historic Gloucester Docks, (with Johnny Depp there, apparently smuggled in). I don't remember any tall ships in the book, but in the film they feature prominently. CleanSteve had heard from one of the bridge keepers on the canal that they'd be leaving the docks and sailing/motoring down the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal to the Severn, and thence the sea. We were determined to see them, even though it meant getting up the two nieces/cousins who are staying with us, and flinging a picnic and some games into the car, along with the girls, in case the ships were late.

As a matter of fact, we only just made it in time to see the two ships glide through the space left by the rotating swing bridge at the first crossing we went to. The light was very bright and morning-ish, but the ships were gone all too soon, and I only caught their rear view. So we drove to the next bridge, and sat down on the bank to drink coffee, eat banana bread and play Banangrams (spot the theme!) while waiting for the ships to heave into view. Eventually they did, and I got a few more snaps while trying to prevent the girls from toppling into the canal. I've played with this a little in Distressed FX, just to make the rigging stand out a bit more. This ship is the Lady of Avenel. I preferred the bow shape of, er, the other ship (there were just two) but CleanSteve has blipped her already.

Later, I took Z and J around the farmers market, gave them money to spend (they bought fossils and semi-precious stones!) We wandered around, tasting things, and eventually went home to try out the cardboard-owl-kit they had begged me to buy, as well as the 500 piece jigsaw puzzle they wanted to assemble. Guess what? the loom bands won!

The rest of the day passed in a sort of blur until Kate, my sister and J's mother, and her younger son, Nat, arrived, just as the girls had finally got into their pyjamas at about ten pm. We (the grown ups) then stayed up until about 3 in the morning. As far as I remember we weren't even drinking alcohol, I was just very glad to see some other adults! Of course, CleanSteve had been around, in between nipping out to see the tall ships again at Sharpness, as they left the docks for the 'big water'.

All in all, a very exciting day. Certainly the first time I've ever seen Tall Ships on our tiny canal!