Dutchman's trousers

"Enough blue sky to patch a Dutchman's trousers", my mum would say.

Nothing quite like a non-PC stereotype, is there! But that's how it was as we started out today, with the objective of getting as far towards Evesham as was comfortable – got to be there by lunch-time tomorrow. Unusually, we tied up for a coffee, just before the bridges at Pershore and the lock beyond. Well, it was coffee-time!

At the Pershore recreation ground visitor moorings we stopped for a while, and walked across to inspect the town. But I also had in mind to take my best beloved for a pub lunch, this being her birthday (though it couldn't quite match the descent of the Anderton Boat Lift we managed last year). I stopped a man in the street to ask whether there was a pub serving good food. In a Polish sort of accent (again, no stereotype intended – but he definitely wasn't Dutch) he told us his son was the chef at The Angel, and we should go there. So we did, and had liver and bacon on mash with onion gravy for the first time in a very long time. Very good it was, too. Not very Polish, though.

By the time we got back to Erin Mae, the wind was very strong and gusty, and we decided to stay the night. But by 5 it had dropped a bit, so we pushed on just a mile to get through Wyre Lock at the delightfully named Wyre Piddle. The lock is a very unusual diamond shape – there must have been a rationale for doing it this way, but it wasn't immediately apparent.

Equally unusually, and helpfully, there's a designated 24 hour mooring just above it.

Happy birthday, beloved. It's very good to be travelling with you. Proper celebrations when we reach Stratford!