Yesterday Penny treated us to a delicious BBQ prepared at Dapdune Wharf. The weather Gods tried to thwart her but eventually the sun shined, the empty gas bottle was replaced and we sat outside till 10. It was great Penny’s Mark joined us as well, and we really appreciated all her effort.

Today we have spent the whole day travelling over half the distance we did yesterday. A lovely chilled day sparked by intense flora and fauna moments. Sadly the fauna ones happed so quickly I was unable to catch them with a camera.

A lovely Red Kite wheeling overhead at Dapdune signalled this mornings start of fauna, with a 3’ adder slithering past in the water as I washing the boat whilst waiting for the kettle to boil. Shock saw me jump a couple of feet backwards, and by the time I got the camera it had swam away in the riverside vegetation. In an effort to outdo her Captain the deck hand positioned her stool on top of an ants nest. Ants swarmed up the foot and leg, but fortunately didn’t get in the pants. On a roll now the fauna encounters continued with a cow standing in the river as we came around a bend, there was no moooving him so we went around.

Preparing to cast off from lunch a herd of deer jumped out of long grass in a paddock, and finally we saw an OTTER, yes the animal kind ! A beautiful sleek specimen emerging from the riverbank, our first spotting of one in the wild.

The flora had been no less spectacular, and a lot easier to photograph ! Though the flowers aboard Iris have now been identified as PLASTICUS Iris…and I’ve been thinking they were real !

We are moored just upstream of Cartbridge Basin, where we will spend the next couple of days enjoying a real shower, washing machines and flushing toilets ! But who knows what fauna will turn up tonight !