A gathering of the Wirdnam clan. On the afternoon of Sunday 10th September the families of the Wirdnam's and Beach's gathered to celebrate Aunty Dorothy's 80th birthday.
For Wendy and I however the day had started much earlier. Plans had been in place for a couple of months for our walking group to catch the first Severn Bore of the Autumn then head off into the Forest of Dean for a walk. The Bore was scheduled for 10.33am but, given certain conditions, could arrive an hour either side of that and so the plan was to be at Minsterworth for 9.30am. We agreed to meet at Michael Wood Services at 8.45 which for us meant tumbling out of bed at 6.15am, a time I'm only familiar with Monday through Friday!
On arrival at Minsterworth we found, to our agreeable surprise, there was a dedicated car park just for Bore viewers and on the main A48, just 5 minutes walk from the river bank. The car park was alongside the Village hall and, although there was no charge, a contribution to the Village Hall Funds would be appreciated. Dave, bless him, did the honours for all whilst Alistair shared a bag of doughnuts with us.
Talking to a couple of Stewards there we soon learnt that the bore would more than likely be late as the weather was so calm and still, in fact it could be up to 20 minutes behind it's scheduled time.
We took up our position on the river bank along with an accumulating crowd eventually amounting to something in excess of 100 people. Peter H was unable to make it but the usual good folk were there, Yvonne and Alistair, Sue and Pat, Maggie, Dave, Midge and of course us two.
It was a perfect early autumn morning. Clear blue sky, a little mist in the low lying areas as we sped up the M5 towards Gloucester, and the river was as flat and and as calm as a fitness fanatic Buddhists stomach. UNTIL...... a speed boat came roaring past disturbing not only the equilibrium of the river but of the watchers too! First resentment of the day.
We waited patiently in the increasing heat of the sun until around 10.55am when we realised, from the movement of the people further upstream, that the arrival of the Bore was imminent. And so it was, preceded regrettably by the annoying speed boat which disturbed the calm earlier and, to our increasing fury, two other boats and a pack of jet skis, all drowning out any natural sound created by the bore as it slopped and slapped its way along the river bank.
As conditions were so calm the bore itself was just a giant swell. It had no crest to it but was impressive by its shear size of swell, as if a submerged whale was making its way up stream. It rolled past us in seconds. What was interesting also was to see the debris it brought with it. Pat spotted a rhinoceros, Dave a crocodile while most of us saw water monsters of varying shapes and sizes.
The watchers dispersed fairly quickly once the bore had passed and we too made our way back to the car park where we said our goodbyes and headed off in the direction of Swindon and the 80th birthday party.
Having breakfasted early we were by now quite hungry so we diverted off the A417, went into Cirencester where we had lunch at The Fleece.
And so to Swindon. Unable to break a lifelong habit, I duly left the RAC Routemaster print-out of directions at home on my desk but I knew roughly where we were heading for. Following a tour of the industrial area of northern Swindon and several three point turns later, we found ourselves at the required spot. By now it was 2 o'clock and we were curious as to what stage the party would be at. Would they be dancing now, or still eating? would some have drifted away, would anyone realise we weren't there?
We arrived to find Barbara and Ian sat out in the sun having a quick cigarette so we were able to get the lowdown on the situation before making our entrance.
On entering we were greeted by Janey and Aunt Dorothy. To our consternation we saw an overwhelming sea of faces, some known some strangers to be continued................
