Frampton to Sharpness

Captains Log Canal Date 4th August 2009 Travels 7.5 Miles (Loads of manned swing bridges) Current Location Sharpness OS Ref SO 676 - 032 Lat – Lon 51.43’36.3N 2 28’12.8W The weather forecast was fine for Monday and getting worse as the week progresses so we decided to move in the better weather. We set off for the final leg of the Gloucester – Sharpness Canal. The Canal remains very wide and deep with tantalising glimpse of the tidal river Severn estuary. All of the swing bridges are manned and it is a pleasure to cruise up to them and watch them open in front of you as if by magic. As we travelled along the canal the type of vessel changed. At Gloucester end it is mainly narrowboats and the odd plastic cruiser. By the time we arrived at Sharpness there is mainly Dutch barges and very large sea going boats and the odd narrowboat. Seeing a few narrowboat in the marina next to the much larger vessels makes them look absurdly small, almost toy like. After going as far as we can we turned round and looked for a good mooring site. We found it. We are just about ½ mile from the end of the canal with unbroken views over the estuary. It would be a nice view across the estuary over to the Forest of Dean if the rain and mist cleared! We live in hope. We shall remain here until Thursday when we shall retrace our tracks back to Gloucester.