Worcester - Stourport

Captains Log Canal Date 19th August 2009 Travels 13 Miles 3 large river lock 2 Narrow stair cases I Narrow lock Current Location Stourport on Severn We have completed all of the river work now. We have travelled the entire navigable length of both the River Severn and the Rive Avon. We have enjoyed river travel a lot on this leg alone we have spotted 6 Kingfishers, but as mentioned before there is a lack of the type of moorings that we like, (quite ones) and nowhere to exercise the dog. We are back on the canals now and what a shock that was. We had become used to large river locks, fully manned and usually set for you on arrival. Now not only are the canal narrowlocks at least 2 feet narrower than they were, you have to do all of the work as well. Now it must be pointed out the Narrowboating has things in common with Touring car racing, not much in common I grant you but there is something. That is that they are both a Non Contact Sport, and both manage to forget this rule much of the time. When I came into Stourport I did manage to just nudge the port side on the way in the lock, quickly followed by a nudge to the starboard side which then sent me back into the port side and so on all the way in. I was doing fellow boaters a service. I was making the lock just a little wider for the rest of them. The lock walls looked quite nice with my green paint on them! We are now safely moored in Stourport and have had good nights sleep at last. It is much quieter here than Worcester. We intend to remain here until the weekend and then we shall move on through Kiddie and look for rural moorings again.

Upton - Worcester

Captains Log Canal Date 17th August 2009 Travels 9 Miles I large river lock Current Location Worcester Town Centre Next to Race Course Batteries going flat & out of water again so time to move on. I still think that we have a battery problem. We travelled further up hill on the Severn to the next port of call, Worcester. The moorings at Worcester are not the nicest moorings we have stayed on; very busy with the large party boat next door, a very noisy main line railway bridge above. It is a 5 minute walk to the main shopping centre. I had forgotten just how miserable shopping centres are. They are full of people, most not speaking English! The roads are best described as suicide runs, even the crossings are at best down right dangerous. We were woken up at 3.00am with revealers coming out of the local night club. Then to top it all we have had a sticker put on the boat saying that we have not paid the mooring fee. There is no one to pay the mooring fee to. Has the world gone mad since I stepped off, or is it just Worcester that has gone bonkers? I DON’T LIKE CITIES AT ALL!!!!! The river is full of Swans – Last night I counted 52 of them around the boat – That is a lot of swans, and poor little Millie is terrified of them all. I carried out a few minor repairs and small paint jobs this morning so we can not move until the paint has dried so tomorrow we shall be heading for Stourport. Lets hope it is nicer there. I have had enough of rivers now. They are very nice and open with loads of birds & other wildlife but mooring is difficult, usually in town centres. Poor little Millie has no tow path to walk on so she has to wait until we find a mooring.

Hawbridge - Tewkesbury - Upton

Captains Log Canal Date 15th August 2009 Travels 11.5 Miles (2 trips) I large river lock Current Location Upton on Severn OS Ref SO 851 – 408 Lat – Lon 52.03’19.6 2 13’10.7W We moored at the Haw Bridge Inn for 2 days. We had to find a post box in order to post a Birthday card. (Some people just will not have a computer) We walked from the Haw Bridge to Apperly, the closest village, a distance of about 2,000 miles there and about 3,000 miles back. Well it felt like that to me anyway. We eventually found a post box but no shop, pub, or anything where we could spend our vast amount of pocket money. On returning to the boat Pam pointed out a little red square in the wall of the pub opposite. Yes there was a post box about 100 yds in the other direction. That did not go down well with me at all. We had planned to move in the morning but it was raining. No point travelling in the rain if it is not necessary so we waited for the rain to stop. This took about 24hrs. So we set off the following day for Tewkesbury. The only thing of note on this leg of our world cruise is the size of the river lock at Upper Load. It is huge! I think that I could turn my boat inside the lock. There must be room for 20 or more narrowboats at any one time. This time it was just us. The River Severn skirts round the town and there are no moorings so you have to go into the Avon to find moorings. The lower Avon Trust charges a small fee for these moorings but insist that you have a valid Avon licence. Now call me tight if you like, but the thought of paying another £35.00 just to moor for one night at the back of a small housing estate, up against a high steel wall with no view at all sound just a bit like profiteering. However, when the lock keeper came for his pennies he was quite happy just to charge us the £3.00 mooring fee as long as we did not intend stopping longer. (A very nice man indeed) Almost as soon as we had landed we were met by Steve & Sarah. We made our arrangements for the following morning and then did a bit of shopping. The following morning Steve & Sarah arrived and we soon set sail for new horizons. The weather was fine, just the odd patch of cloud. As soon as we navigated past the sand bar at the join of the Severn & Avon control was past to Steve. (Sarah declined to move our house). All went fine until I saw what can only be described as a ship manoeuvring in front of us. It was coming of the bank and making a turn. I could not see where it was going so I kept in the middle of the river which was very wide at this point. The river barge then set off towards me at what seemed to be an alarming turn of speed and with the copious usage of its very loud horn I gathered that it wanted me to get out of its way which I did rather quickly! We passed the river barge with some 50 foot to spare but its wake sent us rocking for some time. When we arrived at Upton we had 3 priorities 1 ­­- find a mooring 2 - take on water 3 - find a pub lunch We found a mooring just past the bridge. But there is no sign of a water point anywhere. This has been a bit of an issue on the rivers; there is a shortage of service points. We will just have to go steady on the water until we get to Worcester. It looks like I shall have to drink more whisky and take less water with it! We had no problems finding pubs, the town is full of them! A quick thanks to Steve & Sarah. Not only were you both good company but you supplied the drink as well!

Gloucester - Tirley

Captains Log Canal Date 11th August 2009 Travels 24 Miles (2 trips) I large river lock (Loads of manned swing bridges) Current Location Tirley (The Haw Bridge Inn) OS Ref SO 846 – 280 Lat – Lon 51.57’00.0 2 13’32.5W John & Lynne Joined us on Sunday morning so after John failed miserably to sort out my Face Book problems we set of to Frampton on Severn for Sunday Lunch. The weather was just as good as it gets with loads of sun and just enough breeze to stop us getting too hot. We moored up by the bridge at Frampton and walked into the village to the pub – Yes me walking!

On the way John received a phone call from Richard & Ruth saying they were in Taunton and would like to join us for the afternoon’s return trip to Gloucester. No problem, we will have our lunch and wait for them either in the pub or watching the village cricket match. We did not have to wait very long. They were with us before we had finished our lunch. (40 minutes from Taunton to Frampton on Severn must be some sort of record) We all had another drink and a sweet together and then left and returned to the boat. The return trip was all very relaxing and pleasant until we went through a lift bridge just outside Gloucester. The bridge keeper informed me that I was running late and I would have to go as fast as I can in order to make the Gloucester lift bridge before it closed at 18.50. I have never travelled that fast on my boat before. Normally 3mph is plenty fast enough for me. This time we were travelling at about 8mph. Now I know that does not sound very fast but believe me, it is fast enough for a narrowboat. The bow wave was splashing the girls on the front deck, however the canal is wide & deep enough to absorb the wake and no wash was reaching the banks. We made the last bridge with only 1 minute to spare. I suspect that I used as much fuel in the last 2 miles as I had in the rest of the journey. On Monday we set off just as soon as we had taken a DAB radio back that did not work. Why does everything I buy refuse to work as it should? We went down the Gloucester dock where Charles had become so wet the week before, this time we were in the dry. We were aiming for Tewkesbury but I had a text from Sarah & Steve arranging to meet in Tewkesbury on Friday so we started looking for moorings earlier. The river Severn is not like canals, there are very limited moorings and many are occupied. We stopped at the first one we could find, and what do you know, it is at a country pub. Not just a pub but a pub with a campsite that the Landrover club has used many times. I think that perhaps I am the first club member to approach it from the river. We shall say here for a day or so before moving on to Tewkesbury and meeting up with more friends. Oh I do love this low stress life style!!!