Return Leg

Friday June 23rd 10am. Gloucester Docks.
We arrived into Gloucester Docks yesterday on our return leg of the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal at around 12.30hrs.

Pictured is the friendly Gloucester lock keeper John... The main feature over the past few days has been the strong wind. Unusual for this time of year and when your moored next to an estuary you really feel it too!
We’ve now completed this lovely canal and will stay in the docks until Monday. We then move thru' Gloucester Lock and off onto the River Severn for a 42 mile stretch, entering the Staffs and Worcester Canal at Stourport later in the week. We see the River Severn, although an attractive river in parts, as purely a means of getting from A to B. The Severn unfortunately has high banks on either side for many miles thus preventing a view of what is probably lovely rural landscape. Severn moorings are also extremely scarce and is therefore to our mind an unattractive proposition. This year are timing is slightly out as a Jazz Festival this weekend at Upton compounds the lack of moorings even further. Our reason for not leaving until Monday!
The Gloucester and Sharpness Canal.... Having completed this section 2 years in succession it’s fair to say that we’ve explored the area fairly well. However, there’s still more to do and see, but that’s for another time. Dee’s dingy has once again been deflated and back in the hold! This year we considered attending the Saul Festival but decided that that too is for the future. We enjoyed our visit to the WWT-Slimbridge once again, (a large section of the grass had been cut on our return, see earlier post) and as ever we enjoyed our break from the locks, the G and S has only swing bridges which are manned. That said we’re now looking forward to returning to the narrow canal sections and our journey northward.Later we're off to see the Devinci Code...

Sharpness

Sunday June 18th @ 11am. Moored at Sharpness situated beside the Severn Estuary.

Across the water is the hilly ‘Forest of Dean’, where my grandfather was born! We arrived here on Friday at around 1pm in gorgeous sunshine. We’ll remain here until Monday, (after the weekenders have returned home).
This is the most Southerly point of our tour this year. The Gloucester and Sharpness Canal was built to bypass this dangerous stretch of the River Severn between Sharpness and Gloucester. Pictured is what remains of the old 22-arched railway bridge that used to cross the river here, some of the piers can still be seen at low tide. The bridge was badly damaged one foggy night in November 1959, when a vessel collided with it; the bridge then stood with a whole in the middle until it was demolished and the iron girders sold to – of all places – Chile, where they now form a road-carrying viaduct.
On Friday we cycled down to the Sharpness docks and the 1 and only shop that services this area, it’s also a post office. Last night, Saturday, we barbequed. At around 7pm the huge hotel boat ‘Oliver Cromwell’ passed by and turned. To our amazement she moored just off our bow sending another moored narrowboat who’d been here all day, scurrying away into the distance. We didn’t mind we had free entertainment for the evening and enjoyed the company. She left dead on 8 am this morning.
The weather is cooler today and breezy. I’ve also noticed a sharp drop in the water height. Later we intend to visit the ‘Sharpness Dockers Club’ where you can get a good, reasonably priced meal.
Tomorrow we make our way back Northward and return to Gloucester, likely stopping at Slimbridge and Saul Junction once again. Traffic will start building come next weekend as the popular Saul Festival nears. We’ll be on our way towards Worcester and Stourport by then!

Slimbridge

Thursday June 15th 10am. Moored at Slimbridge.


After a couple of days we made our way down from Saul Junction on Tuesday morning stopping at Fretherne Bridge to visit the beautiful linear village of Frampton on Severn. The village is notable mainly for it’s green which is about 100 yds wide and fully half a mile long. The church of St. Mary at the South end of the village, near the canal, is mainly of the 14th C. Facing the village green is a Georgian mansion (1731/3) whose gardens contain a gothic orangery (1745) and an octagonal dovecote. Visits are only permitted by written application.
After 3 more miles we arrived at our next destination of Slimbridge in torrential rain. Here we plan to stay until after the next England match. We enjoy these moorings very much, firstly there only a 10 minute walk from Slimbridge Wildfowl Trust and secondly we can breakfast in the Boat Station Cafe and dinner at the Tudor Arms. Easy living!
One disappointing element to our visit this time around was the moorings. Last year we remember being able to moor either side of the canal after Patch Bridge but this year the West side is completely overgrown (pictured)! It’s also completely overgrown from Cambridge Arms Bridge to Patch Bridge, just short of a mile, prior to arriving. We managed to secure the last mooring. The East side of Slimbridge was taken solely by local boats, half of which had nobody aboard, and the 2 moorings on the West side, one of which was ours, the other being taken by a local boat, which also had nobody aboard. I’m all for wildlife preservation and BW’s initiative on not cutting certain stretches for this purpose but in my opinion these moorings should be 48hrs only (and enforced) and another half dozen established by good ground management! The swing bridge is also in a shocking state! (That’s my moan of the day!)
Yesterday, Wednesday, was a much cooler and overcast day but Dee prepared a packed lunch and we duly set off to visit the Wildfowl Trust, always a treat for us twitchers and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. We rounded off the day with dinner at the Tudor Arms. Today Summer has returned once again....

Saul Junction

If your an England fan like me you’l be baffled as to what occurred in the 2nd half however, it’s the 3 points that count and we will get better!


We spent a nice and I have to say quiet 2 days in Gloucester Dock (pictured), only 4 boats moored on the pontoons when we left at around 11am. This morning (Monday 12th 10am) we're moored at Saul Junction on the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal and where awoken at around 6am by a nice thunderstorm. I say nice as I really enjoy storms. The weather has now turned humid and I fully expect more storms later. Yesterday afternoon we inflated our dingy for the 1st time this season and duly went a rowing! We intend to stay on this stretch for a while and with no locks, only manned swing bridges, it’s an easy life. We’ll progress over the next few days to our farthest point South, Sharpness. Sharpness exists only for it’s docks and their tall cranes, old and new warehouses and ever-changing display of foreign ships. The Severn is wide here and wild: the tidal range at Sharpness is believed to be the 2nd biggest in the world (only the bay of Fundy, sandwiched between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, has a greater range) and the current is swift, especially when accompanied by the high winds that often race up the estuary from the sea. I think we’ll pass on locking through this time!

Gloucester Dock

Saturday June 10th moored at Gloucester Docks.(Pictured)

On Wednesday we moved from our spot at Wyre Piddle lock with the plan of mooring at Pershore for the night. However, after doing a spot of shopping and once again wall to wall sunshine we made the decision to move on around 2pm. We progressed further South and on towards our eventual mooring at Tewksbury, where we’ll end our journey down the Avon and enter the River Severn.
By the time we reached Eckington Wharf we decided it was time to stop, the heat was beginning to get to us both. Here we moored for the night and were later joined by ‘Willow’ a 70 foot hotel boat enroute to Stratford. We awoke to another beautiful cloudless day on Thursday morning and after breakfast set off on our final stretch down the Avon to Tewksbury. On this final stretch the river widens by comparison into open meadows and farmland. The river passes under the M5 motorway surrounded by flood plain and beyond you can see the village of Brendon, where the fine 14th – C tithe barn can be seen from the river.
We arrived at Tewksbury at 1pm and moored just prior to the lock. After a stroll around the town in 80 degree heat we crashed for the day under some trees which we were lucky enough to be moored next to.
Friday morning and more glorious weather. We locked through from the Avon to the Severn at around 10am and made for the huge, manned Upper Lode Lock. Once through we progressed to Gloucester, no tides or Severn Bore, (Huge 8ft tidal surges), to contend with! After a 2 hour sail, passing only 4 boats enroute we telephoned Gloucester Dock of our imminent arrival and upon reaching the lock everything was set in our favour. At around 12.45 we were moored in Gloucester Dock. Here we’ll stay until Sunday and are already preparing for the England Vs Paraguay game!!

The Beautiful Avon

Today June 7th we’re now on the Upper Avon on an idyllic lock mooring at the wonderfully named Wyre Piddle, just up from Wyre Mill which the traveller Charles Showell called ‘the ugliest, of which the Avon is ashamed’.
It’s now a sailing and social club. This lock is diamond shaped, the last of it’s kind on the river and is our favourite all time river mooring. Your literally marooned at this lock and free from the many gongoozlers (boaty term for onlookers) which are plentiful at Stratford.
Over the past week we’ve continued at a slow pace South-West from Stratford through Bidford-on-Avon and Evesham. We continued some of our journey with ‘Best O Mates’ who caught up with us once again at Luddington, where we moored at the Stan Glover Lock. We parted at Evesham yesterday having spent several days with Jennifer and Graham.
The Avon is a beautiful river and for me just out shines the Thames which we navigated last year. If you intend navigating the Avon the one thing one should bare in mind is the mooring availability. On the lower Avon from Stratford-upon-Avon to Evesham the mooring is idyllic and plentiful, from Evesham to Tewkesbury not so! After starting off from George Billington Lock yesterday morning and stopping at Evesham for lunch, we continued a further 10 canal miles, (our longest day to date), before finding a decent mooring. Fortunately having travelled the Avon last year we’re familiar with where the moorings are. Try to moor before the weekend! The moorings can fill up quickly with the many weekend cruisers which frequent the river.
One thing that’s surprised us so far is the lack of traffic. Not that we’re complaining. We’ve passed very few private boats, the majority of traffic being hire fleets. Even quieter this week after the school half-term. Both Dee and I don’t have any problems with hire boats but the one criticism we have of some irresponsible parties is the lack of respect for others. Speeding boats being the worst problem. Irresponsible mooring being the other. Enough said!
Last night we had our first barbeque, a feast of fish, burgers and sausages, my favourite food and Dee’s too provided I burn the sausages to a cinder!
The weather has been wall to wall sunshine and so at last our tans are starting to progress. The wildlife has been good but with nothing unusual to report. Plenty of Buzzards, Kingfishers, Cuckoo’s and Bats. We heard a Tawny Owl last night but still no Barn Owls.
Today we’ll move just a couple of miles to Pershore and then tomorrow on to Tewkesbury for a couple of days before leaving the Avon for the River Severn and Gloucester Docks.

Monthly Log (May)

Well June 1st has arrived and we've finally made it onto the River Avon at Stratford-on-Avon and moored across from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and yes it's raining!

Amazingly despite the major backlog of boats earlier the moorings at the basin and out onto the Avon were plentiful. Another mystery of where boats disappear to!

We’ve now been out for exactly 2 weeks. In this time we’ve completed our section of the Grand Union from Wigram’s Turn, turned South onto the Stratford Canal and arrived on the Upper Avon. 101 locks completed and 33 canal miles.
Our first fortnight has been dominated by the weather. Rain and more rain resulted in the closure of the River Avon for 9 days (in flood) and thus meant that our transit was a lot slower than anticipated. The River Severn, our next challenge in around 9 days time, was apparently 12 feet over height during this time!
Having said that we did manage to get some good cycling time in over the period. I don’t know whether it was this that caused my 18 year old mountain bike to give up the ghost on Tuesday! Fortunately we we’re able to walk to a nearby shop and purchase an ‘off the shelf’ replacement. God knows how many miles I covered on my old bike but I did manage to salvage wheels, tyres, seat etc. It’s now been laid to rest.
Quidditch has performed well and the central heating I installed over the Winter has already proved to be a success. As mentioned in earlier posts Celtic Kiwi who we discovered broken down at the Shrewley Tunnel is back underway passing us twice enroute, new prop shaft installed! To be fair the early stages of our tour have passed without much event apart from yesterday when I almost went for a swim in the Avon. I’m not offering much detail here but it involved a rowing boat, a passing site-seeing launch and me wearing only socks walking down the gunnels! Funny how these events seem to happen with about 15 tourists filming.
As keen wildlife enthusiasts we’ve nothing out of the ordinary to report. However, it’s already noticeable that so far we’ve yet to see any Barn Owls. Apparently it’s been a bad year for voles, their main diet. We have however seen good numbers of baby Mallard, Canada Geese, Swans and Moorhen.
Tomorrow (Friday 2nd June) we set off South-West down the Avon towards Evesham and Tewksbury. From here we’ll lock through onto the River Severn and make a 3 hours dash to Gloucester Docks. After a short stay in Gloucester we then make our most Southerly trip onto the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal and down towards the Severn Estuary. Stay tuned!