Upton to Weir 2, Droitwich Barge Canal

The noise of a boat engine gradually loomed from downstream as we sat in bed with our cuppa. It was one of the gravel barges heading upstream to get it’s first load of the day. They are big boats compared to a narrowboat, but nothing like the size of Exoll Pride on the South Yorkshire Navigation, you certainly know that is coming and want to be well out of it’s way! Another came past as we had breakfast, than one returned downstream fully laden.

As the next empty one headed upstream it met a full one coming back, quite a difference in height.

When we set off we managed to get a gap between the barges, passing the next full one soon before where they were being filled. They were pulling up next to a boat which was held in positon by two piles, a portable wharf. No need to tie up to it, they manoeuvred into position facing upstream and kept in gear to hold steady. The conveyor and shoot then started to fill the hold, diggers adding gravel all the time. These guys had obviously practiced loading a hold at the National Waterways Museum as they got their load correctly positioned and more importantly the optimum amount. Too little and it would mean more journeys at more cost, but more importantly not too much and the barge sinking (as it did in the museum!).

Another load of washing in the machine as we carried on upstream, a warmer start to today and no wind. The sky bright blue but with high clouds that looked like a groundsman had his time to rake them very neatly.

At the Worcester Southern Link Road Bridge we were catching up with the narrowboat we’d passed yesterday (they had moored up over night!). We radioed ahead to Diglis Lock and were told to call again when we reached the footbridge. No point in overtaking today, we’d end up in the same lock. The footbridge came into view and Mick radioed but got no answer, we turned the bend to see the green boat treading water and a red light flashing at the lock (the lock was being prepared).

When we’d come downstream we used the smaller lock as work was happening to the bigger one. A bit of a surprise when the gates to the bigger lock opened for us, so much so that the green boat had to wind. We followed them into the lock slowly giving them space to get sorted with ropes, the lock keeper indicated that he wanted us on the same side of the lock, so we slowly edged our way in behind. The lady at the front had a boat hook and was trying to pull the boat in to the riser to pass a rope round it whilst her husband shouted gave her encouragement to hurry up before the back end came out too far. We held back, not wanting to add to the pressure, they could take as long as they wanted and it would be fine with us. Once she’d passed her rope round we nudged in gently so I could do the same, no words of encouragement from Mick, we take our time, I know what can go wrong and don’t intend on loosing another digit.

As with all the locks on the Severn the ride up was so gentle, you hardly needed a rope. Having both boats on the same side does help as the Lockie can operate paddles on one side helping to hold the boat in. The gates opened and we were back in Worcester. The green boat headed off ahead and turned in to go up to Diglis Basin whilst we’d hoped to top up with water, but a large workboat was using the water point mooring so we’d have to wait for Droitwich.

Lunch on the pontoon before we carried on upstream. Our timing was good as boats were appearing from the rowing clubs all making ready for an afternoon on the river.

We’ve been along this stretch twice before and memories came back. The house missing a balcony that was for sale three years ago still has no balcony, the apartments that look like they have parking on the second floor and of course The Camp House, today we could only hear the peacocks. The pub mooring was full and another boat was just pulling away after a hopeful slow cruise past came to no offer to breast up.

As both boats arrived the lock light turned to green, neither of us had called him. We were instructed to pull alongside the other boat and just hang onto them, another very gentle lock and chance for a chat.

The gates opened and we set off first, not far to the junction with the Droitwich Canal. On the permanent moorings there was a Diamond Resorts boat, they had come down the canal hopping to turn, but the winding holes had been too short for their boat, so they’d had to carry on to the river. We pulled into the lock and waited for them to wind and join us to do the bottom two locks. I’d certainly not forgotten how heavy these gates are!

Above Lock 2 there are some moorings, the only moorings other than in Droitwich on the canal. An area was cordoned off for NB Scorpio ahead of the festival in Droitwich, all fine but with no dates on the notice, boats were avoiding mooring there and the festival was last weekend. The Diamond Resorts boat pulled in, but we carried on for a short distance to get a little bit further away from the motorway.

Three years ago we had noted how few places there were to moor, the majority of the bank being taken over with reeds. But today we were armed with more information, Waterways Routes had an m mooring  before the next lock, we just hoped that it would be free.

A gap in the reeds just where it was marked, marvellous. Once our location was noted and the trip computer turned off the doors were opened. Dry land at last! Grass, a few sideways trees, holes to put my arms down, friendly cover, although I was warned not to pounce in it too much as I might get wet paws! Almost worth a Tilly stamp of approval, it’s just the trees were a bit far off, no bunnies and in the next field were some of those horse things. I don’t like them!

4 locks, 15.1 miles, 1 straight, 1 right, 3 gravel barges, 3 different boats to share with, 0 pints, 0 knitting lady at The Camp House, 0 water, 7 poppies, 1 magic mooring, 3 hours shore leave at last!

River Levels at 9am today Bewdley Stourport 0.583

Diglis, Worcester 0.674m

Tewkesbury, Severn 0.571m

Tewkesbury, Avon 2.287m

https://goo.gl/maps/AfQZmvCX1Sk

Haws Bridge to Upton Visitor Moorings

Hopefully with the Upton folk festival having finished yesterday the crowds would have all moved on and there would be space for us on the moorings, if not then we decided that we’d carry on to Worcester rather than breasting up three deep. We’ll be returning this way so we’d get a second chance.

We pushed off at just gone 10am with extra layers on. Yesterday we were covered in sun cream wearing shorts and t-shirts. Today the t-shirts had a jumper and a fleece over the top. The world out there was a choppy hazy one as we carried on up stream. A couple of boats came past us into a head wind all wrapped up too. Gradually patches of blue appeared overhead, then they joined together and the temperature started to rise.

The moorings at the Yew Tree pub were empty but looked like they’d been reserved at the weekend, maybe for regulars.

An hour after setting off we reached Upper Lode Lock, we’d radioed ahead from the Yew Tree and the Lockie had said he’d dump the water in the lock for us, could we please wait till we saw the green light as currently the red light isn’t working. As you approach the lock cut you can see straight up to the weir and on the lock island there has been cut a tunnel through the trees for the Lockie to keep an eye out for you from his booth. We turned the bend and the light went green the lock gates already open ahead of us. For the first time, on the levels board we had two green lights flashing at us. The whole of the river now in the green, the first time we’ve seen this since the 29th of March, when we waited a touch too long at Stourport!

It feels somewhat wrong to be the only boat in such a huge lock at least it only had to rise around 3ft for us to join the next reach of the river. We carried on heading north resisting the temptation to turn onto the Avon to ‘I do like a good’ Tewkesbury, that treat will be soon.

Just after the wonderful span of Mythe Bridge there is an interesting house for sale. It used to be the Toll House for the bridge and has a second property the Alum House, it also looks like it has a river mooring.

Every now and a again we got the glimpse of a boat up ahead, we were following someone. By the time we reached the M50 we reduced our revs a touch as we were catching them up. They seemed to move over a touch, so Mick took the opportunity before the next big bend and increased our revs and we sailed past giving them a wave. We’re not in a rush we just travel a touch faster. They gradually fell further behind us.

At the gravel wharf there were only three of the barges we’d seen on our way south, the forth we’d spotted in a dry dock at Gloucester.

Around a few more bends and then we could see the Pepperpot at Upton. Plenty of space on the big steps and only one narrowboat on the pontoon, so we chose to pull in and join them. By the time we’d reached Upton we’d both removed our top layers as the day was now starting to warm up.

Upton was originally a busy port and had been the only river crossing for miles. Because of the number of boat hauliers arriving with the boats the town was filled with drinking establishments. In 1822 there were 17 Taverns and Coaching Inns and the population was 2,319. Today the number has dropped to 8 pubs but the population has stayed at a similar level 2,600. The wealth brought in by the port means there are large grand houses, in between the pubs, over looking the river.

Over this last weekend there had been a Folk Festival and the town seems to fill it’s calendar with plenty of festivals year round, Blues, Jazz, Water, you name it they’ll make a festival out of it. All very popular, filling the town with visitors.

The floods that struck the area in 2007 left Upton more or less an island surrounded and partially engulfed by the Severn. Dubbed Britain’s most flooded town they had temporary flood barriers which would be erected when needed. But in 2007 a flash flood hit in July, the barriers kept at Kidderminster got held up on the motorway due to the rising waters. Now walls with glazed tops have been put in place along the water front and large gates can be closed to help protect the town. The A4104 is currently being raised to avoid being flooded so that the town can stay connected to the rest of the world when the waters rise again.

We walked along the river front past numerous pubs, people drinking and eating in the sunshine. Large houses sit proudly over looking the river some divided into flats, others still large houses, some grander than others.

At the end of the For Sale properties lies Upton Ham an area of SSSI, it is almost 60 hectares of grass land currently covered in a haze of buttercups. Birds are nesting so you are encouraged to stick to the paths and walk around the edges to avoid disturbing them. This area floods and a levels board at a gate suggests how deep the water can get.

A look around the graveyard and on to The Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul. The door was open and a chap was practicing on the organ. Our look around was slightly curtailed as when the organist finished he disappeared through a door into the vestry, then we could hear the beep beep beep of an alarm being set. Not wanting to risk setting it off we hastily left, hoping the main door hadn’t been locked. It hadn’t so at least we wouldn’t have to explain ourselves to the Police.

A walk up Old Street brought us even more pubs including The Little Upton Muggery which has it’s ceilings covered in mugs. It being a Tuesday we managed to resist all the hostelries but made up for it with some chilled medication from The London Central Meat Co, now a sweat shop. By now we wondered if the locals had to survive on beer when the floods hit as we’d seen no food shops, but just around the next corner was a Co-op.

A look around the informative displays in the Tourist Information Centre at the Pepperpot. This is the oldest building in Upton, the main body of the tower thought to have been built in the 14th Century, at that time a full church with a spire and two chancels. During the Civil War much damage was done to the building as it stood at the important river crossing. It continued to deteriate until 1754 when a new nave was built. But by 1770 the  spire was considered to be unsafe so was dismantled, it was replaced by the wooden hexagonal lantern and lead cupola which later was clad in copper, giving the tower it’s pepperpot look. Overtime the church became too small for it’s congregation so a new Neo-Gothic church (the one we nearly got locked in) was built at the other end of Old Street to replace it in 1879. The old nave was dismantled in 1937 and the grounds made into a garden.

1 lock, 10.91 miles, 2 lefts, 3ft up, 2 Kingfishers, 2 many layers, 1 overtake, 1 boat moored, 4 more to join, 8 pubs, 1 huge field, 2 meat chilled medications, 1 short rain shower, 2 many trees to climb just out of reach!

River Levels at 9am today Bewdley Stourport 0.622m

Diglis, Worcester 0.68m

Tewkesbury, Severn 0.592m

Tewkesbury, Avon 2.28m

https://goo.gl/maps/xL6DymQFr1m

Gloucester Dock to Haws Bridge, River Severn

After our cuppa in bed this morning we were up and on our way. Other boats had moved before us eager to get going before the day got too hot and be first through the lock. One boat had started radioing the lock before it was even open and when he finally got through was told that there were several boats so he’d see how many he could fit into the lock. We however didn’t head that way, we headed to Sainsburys under Llanthony Lift Bridge. There was just enough space for us between an old hire boat and a cruiser, we were there before they opened so we settled down and had breakfast before going and stocking up again.

Signs were everywhere, 25% off wine, they knew we were coming, marvellous. We picked up our six boxes of wine and then noticed that the list after the * was longer than normal. Today the exclusions included boxed wine, they’d definitely seen us coming and changed the rules! Oh well they were in our trolley now and we might need the extra ballast to get under the M5 on the Droitwich Canal.

Once everything was stowed we winded and headed to fill with water and get rid of our rubbish. Water points and bins have been at just about every bridge, all with a recycling bin, just a shame they don’t include glass. We’ll have to wait to dispose of that back in Worcester.

Radioing through to the bridge we were asked to wait for the C&RT trip boat to come through first, another boat was wanting the water point, so he trod water behind us until we were through. We were ready, life jackets on, weed hatch checked, anchor reattached, Tilly’s escape pod zipped up ready for action. The gates to the lock opened up in front of us and in we went. Plenty of gongoozlers as we descended down into the river.

With a wave to the Lockie we were on our way leaving the Gloucester Sharpness behind. We’ve enjoyed our time here, if there was a coal boat and another handy food shop on the canal we’d consider it for a winter and maybe actually get to visit some museums.

With a load of washing on the go we pushed our way along the cut. The radio was busy with other boats approaching wanting the lock. The Lockie informed them that they would meet us at some point and that other boats were being locked down, so not to rush. About half way out we came across the first two cruisers and a little while later a narrowboat. At Upper Parting we bore right and onto the river, the diddy sign hidden in amongst the undergrowth that is now overgrowth! Mick radioed back to the Lockie to inform him that we were now clear of Upper Parting and thanked him.

After shopping and filling with water we’d not exactly made the most of a cool morning for cruising in. The sunny last few days has made all the willow trees start to shed their seeds, they float through the air like snow on a gentle breeze, fluffy fairies. At points the surface of the river was covered with them.

We were in two minds as to where to stop today. Heading upstream would take longer than when we’d come down. We want to visit Upton which is upstream of Upper Lode Lock but they have had a Folk Festival this weekend, would this mean we’d not get moored? Or would everyone have headed for home after lunch? If there was no space then we’d have to carry on to Diglis Lock and Worcester as there is nowhere in between to moor. That would be a bit too far in the soaring temperatures.

Once the washing machine was finished the dishwasher was set going, making good use of the engine as Oleanna enjoyed being in the deep water again. We were managing only about 4mph so the flow was quite strong against us.

Plenty of people were out enjoying the sunshine. As we left Upper Parting there were large crowds, cars and tents on a hillside. They were watching horse racing, not sure if it was flat racing or point to point, but it was popular. At The Red Lion all the outside tables were full and there was a queue at the door for refreshments. Soon the 24hr mooring came into view at Haw Bridge, it was empty and we were hungry, hot and thirsty. Here was an opportunity to take some shelter, so we pulled in. The current on the river had other ideas. Being on a bend and just after a road bridge Oleanna was constantly being pushed away from the pontoon, so tying up took sometime. Then we realised that we couldn’t open the hatch as the pontoon was higher than the gunnels. Mick let the stern drift out at touch to give us enough room to open up and enjoy the slight breeze.

With only a few boats passing us and The Bridge pub closed today our mooring is quiet. TV and internet not so good, although we did manage to watch a couple of hours of TV on the internet, we’ve still got plenty of data left.

Tomorrow the temperature is due to drop so the shorts may go back in the cupboard and who knows we might be lighting the stove again by the end of the week!

1 lock, 9.21 miles, 1 bridge lifted twice, 3 moorings, 0% off, 6 boxes, £2.5 million incorrect, 2 magnet fishers, 1 full water tank, 0 rubbish, 2 much glass, 1 cratch fully rolled back, 2 life jackets, 1 escape pod, 3 shoots! 1 final wave to Gloucester, 1 river, 2 hot to do this, 30 parasols,  45 pairs pants, 39 pairs socks, 1 long hot cat.

Severn River level at 9am today (at Bewdley a mile upstream from Stourport) 0.654m,
level at Diglis, Worcester at 9am today 0.697m,
level at Gloucester Docks at 9am today 0.743m,

level at Tewkesbury at 9am today 0.604m.

https://goo.gl/maps/C9GFSHeFDXN2

Gloucester Docks

There seemed to be less noise last night from drinkers at the bar, maybe our new mooring helped, or maybe the clientele were just different and quieter.

With no rush to go anywhere we had a leisurely cuppa in bed with our Saturday newspaper followed by a cooked breakfast, well there was some bacon that needed eating up and it would save us from having lunch! This was followed with a few chores, our yellow water tank fills up quicker than normal on moorings like this. We also spent some time getting summer out from under the bed. With the rising temperatures Mick was wanting a pair of shorts and I wanted more t-shirts. All my long sleeved tops and thick heavy jumpers are now all ready for the excess air to be sucked out of the vacuum bag before going back under the bed. We just need to do a big wash of all our padded trousers and re-waterproof them all before they get put away too.

Now we had the rest of day to explore Gloucester. There was a vague list of places to visit, but nothing concrete other than the Cathedral, which turned out to be just as well.

First we headed to Blackfriars. They are only open on Sundays and Mondays, but due to circumstances beyond their control it was closed today! Apparently it is one of the most complete surviving friaries of Dominican ‘black friars’ in England, later converted into a Tudor house and then a cloth factory. It has a fine scissor braced roof, apparently. Oh well there’d still be plenty more to see.

St Mary de Crypt church is currently closed, so we walked down to see if we could get to look round Greyfriars behind. We could, but mainly because Greyfriars has no doors. It was founded around 1231 for Franciscan Friars by Thomas of Berkeley, his family continued to support the monastery through the centuries helping to fund a major rebuild of the church in 1519. Henry VIIIs dissolution of the monasteries brought about it’s closure  in 1538 and it was converted into workshops and housing. The shell is all that remains now, butting up to far more modern buildings.

Next Gloucester Museum was very closed. Were we foolish thinking we’d be able to be tourists on a Sunday? Maybe we were. At least we managed to look down through the glass at the Roman remains of the East Gate and Horse Pool that were left when Boots was built in the late 1970’s.

So we decided to just have a wander around knowing that the Cathedral would be open as it should be their busiest day of the week.

The Regal Cinema is now a Wetherspoons, the exterior having a 1930’s feel, but looking in through the door it looked pretty much like any other pub. The New Inn on the other hand was far from New. It was originally built as a pilgrims inn for visitors to the shrine of King Edward II. Rebuilt in 1455 it was a popular holiday inn and in the 16th C plays were performed in the courtyard and in Tudor times it had the city’s first tennis court. It was in 1553 that Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen from the balcony at the New Inn, she was only Queen for nine days before she was deposed by Mary. It claims to be the finest example of a Medieval Galleried Inn in Britain. We had a look at the courtyard but it was too early for a drink.

Walking down Westgate Street I noticed mosaics on the floor every now and then, they seemed to mark the entrance to snickets. The first one was fairly dark, there was a blue plaque on the wall so we ventured in. The narrow alleyway was dark mostly because a 16th C Merchants House steps out with each of it’s four floors above your head. It is the largest urban timber framed building in Britain. My photos don’t do it justice, but as you’ll understand it wasn’t very easy to get a photo at a good angle, no stepping back.

A quick look around The Tailor of Gloucester shop, it’s more of a gift shop than anything else. I do wonder what happened to the large models of the cat and mice I saw being made years ago.

The bells of Gloucester Cathedral were ringing out, calling us in, so we obliged.

Construction started in 1089 with the foundation stone being laid, its huge Romanesque piers dominate as you enter. The South Transept is the earliest surviving example of English Perpendicular architecture making the building reach for the sky. The fine fan vaulted ceiling in the cloisters dates from 1351 and is beautiful.

Many more modern features have been added, Pre-Raphaelite windows, an elaborately painted chapel (which I now can’t find any information about), a new stained glass window in the South Ambulatory Chapel by Thomas Denny which depicts the story of Thomas the whole window is of blue and floods the chapel accordingly.

During our visit the organ started up followed by the choir. Wonderful sounds resonating through the building, so atmospheric. Outside the bells still peeled. We sat in the secret garden of the cloisters for a rest and to listen to the bells which soon ended perfectly. There seemed to be a major photo opportunity going on in front of the tower, just about everybody who came into the garden got their camera out. Yes it’s a good view, but this seemed to be more than that. Reading the nearby sign it all became obvious. The cloisters and garden were used in the Harry Potter films as parts of Hogwarts. We have all the films on DVD so maybe we’ll now have to watch them all to spot the Cathedral.

As we left the bells called people in to evensong and bang on 3pm as we stepped outside music struck up. Not quite the style we were expecting, less hymn, more Rolling Stones. It turned out that a band were playing in the beer garden of The Dick Whittington pub a short distance away.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 quieter night, 2 hash browns! 1 bag of summer, 1 of 2 winter, 1 wee tank empty, 1 big fat lie, 0 museums, 1 church, 1 friarage with 0 doors, 3 pubs, 1 woodgrained storage heater, 1 cathedral, 12 bells, 1 choir, 1 film location, 1 new hat completed, 1 cat so so bored, will they ever move the outside again?!

Severn River level at 9am today (at Bewdley a mile upstream from Stourport) 0.739m,
level at Diglis, Worcester at 9am today 0.72m,
level at Gloucester Docks at 9am today 0.783m.

Gloucester Pontoon to Gloucester Pontoon with a better view.

With the first sale from my Etsy shop all packaged up ready to go, I headed off into town to find a Post Office as it’ll be a few days before we are near another branch. Town was buzzing in the sunshine, the Town Crier was shouting about all that you could do today and a Polish market was setting up and it looked like there was to be music later on.

Back at Oleanna Mick was listening in to channel 74 on the VHF, plenty of boats coming and going through Llanthony Lift Bridge and the Lock. We could hear boats approaching Upper Parting on the Severn, the lock would be made ready for them, all large craft had to call in again as they reached the road bridges so that the lift bridge over the lock could be raised. Day boats would radio ahead of them coming out from the arm informing the keepers that they were doing training before they’d then request for the bridge to be lifted. One such call was from a chap, ‘This is Badger, we’ll be coming out from the arm to do some training before requesting the bridge, the training may take some time as it’s a group of mature women’! EXCUSE ME!!!! Mick and I looked at each other, maybe the training would take some time because he was likely to end up being a pig over board!

On one call to Llanthony Bridge a chap was wanting to book through at midday, he then asked about the other bridges ahead. Would the Bridge Keeper inform them or should the Captain. The reply was that some of the bridges needed 24hr notice! This had to be a taller ship than normal. The Captain was not aware of this, he enquired if any other vessels were booked to go through today, one was at 1pm, but the Bridge Keeper only knew about one bridge. The Captain went to have a chat with the keeper off air to see if anything could be sorted. Their boat appeared just before midday from the Barge Arm and sure enough they had a tall mast. They trod water waiting for Llanthony Bridge to raise and once through their mast mixed with others up ahead. We kept an eye out for the next bridge lifting, but didn’t see any movement, the number of masts did decrease at some point during the day, so they got through somehow!

Just as we were about to have some lunch NB Mallard requested a bridge lift. They were moored on the side, not a finger pontoon. We quickly got ourselves sorted and untied and as soon as they’d cleared the water behind us we reversed out, winded and reversed into their space. Here we could have a view from both sides of the boat and be slightly further away from the bars which were noisy till gone midnight last night. Our new neighbours Dutch Barge Bellus Diem came out for a chat before putting chairs on their roof to sit in the sun for the afternoon.

Not being sun worshippers we headed off to the National Waterways Museum at Llanthony Warehouse. Today the museum was reopening after some work had been done, not that they were mentioning this anywhere. The ladies at the desk swapped our tickets from Ellesmere Port for annual passes and informed us of boat trips and that the Steam Dredger would shortly be in action. We refrained from the boat trip but hung around to see the dredger.

There were lots of people dressed up in costume, dockers, bosses, foremen, ladies in narrowboat bonnets. Plenty of rats were being hit with ropes, stopping them from running up peoples shorts and lifting sacks of wadding look very hard work in deed! They all seemed to be having a whale of a time, lots of banter. Outside the steam was getting up on the Dredger, fifteen minutes or so till they’d have enough to get her going. Then a bit longer, then a bit longer still.

Built in Holland in 1925, SND No 4 was used at Sharpness New Docks to help keep the build up of silt down. With her bucket ladder she can dredge to just about any depth and was used on the canal and docks from 1926 to 1981. Her boiler was changed from being coal fired to diesel in 1963 and when she retired had a refurbishment in 1988. Since then she has sunk once when the canal had a breach in 1990, but was raised again.

She hadn’t been fired up for sometime and plenty of pigeons had moved in, but they were about to get a very big shock. A crowd had gathered and the big wigs of the museum stood waiting and willing her to fire up and get the ladder moving, you could sense the will power amongst the onlookers. Everyone was allowed down below decks to look at the engine and the grease smeared operators, some very 21st Century expletives coming from the lady down there as she turned the whatsit and twisted the thingumyjig and pulled the lever and still nothing.

Back on shore we stood willing even harder, hoping that the rust hadn’t got the better of her. Then creaking and grinding and the buckets started to move, backwards. This was soon rectified and the ladder started to move it’s buckets round with an incredible noise (video link)The buckets once they’d gouged out the silt wound up the ladder, holes in the bottoms helped drain the water out leaving only sediment which passed up the ladder to the top where they then pivoted, depositing the solids into a shoot that would gradually load a barge to the side. Today there were no dredgings so the shoot was folded out of the way. What an amazing piece of kit, glad we got to see and HEAR it in action.

Ellesmere Port has a far bigger collection of all sorts of stuff, here most things relate to the G&S canal. A few new interactive displays were good, loading a barge with bundles up to certain weights, if you got too much in the hold the boat would sink! Talking heads of four chaps who worked the boats appear on panels telling stories of their working days, long shifts, few days off, but anything they wanted all duty free from the boats coming in at Sharpness. Very interesting.

The museum was good, especially the dredger, but if you have a choice Ellesmere Port has far more to see and do, we spent a couple of days there where as an afternoon did us here. We rounded off the day with some chilled medication sat in the sun outside before returning to Oleanna to watch the Tour De Yorkshire ending in Scarborough. We spotted a few people we knew, the SJT, my first flat and the late night drinking dive nightclub Bacchus, twice.

0 locks, 250 ft, 1 wind, 1st Sale, 2 tall for bridges, 2 many boats, 1 quick move, 1 very bored cat! 2 boring moorings, 2 boaters who couldn’t care less about me! 1925 dredger, 9 startled pigeons, 1 dredging spoon, 1 deep canal diver, 2 chocoholic heavens, 1st flat, 1 Odeon, 1 very sunny Scarborough, 0 big bike beat band on tv.

Severn River level at 9am today (at Bewdley a mile upstream from Stourport) 0.861m,
level at Diglis, Worcester at 9am today 0.77m,
level at Gloucester Docks at 9am today 0.878m.

Then on Sunday The Green is being taken over for the World El-Ver Eating Competition. In days gone by you’d have been challenged to a ‘pint of elvers’ eating competition, a local delicacy not for the faint hearted. Baby eels were fished from the Severn during March and April, blanched in boiling water, fried in bacon fat and served with a poached egg. The decreasing numbers of Elvers brought an end to the village tradition. But in recent years it has been resurrected using sustainable El-Vers from Spain, these have been made using reconstituted fish. The young lady who served us in The Three Horseshoes last night is the current champion. I’m not sure if it is the quantity you can eat within a set time or the quickest to eat a pint of them. Along with the El-Vers there is a kids competition for eating spaghetti, barbeques, classic cars, a tug of war, plenty to keep the village busy on a sunny Sunday.

We delayed pushing off this morning as we’d had a C&RT notice about a tall ship on the canal today. Kaskelot would have right of way at bridges, Sainsburys mooring would be suspended until it had passed and we should take care when mooring as they were likely to create a lot of wash. They were leaving Gloucester Dry Dock at 8am. When we arrived in Gloucester Kaskelot was in one of the dry docks. Built in 1948 in Denmark, she is a three-masted barque and one of the last remaining wooden ships in commission. She has undergone major restoration in the last few years and had been having her annual check up in Gloucester before heading to Falmouth and further south for the summer. She has been used in many TV programmes and films including, Return to Treasure Island, Poldark, The Three Musketeers, and Shackleton. Our mooring had a long straight ahead of us, so hopefully we’d have a good vantage point.

The first sighting was of the masts passing the flour mill just before the next bridge. It then disappeared for a couple of minutes before the masts came back into view, shortly followed by the bow turning the bend onto the long straight towards us.

A tug was on it’s bow occasionally going to port or starboard helping to keep it centre channel, a rib tied to the stern followed along behind. Then off the starboard stern we could see this tiny little narrowboat, a day boat from Gloucester sitting in the slip stream (for want of a better term) of such a big ship.

What a sight! I took far too many photos, but missed getting one with both Kaskelot and Oleanna in the same frame. Never mind it was better to actually watch than concentrate on photos.

Splatt Bridge was opened up ahead for them and they cruised through without having to wait, only a few meters to spare as they went through.

At Saul Junction we came across other craft speeding along, trying to overtake us, only to wizz round to follow another boat back to the bridge. We’d had 153ft of tall ship go past only an hour earlier, here we had 1ft of model cruiser zipping along on the plane! Luckily there was also a sailing boat, warship and a lifeboat all at hand should things get a bit tricksy.

We’d planned to pull in at Sainsburys to do a big shop as stocks were now quite depleted, but realised that maybe finding a mooring for a bank holiday weekend would be a better idea. The pontoon just before Llanthony Bridge was full, well there were git gaps! So we passed under the bridge and pulled in on a finger mooring. There were a few spaces left but all were in between other boats, so not much of a view for us tonight.

0 locks, 9.45 miles, 11 bridges, 5 swung, 1 lifted, 3 hours cruise, 153ft tall, 1 impatient day boat, 1ft tall, 7mph! 3 git gaps, 1 pontoon mooring, 1 walk to the shop, 1 noisy heating next door, 2 boaters too warm, 1st sale on Etsy!

Severn River level at 9am today (at Bewdley a mile upstream from Stourport) 1.164m,
level at Diglis, Worcester at 9am today 0.843m,
level at Gloucester Docks at 9am today 0.932m.

Splatt Bridge

Returning to Frampton there were a couple of things on the list that we wanted to do. I wanted a look around End Of The Line Fabrics on the Industrial Estate and we wanted to have another look round the village and decided to see what the Narles Walk was like that we’d seen mentioned on a gateway.

Late morning I walked up the towpath, Mick wasn’t interested in fabric so I was on my own. End of Line Fabrics had a lot of stock, however Fabworks in Dewsbury has getting on for five times as much. I had made myself a promise not to buy anything unless I could think of a project it would be good for. I tried and tried but no light bulb moment. There was some fabric that I could make into locker cushions, but that would involve getting the sewing machine out and foam. I really want to crochet mats for these so that they can easily be rolled back out of the way as we don’t often sit in there and all that is needed is something to insulate your bum from the cold of the metal. Sadly any fabrics I liked the look off were too thick to do this with so I left empty handed. But should you be wanting to do any upholstery or soft furnishings I’d say it would be worth a visit. Some fabrics there was plenty of but others enough to make curtains for a narrowboat but not a house, all were reduced greatly.

Back at the boat we had some lunch before starting the Narles Walk, we planned to follow the route in the direction shown on a map we’d found on line, but take a slight detour near the end to visit The Three Horseshoes for a refreshing pint.

We followed the towpath to Fretherne Bridge and then turned west along the road before joining a footpath that crossed through fields under an avenue of chestnut trees.

The path led us past a private lake and into the village of Saul. Here we came out alongside the old School House which alarmingly had a post with a handcuff attached to it on the front lawn.

Across the road next to St James Church was a modern house being built. I quite like white boxy houses like this with lots of glass, but I really hope they do some nice landscaping to soften it’s edges.

Meeting up with a stream we then followed it up to the canal at Saul Junction where rowers were preparing to go out. Here we crossed over the small bridge and did a dog leg around the cottage.

The path brings you to St Andrew’s Whitminster a pretty church bordered on one side by huge Yew trees. These are so huge that many of their branches have supports. They hide what looked like (from the glimpses we got) a very large house, Whitminster House.

The instructions from our map became a little bit confusing at this point and luckily a sign put us off going the wrong direction, no right was needed. Crossing the road we followed a track along the side of numerous fields.

We then were brought down to cross the Stroudwater Canal. This week they have just been awarded a grant to go towards restoration works to connect the Stroudwater back to the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal.

From here we walked along the River Frome for a while and ended up crossing muddy fields before edging our way around more. Some paths were hard to see yet others very obvious indeed.

We were now faced with very large gates and the entrance to Frampton Court Estate. Frampton Court and it’s Grade 2 *listed park are at the heart of the estate, together with the Green and Manor they are designated Heritage property. Fair Rosamund Clifford, Henry 2nd’s mistress was born at the Manor in the 12th Century. It has been the family home of the Cliffords for 900 years. Sadly their website doesn’t seem to want to work at the moment, but here is a link to wiki for more information.

Behind the house the grounds stretch out, a large lawn (with stripes) is surrounded by slightly longer grass with pathways for the public to enjoy. The garden pond is vast too. Sheep graze, Geese peck a wonderful place to be.

Once we’d walked across the back lawn we deviated from the route and headed into the village. Our feet were tired and we were a touch parched. Our arrival at The Three Horseshoes was almost perfectly timed, we had a two minute sit outside before they opened.

First a well deserved pint and my Dad’s favourite was on so we both chose Landlord (T) Mick did later try a local brew. The menu on the wall shouted out to us. We’d heard of the 3 Shu Pies and decided to sample them.

A Shu pie (invented by Eileen) is split into three sections, cauliflower broccoli cheese, creamy mash with vegetables and then the last third is down to yourself. There is a huge choice of fillings, at least three veggie options and nine meat and one fish. Mick had Liver and Onions and I had Steak and Kidney. Each pie is topped with a puff pastry lid, not one that you get in your average pub levitating above your food, but a thin crust moulded onto the top of the pie dish sealing everything in with a letter to indicate what is inside to the server.

We were given instructions on how to eat our pies. Cut down the middle and peel back the crust to let plenty of steam out, the contents were very very hot and tasty. Definitely worth a visit.

Just to the end of the village and back across the fields to Splatt Bridge nicely refuelled closely being followed by a heard of young cows who certainly weren’t giving up.

0 locks, 0 miles, 6 miles walk, 2.4 miles for fabric, 0 purchased, 2 bridges, 1 stream, 3 churches, 1 river, 2 canals, 1 estate, 9 kissing gates, 1 amazing village, 3 fillings, 2.5 pints, 6 bells,23 cows on our heels, still more to see, 1 river on the way up!

Severn River level at 9am today (at Bewdley a mile upstream from Stourport) 0.756m,
level at Diglis, Worcester at 9am today 0.75m,
level at Gloucester Docks at 9am today 0.98m.

Patch Bridge to Splatt Swing Bridge

Not the best nights sleep, I woke at 2pm listening to the howling gale outside, this was then accompanied with down pours of rain hitting us sideways for hours. The local forecast had suggested the wind and rain would stop at around 9am, the National that it was more likely to be midday. So despite there being no rush to get up we were still awake early, an extended cuppa in bed before starting the day with a bacon butty. Outside was filthy, we even put Tilly off wanting to go out as we were worried she’d get blown away!

11am things were looking up outside, there were patches of blue sky appearing. Platt Bridge was opened up for us and as soon as we were through we pulled up in front of The Black Shed. A chap busy digging a trench asked what we were after, diesel, then suggested that we should turn round as the hose wouldn’t reach! So with help from the wind we winded Oleanna, pulling the bow round, getting the diesel filler as close to the pump as possible. The pump, hose and tank all looked quite new and the hose was on a retractable drum, there seemed to be plenty left to unravel, but we’d turned quite easily only slightly holding up the bridge from being swung for more boats.

With the forecast now warming up, we decided to assist with the rising temperatures and bought a bag of coal! Heat, not sure we’ve had this brand before, we’ll be glad when we can buy Excel again, less ash easier to light and keep in than Taybright.

The Black Shed is a cafe with a gift shop at the back. Along with typical canal ware and crafts they stock some basic provisions. So at least if you were stuck at this end of the canal you’d be able to survive on more than tinned potatoes and pot noodles from Sharpness. Along with coal and diesel they also do pumpouts and at £12 are a bargain.

We winded again and continued on our journey northwards. After Splatt Swing Bridge we pulled up on the off side to fill with water and set the washing machine going. There was a hose attached to the tap which then disappeared into the friendly cover along the permanent moorings to a boat somewhere in the distance. So we decided to have some lunch and give it an hour before deciding what to do.

An hour and half later we’d eaten, a load of washing was complete and there was still no sign of anyone. Mick walked down the path to see if he could work out which boat was filling their tank, or by now filling the canal, but had no luck. So we decided to disconnect them and start filling our tank, that would flush them out from their cabin. It took about half an hour before a lady showed her face, all very amicable, but she still needed about another twenty minutes until her tank would be full. What a huge tank she must have for it to take around two hours to fill with good pressure. But then who knows what state the hose is in all the way to her boat. She asked if we could give her twenty more minutes and then we could disconnect her, which of course we did. Our tank took a further twenty minutes to fill. We’d been there for getting on for 2 hours 45 minutes.

Pushing over we found our mooring from a few days ago and managed to line the side hatch up with where Mick had trimmed the nettles. The sun was out but the strong breeze made it a touch hard to moor up, Oleanna really wanted to go and say hello to the boats on the other side. Too windy for the whirligig so our airer was put on the stern with washing to dry.

I took the opportunity to do some gardening. Our herb pots although the plants are growing needed some tidying up. The new Thyme plant has doubled in size since we bought it a month or so ago and was in need of repotting then. So the herbs each got a new pot each, even my old Thyme plant is doing it’s best to make a come back. With these looking tidier and easier to have around the bits and bobs in the well deck I then filled one of the tree troughs with compost and popped eight seedballs on top.

Christine, Mick’s sister, had given me a tin of seedballs for Christmas. They should grow a variety of salad plants. All you do is lay them on compost, or scatter of earth, water and wait. We’ll see what happens, if they sprout successfully I’ll do another trough in a few weeks to keep the crop going. These may have to live on the roof, but we’ll see how they do in the cratch for now.

This really is a lovely mooring. On tip toe this evening we watched the sun go down over the hills in Wales.

A comment from Ade reminded me that I’d forgotten something in my post on Sharpness. As we stood looking southwards towards Bristol I’d wondered how long it would take to get there. Then I wondered how long that long way round would take us to get back to Droitwich. So a quick route plan on canalplan and adding in that we love Tidal Rivers and Seaways it did the calculation for me.

Returning the way we’ve come, but carrying on up the River Severn to Droitwich would take us just over 23 hours, it being 54.5 miles and there being 12 locks.

But heading south to Bristol, the whole K&A, Thames, up the Oxford, Hatton, Lapworth, Tardebigge and then limboing under the M5 would take us around 148.5 hours, it being 262.5 miles and there being 276 locks. The fact that there are more locks than miles to do this route put us off.

0 locks, 2.42 miles, 2 winds, 3 swung bridges, 55.91 litres diesel (how much will this drop with new batteries?), 1 bag Heat, 2:45 on a water point, 1 load washing, 1 careful cat, 8 balls, 4 plants repotted, 0 contest, 2 many locks!

Severn River level at 9am today (at Bewdley a mile upstream from Stourport) 0.706m,
level at Diglis, Worcester at 9am today 0.706m,
level at Gloucester Docks at 9am today 0.8m.

https://goo.gl/maps/MGLARt2AMcz

The Wildfowl and Wetland Trust at Slimbridge was set up by Sir Peter Scott at the end of 1946 as a centre of research and conservation. He was a keen ornithologist, painter, naval officer, figure skater, sailor and broadcaster. The son of Robert Falcon Scott  who died when Peter was only two years old. Roberts last letter to his wife advised her to ‘make the boy interested in natural history if you can, it is better than games’. She obviously succeeded.  Peter first came to Slimbridge to shoot ducks and realised what a fantastic place it would be to study wildfowl. The centre was set up and opened to the public.

It is now one of eight such centres across the country. Slimbridge covers 2,000 acres of reserve of which part has been landscaped and is open to the public. It houses the largest collection of wildfowl species in the world and doesn’t just concentrate on British birds. Through captive breeding programmes Sir Peter saved the Nene or Hawaiian goose from extinction in the 1950’s and the centre has been involved in trying to increase the numbers of Common Crane, helping them to forage and avoid danger.

We timed our arrival with a talk and tour of the sight at 10.30am. Our guide was a volunteer at the centre, she said she wouldn’t know everything but was very informative about the centre and told us what quite a few of the birds were. Swan Lake is where you come to first, with Bewick’s, Mute and Trumpeter swans all interested in seed that you may have bought on your way in. They share their space with may free loaders, Mallards, Crested Ducks, Shelducks and Pigeons.

Areas have been landscaped and planted to resemble certain parts of the world, Asia, South and North America etc. Here collections of birds from those continents are kept their wings having been clipped to stop them from flying away. Over 100 different sorts of wetland birds live here along with the local freeloaders. Out on the reserve wild birds come and go with the changing seasons and numerous hides face out to the wetlands that surround the centre.

Our tour ended at the Otters pool just in time for a very informative talk about them. The three ladies were showing off to the crowd before their keeper arrived with a silver bowl of fish for them. They simply loved being in the spot light and eating their breakfast.

We were then left to our own devices to wonder around at will, from area to area, spotting the first few babies that have hatched at the centre, including some Nene chicks. These birds are very polite and simply walk up to you to see if you will give them some seed, other geese are far less subtle and give your legs a peck!

Too many beautiful birds to mention. Our favourites were the Eider males all sporting their mating plumage and calling to each other in a rather rasping purr.

Several Teals caught my eye with their incredible plumage but no bird could ever upstage the Mandarin Ducks, even the female in her grey plumage is beautiful.

Slimbridge is the only reserve in Europe to have all six species of Flamingos. Andean, James’, Chilean, Greater, Lesser and Caribbean with their incredible orange pink colour (they must eat a lot of Haribo to be that bright!). These chaps are all very noisy. Mick read that they can live in flocks of up to 1 million, we wondered what happened if the flock became 1 million and 1, we expect that they’d all just explode into bright pink sherbet.

One place we had to visit was the Kingfisher hide. Our visit was badly timed as they are currently sitting on their eggs. In a few weeks time Mums and Dads would be very busy trying to feed their off spring. A brood of around seven, each needing 12 to 18 fish a day will keep them coming and going. We sat patiently along with other hopefuls but gave up after a while.

A bite to eat and a drink at the Kingfisher Cafe. I don’t know how but we managed to refrain from the Flamingo chilled medication that was on offer.

The observatory sits high above the main centre and from here you can see for miles. It must be an amazing place when flocks of migrating birds are flying in from all over. We then walked round some of the hides, from one a Crane was at on her nest with one egg beneath her belly, a chap with a very large lensed camera said that she was expected to lay a second egg today or tomorrow. The place will soon be full of chicks. We’d already seen a Moorhen protecting it’s nest from some Nene Geese who were just politely walking by, it could get a bit fraught soon!

The sun gradually disappeared through the day and down pours started to happen towards the end of our visit, dodging between hides we managed to stay dry.

We thoroughly enjoyed our day out and it was well worth the money. Mick was a bit concerned that we’d be indoctrinated into becoming twitchers, but instead we left knowing the names of a few more ducks that we see. For instance the white duck at Norbury Junction that can be heard from miles away, isn’t just a white duck it is a Call Duck. Those huge Mallards that you see every now and then well they are actually Rouen Ducks.

Severn River level at 9am today (at Bewdley a mile upstream from Stourport) 0.736m,
level at Diglis, Worcester at 9am today 0.718m,
level at Gloucester Docks at 9am today 0.825m.

Sharpness to Patch Bridge

Once Tilly had come and gone a few times this morning we were allowed to go off and have an explore of Sharpness.

We followed the Old Arm down to the Old Tidal Basin and lock. Much of the Old Arm is now used for mooring and what was the lock down into the tidal basin has boats moored there too, the old lock gates still in position. Huge rings fixed by the wall are now far too big to moor a 35ft cruiser to, but are just a sign of the size of boats that once used to use the arm.

The original dock opened along with the canal in 1827. It was separated from the Severn by a lock gate and when open to the river the level in the dock varied depending on the tide. A lock brought ships up onto the canal and through the years was expanded to be used by the ever growing sized ships. By 1874 ships had out grown what could be accommodated here so a new dock was built to the South. A large lock and tidal basin meant that the docks above could be at the same level as the canal. Should bigger vessels want to dock the tidal basin could also be used as an extension to the lock.

The old lock and dock had only served to get the ships from the river and on their way to Gloucester, but now the constant level encouraged wharfs and warehouses to be built in Sharpness. With the arrival of the railway and swing bridges across the canal the dock became a port in it’s own right.

In 1908 the old lock and basin were abandoned the old dock was used for boat repairs and by 1990 the gates were fully removed and replaced by a weir enabling the whole of the basin to be at the same height as the canal. Above what had been the River gate is the old Harbour Masters House, now used by the Severn Area Rescue Association. A Land Rover with Lifeboat written on it’s bonnet and a slipway a distance away suggests that there is a lifeboat stored away next to the house.

The Harbour Masters House sits in a very exposed position, with views both up and down the Severn. Both Severn Road Bridges can be seen in the distance and we might even have spotted where Mick’s sister Kath once lived in Severn Beach. As soon as we walked out of the shelter of the house we had to cling onto our hats and the force of the wind was so strong it resonated the railings along the sea wall. It was very eerie, I tried to record the sound on my camera  but the wind just upstaged it. From our position today and with the tide low we could see the wrecks of both the tankers that had collided with the railway bridge. We could also see that maybe a few more beached vessels were needed to help with bank erosion.

We followed the track over to the newer docks, stopping to have a closer look at the wind turbine on the head land. They really are massive things, can you spot Mick at the base? Apparently it was really quite quiet stood next to the turbine as it swept round creating its 500 KW.

From here we walked down to Dock Road where we followed signs for a shop. A few houses with what had been a Post Office, we decided to go inside and see if they had any potatoes. The lady behind the counter told us that when they lost the Post Office their income had halved, it was a good job that they had a very big paper round which helped keep them going. The only potatoes she had were tinned, not what we were after so we came out with a midweek newspaper instead.

A string of houses look down to the dock and the old rail tracks, now mostly overgrown. The odd bit of old rolling stock sits idle, maybe waiting some TLC from some local enthusiasts. There were plenty of boats out on hard standing and more in the water. Planet the old Light Ship that used to be at Liverpool Docks has made it’s way here after being removed for not having kept up with it’s mooring fees (according to The Liverpool Echo). It is hemmed in by other large ships, one with a bladeless helicopter on it’s roof. A tall ship stands at the end looking in much better order.

We followed a track round to some gates near to the lock from the river. A big sign said that when ships were on the move then the gates may be locked, at other times we could enter. Not locked, so we followed the designated route towards the lock and Tidal basin. The basin is huge and looking down we could see where a small pontoon has been built to accommodate smaller boats, such as narrowboats that navigate the 18 or so miles to the mouth of the River Avon at Avonmouth and Portishead before heading up to Bristol. To do this you need to have a pilot with you. NB Chrysalis was booked to do the crossing at the end of last week but we’d wondered if it was too windy, but there was no sign of them in the docks, so they must have gone.

We crossed the lock top gates and walked up around the docks into Newtown, everywhere felt a bit like Keadby on the River Trent, desolate, accompanied by the loud crashing noises of scrap metal being moved around down by the docks. Our route brought us down to Sharpness High Level Swing Bridge where we could look down to the Lower Level Bridge, a crane storage site and have a view into the docks. Only one ship was in, Wilson Gadansk, with it’s cover wound back. It was strange to think Oleanna our little narrowboat was on the same pound of water not far away.

The weather forecast had been for a horrible day, but it had turned out considerably better than expected so we decided to move back along the canal to Patch Bridge. The approach to the first of the Purton Bridges is around a bend, but just by the weir there is a camera giving the Bridge Keeper a better view along the canal, the red light flashed as it came into view and the bridges opened up in turn for us. Not far to go  before we pulled in, mooring up with a better view than we’ve had for a while, just a touch short of Patch Bridge. Tilly had a new rule added to her list, ‘NO bringing rare species of friends home!’

0 locks, 3 walked over, 3.35 miles by boat, 3.5 miles by foot, 1 lying Land Rover, 2  7 bridges, 2 wrecks, 2 hats clung onto, 250 dish washers, 1 newspaper, 0 potatoes, 1 small pontoon, 1 vast tidal basin, 1 Post Office just missed, 2 lots of shore leave, 1 tyre fender deployed, 678,946,423,273,806,449 new colourful feathery friends, only one that squeaked!

Severn River level at 9am today (at Bewdley a mile upstream from Stourport) 0.815m,
level at Diglis, Worcester at 9am today 0.735m,
level at Gloucester Docks at 9am today 0.863m (the tides will start to affect the level again).

https://goo.gl/maps/xCsnQj1EXuo