Navigating the Avon upstream of Stratford

After a look round Bidford-on-Avon this morning we set off on the last leg of the River Avon. We saw more wildlife, including a sunbathing turtle ...

... and another stationary kingfisher. I think this is my best kingfisher photo so far.

It was stationary for a couple of snaps, and then it took off. I flukily pressed the shutter at that precise instant.

Its feet are still on the branch.

There was a lot more flow on the river today. Perhaps it was yesterday's rain working its way through the system. Together with the generally narrower river in these upstream reaches it meant that sometimes we were doing only 2 mph.

And suddenly there were people. Gongoozlers at the last proper river lock, people in the park and little boats on the river. Yes, we'd arrived in Stratford.

We carried on past the parkside moorings and under the Tramway Bridge to explore the Avon upstream of there. We hadn't done this bit before, so here was more new water.

A mile and a half from Tramway Bridge was this interesting modern structure, "Riverside", a conference centre.

The two guides we have suggest that it's best to wind before the last half mile to Alveston Weir, so we did just that, at a left bend. Ahead in the photo below is the bend ...

... and this is us mid-wind. Apart from one moored narrowboat near Stratford we were the only narrowboat on this section. Has any reader done this bit? How far did you get? Could we have got further than we did?

It was a lot quicker returning to Stratford with the current; we turned right under the Tramway Bridge to go up into Bancroft Basin.

We're back on a canal at last! With narrow locks! We've managed to get ahead of schedule - we could have saved ourselves £10 and got a one week permit for the Avon rather than two. It's a shame it's not transferable.

Wet Wednesday on the Wiver

Alliterative enough for you, Sarah?

We had a fair amount of rain overnight, which continued well into the morning. I put my waterproofs on and had a walk round Evesham; when I got back to the boat the rain had stopped. We set off, therefore, and the rain started again. Oh well, we were committed now. First up after Workman Bridge was Evesham Lock, the one with the A-frame house. This I remembered from 35 years ago. Before working through the lock we made use of the facilities - watering up and emptying the Elsan.

Having read Neil's blog the other day we stopped at Offenham, tying up at the Bridge Inn. As it was lunchtime we ate in the pub. It was rather a lonely experience. Apart from the barman and, presumably, the chef, we were the only people in there. I must learn to ask for my steak to be "rare", and then it might actually be medium-rare as I want. Here I ordered "medium-rare" and it came medium-well done. As always, though, by the time it came and I'd hungrily eaten enough to know it was overcooked, it was too late to send it back.

Walking up Boat Lane from the pub we came across the microbrewery Neil wrote about, the Boat Lane Brewery. Ian had two ales on tap to sample, PWA and Single Step, of which I preferred the latter. We weren't offered a tour, perhaps because Ian seemed to be on his own. I bought a couple of (small) bottles of Satsumo Stout and one of Single Step, and we walked into the village to look for the tall maypole. According to Wikipedia Offenham's maypole, at 64 feet, is the tallest of only six permanent maypoles in England. (But Wikipedia's entry for Barwick, Yorks, describes that village's maypole as 86 feet tall.) Anyway, here it is, with Jan standing at its foot for scale.

There are some pretty houses in Offenham. Can you see the straw finial?

I think they are boxing hares.

The last rain we had today was while we were doing Evesham Lock. The sky remained threatening ...

... but not enough to put off the gliders. I saw several being given an air tow.

At Marlcliff Lock we encountered a 70 feet wide beam which squeezed past us as we waited on the lock landing.

As expected, by the time we reached Bidford-on-Avon - at about 7pm - there was no space on the recreation ground mooring. We breasted up to a hire boat whose crew was out, but a neighbouring boat assured us that they wouldn't mind. Happily, this turned out to be the case.

This was the view from the bow when we'd tied up.

I cycled back to Evesham to get the car and passed lots of apple orchards. The sunset was dramatic, with that black cloud still there.

Tomorrow should see us in Stratford and back to good old canals at last.

Two impressive buildings, a wooden boat being cut up, a poser and flagrant fishing

The rain forecast for today held off until 8pm which worked well for us. From Pershore I took the car and bike to Evesham, left the car there and cycled back. Then we cruised to Evesham and were tied up by 6pm.

A mile after setting off from Pershore we came to Wyre Lock and its impressive grist mill.

Grist is merely wheat before it is ground to make flour.

Another imposing building we passed was Wood Norton Hall. The Avon Navigation Trust's (Nicholson-sized and spiral bound) guide to the River Avon describes it - accurately - as a hotel and conference centre and gives one or two historical pieces of information but ignores its main significance to me and hundreds of other BBC staff who passed through "ETD Wood Norton" as part of our training. (ETD: Engineering Training Division.) When I was there, for two periods at the beginning of the 1980s, I looked at the narrowboats cruising past and promised myself that, one day, I would be doing that. Well, that day came a couple of years later when we moved a boat from Tewkesbury Marina to Cowroast Marina. Today's cruise was only the second time we've been past. (My 2012 Nicholson does mention the BBC's association with Wood Norton, but it is out of date. The BBC left years ago.)

At Sankey Marine, upstream of Chadbury Lock, work was being carried out on an old wooden boat.

It looked like it was being cut up, but with care. Perhaps it is being restored.

Approaching Evesham a kingfisher posed nicely for us. This is the best I could do with the camera.

We are on the Town Moorings in Evesham, just below Workman Bridge. All along the moorings are signs in English and Polish forbidding fishing unless you have a permit from the council, and are under 16 or disabled. Seemingly flouting the rules was someone who appeared to be older than 15 (yes, that is a fag in his mouth), who didn't look disabled (yes, I know not all disability is visible) and who I had earlier heard speaking in an east European accent. He was fishing with a lure a few feet from one of the signs.

Let's hope it doesn't rain too much tomorrow as we navigate the eight miles and four locks to Bidford-on-Avon. Shall we take up the Herbies' suggestion of stopping at Offenham en route? We'll see.

Not the right angle for a narrowboat

We stayed in Tewkesbury from Friday until this morning. We had enjoyed some great singing in the abbey, including Mozart's Requiem and Messaien's O Sacrum Convivium, both of which I have sung myself. But it was time to move on. This was our mooring in Tewkesbury. (A cruiser is just coming out of the lock, which is at right angles to the river.)

A couple of minutes upstream, beyond Tewkesbury Marina, we were passing a line of sailing boats. A very different scene from the Caldon Canal, say.

The River Severn has high banks and few scenic views (in our recent experience), whereas the River Avon has low banks and a view round every bend. Bredon Hill followed us all the way to Pershore.

Eckington Bridge was built 400 years ago and is still doing the job.

As we left Nafford Lock we saw this boat on the wrong side of the weir boom and at definitely the wrong angle.

A victim of the 2007 floods? Surely not.

We tied up by the football ground (and Asda) in Pershore and had a barbecue.

Lock shuffle with large hotel boat

We are now back in Tewkesbury after a mostly uneventful run up the Severn from Gloucester. I'll start with one of my favourite photos of the day, houses on the Mill Avon in the evening sun.

The Severn upstream of Gloucester is rather featureless. This view did present itself at one point, though.

I said the trip was mostly uneventful, the one piece of excitement was when we encountered the hotel boat Edward Elgar wanting to leave Upper Lode Lock as we waited to enter.

The skipper of the hotel boat considered that our position on the piling below the lock wouldn't have given him sufficient room to swing round after exiting the lock. He therefore asked us to come alongside him before he left.

This all worked well. I steered in (to a compliment on my skippering from the hotel boat - he doesn't know how many narrow locks I've done, and there was more space here!) We hung on to the lockside cables, I waved to the passengers having their lunch, the Edward Elgar went and the lock was filled for us.

I was expecting the flow on the river to considerably reduce our speed, but this was not the case. At 1200 rpm we made 3.6 - 3.8 mph, with very little difference at 1100 rpm. Maybe 0.1 mph slower. The weather was much better than of late, with hardly any rain, much less wind and even some sunshine. We arrived at Avon Lock during the lockie's lunch break; at 1400 he appeared and got us up the lock. After paying our fee - £60 for two weeks - we took on water and tied up just below King John Bridge.

After tea on board we went to a Requiem Mass in Tewkesbury Abbey where Mozart's Requiem was sung in the context of a communion service.

Then we walked down to the river and I took the top photo and this one, of the weir control building (?) at sunset.

We intend to stay in Tewkesbury for another couple of days to take in some more of the festival of sacred music at the abbey.

Meeting Edward Elgar in a tight spot

This morning I cycled back to Worcester to collect the car while Jan toured Tewkesbury looking for OS map 150 (Worcester and the Malverns) for me. She found a not-too-old, good condition one in a second-hand bookshop, but it was too late. I had already set off on National Cycle Route 45 - big mistake. I should have just kept it simple and used the direct and ubiquitous A38 (it seems to go everywhere). As it was I tried using the directions from Google Maps on my phone, which led me at one point along an exceedingly muddy narrow track complete with horse droppings. I eventually reached the car and drove back to Tewkesbury where I found a side street with no parking restrictions. The car will stay there until we return by boat.

This was our peaceful mooring last night, with Healing's Mill in the background.

Nothing terribly exciting or noteworthy happened as we travelled down the Severn to Gloucester - until we met trip boat Edward Elgar. This was in the East Channel, a narrow section of the Severn, a mile above Gloucester Lock. The lockie had warned us it was on its way and mentioned that it might be a tight squeeze getting past. In the event we passed at a good point with plenty of room for both of us. If we'd been a minute ahead it would potentially have been awkward as there are some tight bends.

But our slowish pace (1100 rpm = 4.8 mph here) paid off as we arrived at the lock just as a boat was leaving. Having been warned about the stream pulling to the right across the entrance of the lock I aimed to the left. The flow obviously wasn't that great as I had to correct to the right myself before entering the lock.

The approach had given us a taste of the fine buildings to come; as we ascended the lock we found we were entering a cornucopia of large old warehouses.

We turned left immediately after exiting the lock and tied up on one of the floating pontoons. Jan spotted BCF stickers on a boat two away from us, so we invited ourselves round for a cup of tea on Pound Eater with Barry and Kate. It was good to chat to you, and thanks for the tea and biscuits!

We then went for a walk round Gloucester city centre and returned to the boat for tea. While Jan was preparing a chicken meal I walked round the docks and took this photo of our mooring. Jubilee is in the centre, the front bulkhead catching the light. That's the cathedral in the background.

After tea Jan joined me for another walk round the docks, and we witnessed a fine sunset over Sainsbury's car park.

As you do.

It looks like tomorrow we'll stay here and do the National Waterways Museum. And I have to cycle to Maplin to pick up a powerbank I've ordered.

Tewkesbury takes its toll

I'll start today's write-up with the photo which came out best. This is Abbey Mill from Severn Ham. Tewkesbury Abbey is in the background on the right.

Now back to the journey. It took a long time to get down the two locks from Diglis Basin onto the Severn. There were two hire boats and a narrowboat-style plastic cruiser in front of us. The hire boats were in the top lock and the cruiser had tied up to the lock landing leaving us hovering as there was nowhere else to go. The hire boats emptied the lock, but then found that the intermediate pound was too low, so they stayed in the lock and refilled it, then emptied it again before leaving. Meanwhile I had managed to get off the boat and walked down to the bottom lock to set it, which none of the numerous crew from the hire boats had thought of doing. Eventually we were able to enter the top lock and start down. These two locks take a very, very long time to empty and fill. They must be the slowest on the entire system - are they? Only one bottom paddle was working on the bottom lock, which didn't help.

In the top lock

The cruiser was also going to Tewkesbury, so we shared Diglis Lock with them.

leaving Diglis Lock

The Severn was placid, the weather was bright, dry and breezy, the scenery changed just sufficiently to prevent it getting too tedious.

typical Severn scene

We passed a couple of bulk loading sites with boats in situ.

It looked like gravel or sand was what was being transported.

After passing a mooring opportunity at Upton-on-Severn we made the left turn onto the River Avon and tied up beyond the lock entrance without going up the lock. Having paid the fee (the toll of the title) to the lockie we walked into Tewkesbury and marvelled at the abundance of old half-timbered buildings.

There are lots of narrow passages called 'courts' or 'alleys' - this one led to the old Baptist chapel of 1655.

We went to a service of Choral Evensong in the Abbey, then ate at the Bell (a very ordinary roast meal) (the beer was good though - North Cotswold 4.0%) before continuing our exploration of the town.

Here's another shot of Abbey Mill.

Tomorrow I shall cycle back to Worcester to get the car, then we have some decision making to do. I'd quite like to stay on in Tewkesbury for a sacred music festival in the Abbey, but that would interfere with our cruising plans. And do we continue to pay for mooring or do we carry on to Gloucester and drive back for the festival? Or do we get a two-week Avon licence or even a 30 day licence?

To be continued ...