Back to Gloucester

Monday 8th June

We finished off our trip on the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal today by going back to Gloucester. There is plenty of room to moor in the dock are but we chose to stay on the pontoons outside as it was slightly more convenient for Barney.

Seamans Church in Dockland

We would recommend this canal to anyone, it has been quite a delight. It is clean and in most places it is wide enough to turn if you decide you have just missed the mooring place you fancy. There are also plenty of pleasant places to moor. What fascinates us is the large number of swing bridges which are all manned from 8am-7pm with not really a high volume of traffic.....how do they afford the staff?

Gloucester is not an unpleasant place to moor but the town itself was a disappointment. Apart from the Cathedral with it's magnificent East Window (largest in England it is said) the town did not have a lot to recommend it. Even the new shopping precinct in the dock area seemed to be full of designer outlet shops and was not very inspiring.

Weekend in Saul

Weekend 6/7 June
We had timed our arrival back at Saul to reach there before the raft racing began as there were then restrictions on bridge openings.
Later in the afternoon we walked around the village of Frampton-0n-Severn which reputedly has the longest village green in England. Stopped at the Bell for a drink and watched the cricket match for a while....very English pastimes!


Sunday we walked to Framilode Church as there was a Communion service at 11am and we had booked our Sunday lunch in the nearby Ship Inn, which was personally recommended by the writers of our Pearson's Guide. We planned two geocaches enroute, one at Framilode Church and one at Saul Church. Saul was successful but Framilode was not. Our GPS wanted was telling us to go into the middle of the river! There were also too many people around (known as "Muggles") so we abandoned that one.

Inside Framilode Church

Framilode Church nestling in the trees

Although not a large congregation there were several youngish teenagers which was nice to see. Chatting to the parents of a couple of them during coffee afterwards we discovered they had a holiday place just behind our house in Cornwall.....small world.

Sharpness back to Saul Junction

Saturday 6th June
Yesterday we spent a pleasant hour catching up with Tina & Klim on Strathmore. The sun was shining and we were able to sit on the towpath and life was good.......however this morning it was a different story. Still we have had 10 days of fantastic weather so cannot complain too much.

Mini Tall ship going past

Very colourful boat moored near us

Cheerio Strathmore

However before the rain came we had an excellent walk on Friday afternoon, all around the headland and round the locks and the docks. We saw the entrance to Sharpness which we would have come in if we had been brave enough last year when we reached Bristol. All the pictures below are taken at low tide.

Entrance to Sharpness

Sea Lock looking towards entrance

Entrance gates to sea lock

Gates to next lock

High & Low bridges at Sharpness

This is another "Head of navigation" for us

Mooring at Sharpness

This is how the mooring looks in the gloomy weather we left in. Seen alongside the canal is the Severn Estuary. When viewed in the sunshine it is totally different and I had harboured thoughts of spending the weekend here. However as we had come through Saul, Geoff had sussed out a church and a pub for Sunday so we decided to brave the weather and head back there. The forecast was for the rain to get worse not better so we went early. For the first time we left the pram cover up to afford a bit of shelter. Not an ideal way to travel but there are no low bridges here.

Being such a gallant gentleman Geoff elected to steer all the way in the rain whilst I fed him cups of coffee.

Eventually moored back at Saul after a couple of hours. I braved the rain to go to the shop for the paper etc and was duly soaked by several cars driving far too fast and spraying me from the surface water.

Sods law then kicked in and when I returned to Petroc the rain stopped and there were signs of slightly lighter skies!

So we are here until Monday morning now when we hope to do the run back to Gloucester, weather permitting. If the rain persists over the weekend we shall check to see the state of the Severn before leaving the canal.

Tewkesbury to Saul Junction and onwards to Sharpness.

Thursday 4th June

The lock at Tewkewsbury does not open until 9am so we had a early shop and watered and were ready when the lock keeper came on duty. He duly relieved us of £6 (2 nights at £3 for mooring) Not a large fee, although there are no facilities and we had paid £55 to come down the Avon, however the trust needs money to maintain the Avon so must not be too grudging.
We locked through with another boat and had a pleasant trip down the Severn to Gloucester. Still good weather although cooler than of late. The river is pretty but does not have the interest of the Thames.

The guide books are quite alarmist about the approaches to Gloucester Dock but we had phoned ahead as per instructions and the lock was waiting open for us. The conditions are ideal as there has been little rain recently and the water is very low.

A small boat was already in the lock so we were three abreast and room for more behind.

There is quite a rise to come up into Gloucester Docks and it took about 10 minutes.

There seemed to be plenty of mooring space on new looking pontoons. However we were not planning to stop until the return trip so we carried on through.
Several tall ships were there, including the Matthew. We had missed to collection of all the tall ships by one weekend.

The Matthew

To leave the dock area there is a huge swing bridge which duly opened to let us pass. We were now on the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal. This is a delightful canal, very wide and very peaceful. There are numerous swing bridges which are all electrically operated and manned. There is plenty of good mooring places all along and if you miss a good place and want to go back, it is wide enough to turn almost everywhere.

Our intention was to stop at Saul Junction. This is where the Cotswold Canal will join if and when it is fully restored. There are good facilities there including showers. The mooring was good with a nice wide towpath.

Geoff took a couple of long walks to suss the area out and decided it would do well for the weekend. He found a pub for Sunday lunch and a church at Fremilow.

The intention for Friday was a dash up to Sharpness and return here. However on making contact with Klim and Tina on Strathmore who were moored there and gave glowing reports we thought we might stay the night.

Friday 5th June

We duly set off and had a 2 1/2 hour trip and enjoyed this end of the canal. The mooring is as delightful as they reported. Good wide towpath and just over a low wall we look over the Severn Estuary. We had a good reunion with Tina and Klim over coffee on the bankside and then they departed to return to Slimbridge to collect some friends.

We set off to explore the docks and estuary area.

Bredon Hill

Wednesday 3rd June

Today was walking day. Every time we have visited Geoff & Gill at Bredon we have intended to walk up Bredon Hill but have never got around to it. However this was the time. They collected us about 10am, Gill having packed a picnic. I had downloaded 5 possible geocaches in the area and we set off. We parked part way up and then managed a good 4 hour walk, with a stop for lunch and several diversions to hunt for the geocaches. In the event we managed to find 3 of the 5. The remaining 2, if we were in the correct place had far too many nettles around them. (For those of you who have not cottoned on to our new hobby see the link on the right hand side of this page)

On the way down our route took us into a field of sheep. When they saw us they must have thought we were bringing a feed as they pursued us all the way down the field with very loud voices!

One of the geocaches successfully found

Elephant Rock

The views from the top were spectacular as can be just seen behind this picture of Elephant Rock.

We returned to their place for supper where Barnaby managed to disgrace himself by swishing his tail over one of their good wine glasses...in all fairness to Barnaby it was more our fault than his. However I yelled involuntarily when I saw it happening and he was very subdued for quite a while. needless to say I was not quick enough to save the glass.

We were all quite tired after the walk so it was a reasonably early return to Petroc. On the way back Geoff showed us one of the markers from the 2007 floods, looking at it now it is hard to credit what the area. went through

Tewkesbury

Tuesday 2nd June
Yet another glorious day in the sunshine and a gentle 3 1/2 hour trip down to Tewkesbury. We are certainly seeing the Avon at its best. It is hard to believe what it was like in the devastating floods of 2007.
En route we passed Bredon and Bredon Marina. Ideally this is where we wanted to stop as friends Geoff and Gill Smith live in the village, but sadly there is not any mooring for a narrowboat

Instead there is a long line of small cruisers. We do wonder how much use some of the have. Despite all this summer weather we have seen very few of them moving.

Also en route we passed this bridge which was being inspected by an intrepid engineer. he had to hoist himself up out of our way. His friends in the dinghy below said they had the better job!

We stopped at Tewkesbury marina to refuel.. I had phoned ahead and checked that we could declare our own split. Their domestic price was 58p. My spread sheet is running on 75/25 domestic/propulsion at the moment.

We moored adjacent to King Johns bridge (in the background). Moorings were not plentiful but someone moved up for us and we managed to fit in.

Geoff went off to do his normal exploring of the town. I retired below to escape the heat.

Tewkesbury Abbey towering above the town

Tewkesbury in the sunshine

This is my second attempt at posting this. I failed to turn the power on to the computer and the battery ran out and everything closed down. When I plugged in and rebooted, despite the little message at the bottom periodically saying it was auto saving, there was nothing there.....I was not impressed. (Just discovered it was there after all, lurking way down the page....can't win sometimes)

Lower Avon to Pershore

Monday 1st June

The weather is still holding and we had a good 3 1/2 hour run down to Pershore. All the locks have big heavy gates (good for Geoff's muscles!) and as we exit at the bottom we can look back at wonderful weirs. The first picture below even shows a lady paddling.

At first sight the mooring did not look wonderful when we reached Pershore but in the event it was delightful. It was next to playing fields and only a short level walk to town and close to a large Co-op. We even had a bench right alongside so that in the evening when all the walkers had gone home we could sit and have our evening drink. It was so warm that we had to have supper later when it had cooled down (Are we complaining about the heat?)

Pershore Abbey is quite a building and I managed to find a geocache close by when Barney and I went for an early morning walk.

Barnaby & Gill relaxing

Weekend in Evesham

Friday 29th May-Sunday 31st May
Once through the Evesham Lock there was no difficulty mooring as there was a long stretch on the left hand side complete with mooring rings and not a single boat there.
It was on the opposite bank to a rather nice park but this was an advantage as most of the gongoozlers were over there! There was sufficient grass this side and we found we were withing long hose distance of a water tap......hence the picture below.......taken on Saturday morning

Boe departed late morning on the bus back to Stratford to pick up her train. I was forced to go with her to try and buy a needed screw for the waste pipe in the kitchen sink. In my cleaning zeal I decided to clean out the outflow. However the screw that was necessary to keep it in place mysteriously disappeared and I could only conclude that it had gone down the plughole!!
I had to steel myself up to tell Geoffrey what I had done..........

Just in case anyone runs away with the idea that Geoff does all the work, I was busy down below doing other household duties. Apart from cleaning we were expecting friends for supper so I was busy preparing.
Gill, Geoff (same names...different couple!)and Ronnie arrived after lunch and unbelievably the weather was still being so kind. We were able to sit on shore with our Pimms and nibbles before supper. Geoff (visiting) had kindly brought his box of screws with him as the hardware shop was useless for our needs. Luckily we found one of the right size.

We are still trying to obtain a good picture of Barnaby to submit for the Labrador Rescue 2010 Calendar...this is the latest attempt.

Part of the park opposite with the Bell Tower

As I am writing this I hear the sounds of boat washing on the roof again. After Geoff's efforts on Saturday, we awoke to find the roof covered in little black flies.........he was not impressed.

Sunday we went to Choral Communion at All Saints Church. There are two large churches side by side and alongside the remains of Evesham Abbey. Both churches are still consecrated but only All Saints is in use. The other one is looked after by the Churches Conservation Trust.

We decided to forego our normal Sunday Pub Lunch. It was partly because of the hot weather (we are not complaining!) but mainly because we couldn't find an appealing looking pub. Instead we decided to try the Steak Baguettes which were advertised on one of the market stalls in the town. We thought we had hit it lucky that there was a market (not a normal Sunday occurence), however it was not the most scintillating market we have come across. Neither were the steak baguettes. The baguettes were not the normal crispy type but soft and dry filled with a few pieces of overdone steak with onions. To add insult to injury Geoff struck up a conversation with a local on the quayside before we departed on Monday morning (as he is wont to do) and he was informed that we could have had an excellent Sunday lunch at the pub just up the road from us for £4.95 (Senior Citizens rate). We had vaguely glanced at the pub as we had walked past it several times but the outside was not beguiling....just shows one should not judge by appearances.

Onto the Avon

Thursday 28th May(9 miles 7 locks)
We bought our Avon license yesterday (£55 for 15 days) and after a wander round Stratford we set off about 11. Much later than usual for us so the tourists were out in force to watch us through the lock.

A gentle drop down onto the Upper Avon and quite spectacular when you emerge from the lock

Just a short way down we passed Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare is buried.

Geoff walked the first two locks but then came aboard. Barney prefers to walk we think so this is his pose to show his displeasure.

The weather is now being so kind to us and we moored at Bidford on Avon at teatime. The mooring was by a large recreation ground so there were lots of people around at first but eventually they all went home and it was a delightful spot.

Friday 29th May (8 miles 4 locks 3 hours)

A shorter day today for the run down to Evesham. Once again the weather has been kind. We shall stay here for the weekend as we are expecting visitors. Boe leaves us tomorrow. She has managed to catch up on a fair amount of sleep whilst on board but has also managed some work. She is coming to the end of her 1 year Post Graduate Teaching Course. She spent most of the trip today sitting on the roof in her nightie and on her phone!!

The lock keepers cottage at Evesham is real....lock keeper as well! An unusual design as you can see below.