Left at 10:00
arrived at 15:00.
Last night was supposed to
be cooler, it was slightly but we had to close the portholes and hatches so it
wouldn’t rain in, you cant win at the moment I’m afraid. Derek up and at em as usual, dogs wont let 6
30 go by, pester power works every time with Derek. We were both up and ready eating our
breakfasts (Derek’s second) for 9. The
lock is quite busy 5 or 6 boats going through, both ways, the same lockie is on
duty, I don’t know when he gets a rest.
Through the lock nice and smoothly – 9 58 – the lockie wished us well
and hoped he might see us again, this was bye to Tewkesbury for now, we will be
back Im sure. Got to the junction Derek
tooted his horn to say we were turning, Amelia was just climbing into the
shower, it scared her, she came with the towels wrapped round her to see what
was the matter?? We passed a large
water treatment building it was very impressive, the water was quite bumpy, we
were going against the waves, it was even more so when a large cruiser went by
splashing its bow wave about a foot up at the edges of the river?? We went under a lovely iron bridge and there
were two properties at either side, with little speed boats moored at the
waters edge, the houses looked really interesting but I’m not sure you would
want your house under the road bridge.
It’s a lovely bit of river, quite winding, I always think it looks
better when the trees and foliage at the edges are waving in the breeze adding
to the movement. There was a set of
working barges moored at what I assume is a quarry, a tunnel went into the
hillside with a conveyor belt running through it to carry the sand/grit to the
large hopper at the waterside, then I presume it drops it into the barges. Amelia noticed that there were lots of broken
trees in the water at the edges, as we were speaking, who should be stood to
attention on a bare broken tree but Mr. Heron, standing very still watching the
world go by.!! Upton-upon-Severn came up
in front of us, The Pepperpot (a cupola topped church) (the trusty booklets
words) standing proudly shining in the sunshine, it looked a thriving
metropolis, lots of flags, flowers, pubs, boats and fishermen. A caravan park was beyond the village and
then wooden chalets, possibly holiday homes but could be full time homes I
suppose, they were very well kept. At
the bottom of a particularly nice one was another Heron, bigger than before but
quite lovely, he seemed to be a bit whiter than the last one. There was a large cream building on the
hillside, my trusty companion booklet says “ a stuccoed, crenellated and ever
so slightly pompous “Severn Bank” I thought it looked quite imposing and worthy
of a picture?? We came upon a lovely
yacht moored, anchored actually, with a rope on to a tree on the riverbank, we
asked if they were ok, he signalled yes, then shouted that it was a lovely
sounding engine. There was a static
caravan park above a steep slope, at the end, the slope had been washed away
and some of the last vans where very close to the edge. There was another
caravan/chalet site with lots of cruisers moored next to them, one cruiser was
battling the wind to get into its mooring.
More correctly, the lady of the vessel was leaning over the bow with a
boat hook (only about 3ft long) trying to hook a short chain down on the
pontoon, she did it!! It appeared that
she was pulling the whole boat towards the pontoon ? a guy from further up the
pontoon came to give her a hand whilst the Captain, sat aloft on his throne. I
know hes driving but it looks even more dangerous for the ladies than me
climbing round locks.!!! At Diglis lock,
it was manned, we shared with a hire boat, it was a very quick and smooth ride
up. We travelled along looking for the
pontoon to moor to go into the Basin, two locks which lead into the Birmingham
Worcester Canal. There were boats on
permanent moorings on a pontoon, then a little pontoon landing stage. We pulled over to it I got off with Key and
Windlass in hand, not knowing what we would find, went up the gangway to the
lock side, no one there, just an ordinary lock, with a walkway bridge over the
opening to it, it was full. Then another
lock after the pound up into the basin.
I walked to the top of both the locks to see if there was any problems
of anyone to say if we could use it or not.
The basin was quite large and there were lots of waterside properties,
people walking and riding bikes and no one to tell me not to use the locks in
the usual way. Derek had come up to see
what the form was, we didn’t need to use the swing bridge/walkway as we would
fit under, so we emptied the lock and he went back to bring Esmerelda in. We got in ok, it was quite slow but I had
only opened one ground paddle, the gates were heavy and it was quite windy, so
hard to push them. They were both broad
locks, Derek says the last on this stretch of water. Derek went through to the pound and he got
off the boat and went to start the next one emptying. We got through, Derek pulled onto the pontoon
on the Right Hand side and I got back on the back of the boat to get to the
visitors moorings beyond the basin. We
were going to go to the pub but didn’t, it didn’t serve food Sunday
evening. Derek went for a look see and found the spar, he
took the
girls with him to get the paper, we had a fry up for tea. No tele here so we are watching Stardust,
only seen it about 6 times, we love it, its one of my favourites. It has been raining a few times but not too
much and it is quite balmy. Afterwards
me and the kids watched Avitar, Derek had a nap on the bed, at 11 45 I failed
at the fence, had to lie down, so kids finished it by themselves.
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