From one river to another

 Gloucester – Tewkesbury - Pershore

Gloucester Lock had been closed to boat traffic for most of a day while underwater surveying was taking place. Spotted from a mooring beside Biddle Warehouse were 4 narrowboats arriving from the lock at about 6pm. Had they been tied up against the wall below the lock for many hours during the lock’s closure?“Did yesterday go well?” Boatwif asked the lock keeper.“Oh yes,” he replied, “though I got in trouble for being late home for my tea!”Before 9am the next day Cleddau descended in the lock. Get up the Severn before the weather worsens was the plan… It was slow going at first, pushing against the river’s flow in the narrow channel.   After Upper Parting (where some river water flows off over Maisemore Weir) the going became less laboured and the river wider. The Severn is a river than can spend days and weeks in flood but in late August its level was relatively low.It was breezy but bright.There’s a KEEP LEFT sign mounted midstream near The Cliff to indicate shallow water; obviously The Red Lion doesn’t get any passing boating trade. An approaching boat was displaying a bright light. “Your tunnel light is on,” the Captain bellowed across the river.“All those sailors up there,” the woman on the helm replied, gesturing behind her… The boats were soon far apart – and on the western bank work was progressing well with renovating fishing platforms. Onward, past Haw Bridge, a mooring space on the pontoon for another boat (lovely mooring, hopeless connectivity…) and then ahead was the reason for that approaching boat’s tunnel light…   There were eight small sailing boats out on the river at Avon Sailing Club, skimming and zipping across the water, cornering around buoys, sails dipping towards the deep. A safety boat came alongside, its driver fact-checking Cleddau’s portside flag. “Is that a Pembrokeshire flag? I grew up in Cardigan… Those boats up there are learners,” he said, indicating the five further ahead. It was a pressured experience, maintaining a northbound heading in a stiff wind, while being “cut up” by tiny vessels! Onwards, past Cheltenham College Boat House on the right bank, a sunken boat on the left. It was with relief that Cleddau was turned into the Upper Lode lock channel. For the lock keeper to set the water level for this massive lock takes time. In the chamber it's not always easy to get a bow or stern rope round the wires that are suspended vertically inside a groove in the walls.  The bow rope snagged on a bottom nut; it was a slow and mucky job disengaging the rope, after which Boatwif’s mud spattered trousers and boating gloves required a wash. According to the lock keeper it was a common problem but despite their reports to C&RT no action has been taken.Hints of what was to come – the top of Tewkesbury Abbey,   a Welcome notice to the River Avon,  mill buildings   and Avon Navigation Trust rules. The Avon licence had been bought online but there was a £5 per night mooring charge to moor above Avon Lock, two nights maximum, £100 per night for overstaying…Two nights in Tewkesbury were richly rewarded by exploring this lovely town. The centre of the town is very much based on its medieval origins, with tightly packed houses,   intriguing alley ways leading back from the streets and in summer time nearly two hundred street banners  commemorating the Battle of Tewkesbury (4^th May, 1471. See info re the street banners here:).In high rainfall conditions Tewkesbury is inclined to flood and many will be familiar with pictures of the Abbey standing proud, temporarily islanded, until the waters recede. There was a visit to the John Moore Countryside Museum, named in honour of a local author and naturalist whose ideas promoted a respect for the countryside and for wildlife. A guided tour of the Merchant’s House was even more fascinating. It was led by a re-enactor, an accomplished archer, just back from a Battle of Bosworth event. He had grown up visiting his grandparents in an identical property and was passionate about medieval Tewkesbury. Two nights in Tewkesbury seemed barely enough to explore more than just the surface of this fascinating place. (And there is the most wonderful 15,000 volume bookshop too…)Storm Lilian had passed further north but nonetheless there was apprehension about setting out on the open river in breezy conditions. Under the King John Bridge to pass boats of all varieties - broad beams, narrow boats, cruisers, sailing boats, kayaks. Information panels along the town’s River Walk had emphasised Tewkesbury shipping and trading past. First mention of boat building is in 1401; in 1588 Queen Elizabeth I required Tewkesbury and Gloucester to fund an 80 tons manned ship in preparation for the Spanish Armada. Ship building at Tewkesbury continued right through until the late twentieth century so perhaps it is less of a surprise that the reaches around the town are so dominated by a marina and numerous boats…Over to the right (to the east) is Bredon Hill, a feature that dominates the landscape from both road and river for quite a while. A huge number of Canada geese had convened on the starboard bank (Canada geese lobbying for Kamala …?!) The wind was blowing hard from behind, luckily not broadside on.  There were some prettily painted garden sheds at Twyning  and the first of very many caravan and holiday home parks. Onward, a motorway ahead, the M5 just south of the Strensham Services and the M50 spur to South Wales. Underneath the road bridge was a surprisingly bright cartoon. Strensham Lock – the first one on the Avon Navigation to be self-operated. The Cleddau crew are law abiders but as a two person crew struggled with this regulation. While the Captain controlled the stern with a rope and engine power the bow rope tied on the front lock bollard became too slack while Boatwif wound the paddles up. On past a sailing club, under a railway bridge to Eckington Bridge (the place to swim, the young civil engineer had advised in the Gloucester Dock alcohol-free conversation last week, referenced here: ) It’s narrow, that bridge, but Cleddau slid through. Onward, along a winding route, to Nafford Lock. There are tricky memories from here, an encounter with a ‘Mister Obnoxious’. What’s more, there’s a bridge to be swung across the lock. There was success though in handling the bow of the boat, a long rope attached to the front T-stud, passed round the lock side front bollard and back to the bow to be tied by the Captain. Once the boat rises the extra slack can be wound round the bollard by Boatwif. The system proved slow, but successful. Of course, at Nafford, there was still the business of moving the swing bridge back across the lock… Onwards, past cruisers and swans, ‘Grand Design’ type houses and grand garden creatures, onward, under the two Pershore Bridges to Pershore Lock. Here the challenge is the operation of a ground paddle from the side of the lock before raising the gate paddles. The paddle is so far back from the lock chamber that there is no view of how the boat is faring…A friendly crew member of a down-coming hire boat advised that there might be vacant moorings ahead at Pershore.And so it was, a lucky last but one space at Pershore on a bank holiday and, it transpired, on Plum Festival Weekend.   Next time: Pershore, Evesham and the Upper AvonGloucester Docks – Pershore: 27¼ miles, 6 locks, 1 swing bridge2024 Totals: 412½ miles, 12 tunnel passages, 202 locks, 31 swing bridges *2024 Monkton Moments* (Monkton Moment*- a reference to / recognition of Cleddau’s Pembrokeshire connections) – now 18 (“Is that a Pembrokeshire flag? I come from Cardigan…”)Tudor Rose enquiries: 2Footballs floating in the cut: 9Supermarket trolleys visible in the cut: 4Rescued: 1 garden gnomeCar in the river - 1 (red, partly submerged)