Where to for Phase 2…

Is Stourport a Severn-side version of Blackpool…?Stourport is definitely a place for fun-seekers. Who could miss the permanent funfair right beside the river and visible from the river, the boat basins and from Bridge Street?  Lights flash, chairoplane rides rise,  waltzers swirl,  a caterpillar rollercoaster creaks and plunges on its wooden track,   music blares, children squeal, fast food sizzles …  All day long, seven days a week, between 1000 and 1800 the Treasure Island funfair is in action, offering plenty of opportunity for folk to empty their pockets and wallets on some old-fashioned fun.Sunny summer days bring the crowds to the park too. Seen from Stourport Bridge, Riverside Meadows Park seems to offer plenty of thrills and spills. On a hot Saturday afternoon it was packed with families picnicking and paddling, skateboarding and sliding….. Those fancying a river trip can board the River King trip boat and take a cruise along the Severn. Instead of gazing from a Blackpool promenade at high jinks on the beach, river-watchers one particular weekend could watch rowers racing as Stourport Boat Club hosted a regatta.  Between 8am and 6pm for two days singles, pairs, coxed fours and eights rowed downstream to race back upstream in fierce competition. Spectators could watch from a pub side perch or a personally brought seat  – or join the shouting, cheering throng at the finish line beside the Stourport Boat Club. Maybe it was because the holiday atmosphere is infectious that two ice cream cones were purchased at a booth beside the fairground   – and maybe it was because the weather was sunny and that Stourport, Cleddau’s phase 1 destination, had been reached that a Pimm’s was called for… A particular Stourport pleasure for the Cleddau crew was a lunch at the Old Beams pub  and an on board catch up with the former Tentatrice Two. Crick to Stourport had been Phase 1, so what would be the route of Phase 2? Would it be to turn left off the Severn and re-enter the canal system at Droitwich (Option A) – or at Worcester (Option B) – eventually to climb up lots of locks at Tardebigge to King's Norton Junction.Would it be to turn left further down the River Severn at Tewkesbury and go up the River Avon to Evesham and Stratford? (Option C)Or would it be the Big One, all the way down the River Severn to Gloucester and on to Sharpness? (Option D)…..Exit from Stourport Day. With a regatta in full swing would getting safely out onto the river and down the race course be tricky?On the Sunday morning four volunteer lock keepers were on duty around Stourport Basins and the river path, doing a thorough litter-pick first thing, before helping boaters down through York Street Lock  and then down through the two sets of narrow staircase locks. Reassurance was given. The lock keepers informed regatta stewards on the river bank of boats ready to access the river. Regatta stewards then informed the race starter marshals of a narrowboat on the race course.How odd it was to see the funfair in action on Sunday morning, the waltzers spinning and young boys skimming down the high slides. As the bottom gates opened two women’s pairs were visible racing towards the finish line.  By the far river bank a four was moving down to the start point and by the Boat Club oars were lined up ready for use… All was going well  – and then the huge shape of the trip boat loomed into view. Regatta successfully passed, Cleddau progressed downstream. The sandstone rock is visible on the western bank  but then there’s Lincomb Lock, the first of the River Severn locks.  This river spent much of last winter in flood – so it was heartening to see that water levels are now safely “in the green”. As you go downstream you see flood wrecked debris and caravan parks with mobile homes built up on stilts.On, past the first exit possibility, the entrance to the Droitwich Canal (Option A) One more lock and onwards to overnight at Worcester.Mooring is tricky here, behind the racecourse, pay and display or try your luck further on. A better stretch of mooring was found, broad enough for a “towpath dinner” and a long evening sitting out in cooler air. It had been a waddlingly hot afternoon - but good to share space with 40 beautiful penguins positioned in the city streets and along the long promenade. They formed an art trail and a venture to raise funds for the local St Richard’s Hospice.       (If you are close enough to Worcester do go and seek out some penguins, on display until 15^th September). Very suddenly the next morning the sizzling heat gave way to rolling thunder, lightning flashes and heavy showers.Passing Worcester Cathedral as the first shower starts…Barely legible signposts to Worcester and Birmingham Canal (Option B) So many cruisers: the ‘Worcester Navy’ South of Worcester there are wonderful glimpses of the beautiful Malvern hills.    Onward then, the river banks being heavily wooded. There was commercial activity just before Upton-on-Severn, where a fleet of barges (Perch, Elver, Chub and Pike) transport sand from Ryall Court Quarry to Ryall House Farm Quarry .  You cannot help but notice the profile difference between a laden and an unladen barge… Plans to moor at Upton-on-Severn (a pretty little town) were foiled so on Cleddau went, on past the waterworks at Tewkesbury, so nearly overwhelmed in the July 2007 floods, on past the entrance to the River Avon (Option C), on past more holiday homes on stilts, under the M50 bridge – to find a mooring space on the pontoon at Haw Bridge.How peaceful it was, way down below the river bank.How remote it felt – even more so when it was realised that there were no phone connections and no internet access… The Captain resorted to the marine band radio to inform Gloucester Dock of a narrowboat arrival not that afternoon but the following day.Farewell to Severn Belle, pontoon sharer at Haw BrIdge. It was about a two hour run down to Gloucester, crossing early on with nb Ebenezer (a boat whose name has attracted the eye on previous trips). Men at work. There was a glimpse of a church spire, then concentration to spot the Upper Parting:  avoid that channel and keep left.Radio Gloucester Lock on Channel 74 to warn of Cleddau’s approach. Prepare to tie to the wall stern first, so as not to be swept downstream into the non-navigable river… Luck was in: the lock was ready.  There was a wait for another boat to arrive.  Flashing lights and an alarm kept pedestrians away from the footbridge over the lock gates. Water filled the lock and soon Cleddau and crew found themselves a comfortable mooring in Gloucester Docks. “Just hope you won’t suffer from incontinent seagulls,” a local friend emailed. And that brought back memories of much loved seagulls on a childhood bedroom wall. Did it ever once cross the mind then that seagulls can display seriously anti-social behaviour…?!Guessed it? Phase 2 is Option D, to Gloucester for a cruise down to Sharpness and back.Stourport-on-Severn to Gloucester Docks: 42¼ miles, 11 locks, 0 swing bridges2024 Totals: 354½ miles, 12 tunnel passages, 196 locks, 8 swing bridges *2024 Monkton Moments* (Monkton Moment*- a reference to / recognition of Cleddau’s Pembrokeshire connections) – now 17Tudor Rose enquiries: 2Footballs floating in the cut: 8Supermarket trolleys visible in the cut: 2Spotted in Worcester: