Tewkesbury

28th June
We left Gloucester Docks in the rain, having to hold outside the lock with 2 other boats for long enough for the wind to blow us virtually from one side of the basin to the other. Through the lock and back onto the Severn up to Tewkesbury, where we turned off through the manned lock with a very efficient husband and wife team of lock keepers and onto the Avon, which was very full of moored boats. The lock keeper had suggested we liaise with a couple near the bridge who had decided to move as they were too long to secure their bow rope in the space. They were 54', we are 50'. We successfully swopped with them and moored tight to the bridge behind a hire boat, the occupies of which were enjoying a 2 week trip with a supply of 24 bottles of wine. Strange the things people tell you, but that sounds like a sensible amount to me.

The sun came out for a stroll into Tewkesbury. Another lovely town, lots of it very old but well preserved although the waterfront sadly a little dilapidated with a row of potentially good moorings back towards the water mill in a state of decay. The town is about to hold a medieval festival - the streets decorated with banners in readiness. These remind me of prop making days spent designing and stencilling such things, a job I mostly enjoyed when it went smoothly. These specimens were beautifully crafted by the people of Tewkesbury and must have taken many hours of painstaking work.

A lovely absurd moment whilst walking through Tewkesbury: we passed a couple and Pete said cheerily "did you find somewhere eventually?" - they looked politely confused, as he added "to moor?". It then dawned on us, that these were not the people we had swopped moorings with, although they looked just like them! They didn't in fact have a boat! There followed a rather silly embarrassed conversation about the whereabouts of the marina which they were heading for and their recommendation for the Wetherspoons pub and we parted ways!




the abbey                                                          our mooring tight to the bridge

ripe for development

Tucked in by the bridge, all the other boats had gone before us in the morning

.....went to Gloucester

26th/27th June

On Friday, friends George and Carol joined us for dinner out. We'd chosen the restaurant as it was about the only one we could find (and there are plenty in the docks area) that had a vegetarian selection. Shouldn't have bothered however, the food was not good especially the vegetarian stuff! We often have this problem and they tell us good veggie dishes are hard to find in restaurants, someone is missing a trick. And to have a nut roast on the menu mainly of flaked almonds and grated carrot seems positively amateur.

Despite the food, we had a great evening catching up with them and were pleased they had been able to drive an hour from their welsh home to meet us, especially as George is very busy with work at the moment.

Saturday and the docks were alive with new boats coming and going. Up until now we had had no immediate neighbours and there were only two other boats on the pontoon. Saturday was full. Lots of activity all around us and Fosters on the Docks bar and restaurant was thrumming. This is another joy of boating life - sometimes you're in remote peace and quiet with nothing but birdsong and other times in a lively town centre with lots of people and the basin lit up all around you at night.

We had a long chat with our neighbours who have kindly informed us of the Stratford boat festival happening next weekend. We now know we may not find a mooring if we pitch up there at that time, so our schedule has to be adjusted. The towpath telegraph is a wonderful thing.

And it did rain a bit, but not enough for a puddle right up to our middle, so we will come here again.

Dr Foster......

25th/26th/27th June

Untangling ourselves from our neighbours at the crack of 9am, we left Upton to travel to Gloucester Docks, our ultimate destination. The Severn is wide with high banks both sides and because there is little to see, a bit boring. We took it in turns to drive, only one lock to go through before the big one into the docks. The routine is that you have to phone ahead once you've reached the split in the river, to announce your arrival so that the lock can hopefully be prepared for you. We had been told horror stories of the weir stream to the right of the lock whisking you away with its speed. The Upper Lode lock keeper gave us careful instructions to stay close to the left high wall, and if we had to wait for the lock to tie to the chains there, stern first. He passed the instruction leaflet down in a bucket! So we were all prepared. Pete counting down the miles until the upper parting where we were to take the East channel of the Severn and phone ahead at that point. It was my turn to sit in the bow and relax with my book as there is nothing to see but soporific water, so I closed my eyes in the warm sunshine, only to be woken sharply by the boat horn in my ear!! We had travelled for 3 and a half hours with nothing to do, the minute I was supposed to be taking the tiller so that Pete could phone, I was snoozing ! Dozy twit. I missed the only point of interest! Pete had been shouting for me and had begun to think I'd gone overboard! Hey ho, thank goodness for the boat horn with my deaf ears!

Anyway, the cruise into the lock hugging the wall was superbly handled by my husband and we popped out into Gloucester Docks around 3pm, sun baking hot and an easy pontoon mooring beneath old renovated warehouses opposite big ships, seagulls wheeling above. Ani's engine had been going at max chat for some 5 hours, so we will rest her for a couple of days!

We visited the waterways museum in the docks, which was really enjoyable with lots of atmosphere due to all the old kit and clobber from old working barges and narrowboats. I learned that the colourful castles and roses designs we all know so well on narrowboats were applied by the hard working boatmen partly to show their care for their 'homes' and their profession. It was easy for others to see them as scruffy gypsies and to blame them for thefts and crimes, but a pride in their boats and belongings showed otherwise. I am guessing that the painted castle is aspirational or to show that their tiny living quarters were considered their castles. What a hard life it must have been, never letting up as they could not afford to stand still. There were parties of school children in the museum dressed up in their aprons and kerchiefs and having fun. Of course, Pete and I had to have a play with the brilliant lock system model too. How ridiculous when we do them for real every day!

Gloucester cathedral is even bigger than Worcester and it's surroundings just as lovely, but the town centre is the usual muddle of shops and Mac Donald's etc., fine to wander through and if you want to shop for clothes but not particularly interesting. The docks are the place to be.





The Upper Lode lock keeper and his dog giving Pete instructions








What else can you call a narrowboat that lives in Gloucester?


Ani on far right

Upton on Severn

24th June
After exploring Worcester and it's beautiful cathedral we continued on to Upton, a really pretty old town on the verge of giving its annual jazz festival.
Because of the festival all the (very few) public moorings were taken, mostly 2 abreast, so that we were forced to moor at the end of the town on a steep wall below the Swan Hotel. The sign said moorings for hotel, non residents welcome . It was tricky to come in as there was another boat moored and a scruffy pontoon either end of the space we were aiming for. Once into the wall, (the owner of the boat behind kindly offering to move back to accommodate us) it was apparent there was not a lot to tie to. A battered old cleat above me at the bow, a shared ring at the stern, neither in a good position for the length of our boat. Still we had a mooring, there being none in the wilds of the Severn before this. We explored the delightful town, bought some supplies, a drink in the Swan so as to declare our mooring site and we were set for the night, or so we thought. We spotted Peter and Kate on their boat (whom we had encountered in Stourport Basin) cruising by, surveying the bank for a mooring, as we had done a little while before, and we offered them a mooring alongside which they gratefully accepted.

We had a lovely dinner in the bow and all of 5 strawberries each from our pots on the roof and were sitting back to enjoy the sunset when a face appeared over the wall above asking if we were only staying for one night. He told us it was his mooring, but that it was no problem. I couldn't help but say you should have a sign then as it appears to belong to the hotel. We then realised there is a white line marking where the Hotel moorings end, we were not advised of this beforehand. All this somewhat spoiled our evening for a while. This was not an especially nice mooring anyway, being a narrow strip of weed infested concrete backed by a tall wall, our only access off a limbo exercise beneath next doors' ropes with no view of the river because of our needy neighbours and a large trip boat on the scruffy pontoon. It got us to discussing how few moorings there are along the Severn and how remiss a popular place like Upton was in not making more of its river frontage in this way. The Swan publican told us that the council had argued with him that there was no point in improving his frontage to further his trade, so he has started a visitors book which we were required to sign so that he can prove that plenty of boaters would frequent his pub if only they could moor comfortably.

This is all 'boat talk' and probably boring, but I started this blog as a diary for us and therefore think it worth noting these odd stories that affect all boaters and cause problems all around. We presume the 'owner' of the mooring we were actually on was having a disagreement with the landlord, but we can't be sure. It is extremely difficult to identify moorings when you are coming up to a town, signage is important.

All that said, we DID have a mooring in this popular place and we did enjoy the sunset!

                                                      Worcester Cathedral

                                          Worcester evening on mooring


                                          Upton

                                          Upton mooring - hemmed in!

Off and back on

Out of sequence, this should appear before Stourport, doh!

Moored in Kidderminster on 15th June, so that I could return by train for Mum's hospital appointment and when I also managed to fit in seeing my grandson.

Pete stayed on the boat, doing bits of maintenance and cleaning and some canoeing. I returned on 21st and after a beer in the Weavers, a canalside pub that sells only beer and cider with no music, no machines and no lager (suits us) we decided to take a midsummer evening cruise in the warm sunshine away from the urban sprawl of Kidderminster, which Pete had seen enough of. We moored at about 8pm just before Falling Sands lock in a peaceful leafy setting, put on some music, poured a glass of wine and sat in the bow until dusk. Lovely.

Stourport

22nd June
On to Stourport Basin, through more pretty glades. A chilly day though and some rain.
We moored just outside the basin to do a reccy and it was a little confusing as to which were public moorings. This is a complicated set of four basins, with two staircase locks down from one of them into the Severn. A very well kept spot surrounded by old buildings and houses. We checked there were moorings on the river and decided to go through the basin and onto the Severn for the night, filling water and pumping out before that. I felt very proud of myself steering through the staircase locks because we were warned there was an awkward angle coming out of the top double into the lower. A very nice chap said "you've obviously done that before, very professional" whoo hoo, I glowed! Pete deftly jumped back on board as I came through the bottom lock where there is little time before you need to turn downstream. And then I managed to turn around on the river to moor perfectly on the pontoon! My head is now too big to fit in the boat.

Pah to CRT though, £16.75 for a card for a 6 minute pump out, that is not value for money! We saw a £14 charge in the opposite boatyard, so CRT ought to be kinder to us who pay our licence fees. Their washing machine in the sanitation block didn't work either, but that was probably just as well as it would have cost £8 a wash and the same for a dry! We get a little niggled about this as you can see. £5 for wash and dry at the nearby launderette instead - now that's value. Trouble is we can see a time when CRT decide to close all these facilities down because no one is using them, without thinking that perhaps it's the cost that stops us.

Stourport is a lovely town, built around the canal. Shopping for meat and vegetables at nice independent stores whilst waiting for our washing was a pleasant past time. I really felt at home here. A shame we didn't get to meet friend Simon from Bromsgrove, who was going to see us but has just got a new job and was not able to get away early enough to join us.

We were moored beneath the Angel pub and the sun came out to greet us and our pints.

The mighty Severn - Pete did some serious canoe training here way back when.....in readiness for the real mighty river: the Mississippi



Beautiful terrace and a happy Pete



For Sale........hmmmmm



Back to manned locks, that's nice

A pretty stretch

12th/13th June

We pressed on along the Dudley no 2 Canal from Bumblehole Bridge and then almost back on ourselves at Blowers Green, through Dudley and past it's massive Merryhill Shopping Centre where you can moor, but it wasn't very alluring. Down the nine Delph locks and onto the Stourbridge Canal, turning left at Leys Junction, where the landscape became prettier again and you no longer needed the anti-vandal key for the locks. One bridge we went through was called Astley - it's sign explained why: the council had had to wash off so much repeated graffiti (when?) saying Astley is King after he scored a winning goal for West Bromwich, that they finally got the message and named the bridge after him. Apologies to those who know football, I may have got the name and team wrong! And I have no idea of the date, so enlighten me if you will.

After many locks, all manned by Pete again and which we travelled in tandem with a nice kiwi family, it started to rain and we gratefully moored up near Wordsley on a beautiful stretch looking out at a field of ponies with a backdrop of colourful rhododendrons. The rain poured heavily all night long.

Next day continued on to the Staffs and Worcs canal, me managing 4 locks in the continuing rain. Nice lazy day through pretty scenery, where we wound up early just short of Kinver, not able to go down Hyde Lock because of a fallen tree across the canal. We'd wondered why we hadn't seen any boats today, they are all held up at the bottom of this lock. Couldn't choose a nicer place to moor though. Very wooded through here, with some huge conifers and on the other side the sandstone cliffs; some of the Kinver houses are rock houses carved out of this and still inhabited.







Much needed cuppa to drink at the next lock


Glass blowers kiln


Rainy night with horses


Pete returning with the shopping and chatting to walkers at Hyde Lock, tree cutters lorry still here.

Lenny Henry country

11th June
We moored here tonight, through the Netherton tunnel at Windmill End before Bumblehole Bridge, 2 and a half miles from Blowers Green and 2 from Gosty Hill, sounds like a fairy tale!

Birmingham

9th/10th June
Off the Worcs &Birmingham canal and a sharp left turn into Birmingham's tangle of canals at Gas Street Basin. Here the old and new buildings mix sympathetically and the carefully preserved iron and brick bridges criss cross the canals making this a really interesting area. There is every imaginable restaurant and pub alongside the Sea Life Centre and the ICC building, and in the evenings the place comes alive. We were glad to find a quiet mooring on the Oozells Street loop below a block of flats and a restaurant, well lit and off the main thoroughfares, but a short walk from the canals centre and beyond - the bullring shopping centre and Victoria Square where an Anthony Gormley iron man stands in an undulating open space in front of the attractive civic buildings.
We took a walk out to the jewellery quarter which was a waste of time as it was not what we had envisaged (old streets of quaint jewellery shops and workshops) but a very ordinary street of glitzy shops and gold traders.
The main shopping centre is well thought out and still in development by the look of all the roadworks and builders around. Somehow the town planners have got it right and there are lots of pedestrian-only areas which lead onto pleasant open spaces with public buildings.

We didn't make it to the 'balti triangle' despite having been told we could get a no 8 bus there but we did have a fantastic curry by Freeth bridge down the 9 locks of the Birmingham and Fazeley canal from the Old Turn junction.

Cadbury World

9th June
We had to stop at the chocolate factory of course! The story of Mr Cadbury and his family is an interesting one, but the centre was (obviously) geared to kids and we found it a little disappointing, especially when going to the wrapping area where we expected to see the chocolate making/wrapping process and instead saw through a glass window, factory machinery conveyor belts which were not even running!
Me being me, I was more interested in the old packaging and advertising, of which there was not enough on show in Cadbury World, nor even postcards or books to be had in the shop, they've missed a trick there! The history of Quaker Cadbury moving his thriving business to Birmingham in the 1870s and building Bourneville village for the local community and his workers to have a pleasant way of life is heartwarming. The peaceful village is still delightful with varied architectural styles, most of it conserved. Tree-lined roads and greens complete the picture.

That and the 'free' chocolate bars made for a worthwhile stop.

Stratford canal

7th/8th June
Through Kingswood junction and onto the pretty Stratford-on-Avon canal. Narrow locks again with extremely low iron bridges on some. We moored at Hockley Heath in hot sunshine. Pete tackled the Lapworth flight with his perfected routine. I did all of 3 locks out of 23! It takes at least 5 days for us to feel more supple; muscles and joints oiled. I could probably lose weight this way if it weren't for the beer and ice cream stops. Hey ho.

Next day on to Warstock for a mooring next to the golf course and opposite Lyons boatyard. Pete canoed this afternoon through clouds of midges. Not easy paddling whilst holding your breath with your head down. Not the prettiest of stops but the cruise today has been lock free through wooded banks in dappled sunshine, so we are not complaining.
Pub here is a real boozer, the type where everyone looks at you as you enter - strangers in town, uh oh.

Duckling rescue

6th June
Up the Hatton flight; 22 locks, all of which Pete did. We stopped to fill with water at the top and were aware of a lot of duck distress by the side culvet of the lock. Mother duck was calling her duckling and getting plaintive peeps back but no duckling could be seen.

A young couple on a little river cruiser boat, Yoghurt (strange name) in the lock were trying to work out a rescue plan and we joined in. There were in fact 8 ducklings all swimming about in the concrete walled pond, no idea how they had got in there and there was no way they would get out, they couldn't fly! After trying several daft contraptions reminiscent of a fairground game; ours a bucket on a rope, theirs a sieve tied to a boat hook, all we succeeded in doing was to frighten the things so badly that they frantically swam one way and then the next, successfully dodging our scoops. Eventually the lady from Yoghurt donned a pair of fetching waders ( before this she was dressed in a pretty sundress and sandals) and climbed in. She and Pete worked out an effective system of cornering the ducklings behind a plank of wood so that she could reach behind and grab them one by one to hoik back into the canal. Needless to say the mother duck was going berserk and the ducklings were getting so frightened they kept diving under the water to hide!

A group on the opposite side had gathered to watch as each duckling was thrown through the air back into the canal, where mum duck scolded them as they rushed away from the nightmare scene.

Thank goodness for the Yoghurt lady, her waders, a plank and a sieve on a pole. The latter entirely useless.

My birthday

5th June
Onward to Warwick, hot sun again and a slick run through 9 locks, we have our system down to a fine art and these are kind locks, filling gently if you open only one sluice, which was all we needed to. Most gates are still too heavy for me however. We locked through by ourselves all the way. Pete is the lock operator, I drive.

Through Leamington Spa to Warwick, where we moored on the towpath and not down the Saltisford Arm, which looked chock-a-block as it was last time we came here. I keep seeing baby coots (or moorhens, I don't know which are which) they are ridiculous things but so sweet; little black powder puffs with tiny orange beaks.

Walked into Warwick for dinner and to celebrate my birthday. The old centre is very nice with Warwick castle one end and a Norman church the other. Saturdays there is a market where we bought fresh coffee and fruit for supplies. We ate in Micatto, a 'set-designed' Italian restaurant. It's rust effect front door opening onto an interior cleverly worked out with aged white brick-shaped tiles on the walls and utilitarian light fittings the wires to which are concealed in copper piping. There were displays of fresh fruit and vegetables on crushed ice and colourful pastas, an open kitchen with lots of cooks and a bar with a butler sink set into it to hold the opened white wines on ice. I would say whoever interior designed this knew all the tricks, the atmosphere was busy and interesting. The place filled up very quickly. The food however was a little disappointing - if only they stuck to simpler stuff. My black gnocchi with lobster was more style than taste. Having said all that, we had a great evening with a good bottle of chianti, so my birthday was a memorable one.

My friend Sally's birthday card..... love it.......

Location:Warwick

Hot sun and nowhere mooring

4th June
Travelled to Napton on Wednesday, mooring just before the bottom lock. The weather has cheered and we had some sun by the afternoon. There is a buffalo farm beside one lock and we had been told we could buy their produce in The Folly shop next door to the pub. We had phoned the farm to check the shop would stock some of their meat. 3pm and the shop door was firmly closed despite an open sign and hours stated as 7am to 7pm. Tried again when we went back for a beer at the pub, but still shut and when we enquired of the landlord, he rolled his eyes and said, " I get asked all the time, but they are nothing to do with us and a law unto themselves with their opening times". So we had an enjoyable beer in this very pleasant pub ( one of our favourites) and headed back to the boat to eat onboard. Our neighbour this night was a very nice bloke who moors at Claydon, where the farmer has sold off 72' moorings with 80' deep gardens along his canal bank. Apparently they sell for £55,000 now! We were gobsmacked. This chap was about to sell his boat and buy a butty to live on which will give him more space - he will buy a little river cruiser to move about on. Sounds like he has his singular life well worked out. He and Pete exchanged stories of a familiar character who frequents The Brasenose pub in Cropredy, who now lives in a house and not on his boat. It's a strange but cheerful world on the canals with those who really appreciate this way of life - people look out for one another and there is a real sense of community.

Thursday in the blazing sun (hooray) found us moored middle of nowhere just past Splash Bridge at the bottom of Bascote Locks. We caught the shop open for literally 5 minutes while the keeper put in some stock and they had the buffalo meat we had asked for - the farmer having made sure it was there for us. So the farm gets a big thumbs up, but the shop? - not so much.

Back on the Grand Union with it's double candlestick locks, heading North. Pete has worked all of the locks bar one and I would have carried on from the one I worked were it not for the boater I would have worked with who rather put me off in his unfeasably small budgie smugglers and nothing else! And he had a Dad Bod. Not a good look! Pete was able to look the other way.

Chairs out on the bank, wine poured, all the windows open and Ani is smiling.




Morning view

Another trip to the pub

2nd June
Well we haven't gone anywhere, being as the wind is still whistling around us.
We drove the car to leave it at Wigrams Turn Marina in Napton and got a cab back to The Wharf where we had another more sober session with the Haines and Ozzie. This time a little more controlled as we only stayed for 3 hours!

The boat is provisioned and ready for the off hopefully tomorrow, although we have reluctantly bought another bag of coal for this evening and still have on our winter woollies. Let's hope the weather forecast is right and that the end of the week will be hot.


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Off we go or not

1st June

We are off on a trip to Birmingham.
As we walked along the tow path and loaded the boat on Monday lunchtime, a couple were in the process of mooring up and Pete and the skipper said a polite hallo, whereupon Pete did a double take and shouted 'Rog?' There was a brief pause before Rog realised who Pete was and within an hour we were sitting in the pub with him and his wife, Pip having a beer, or two, or three or.....then dinner, then we finally got back onboard around 8pm.

They had both been air traffic controllers for the queen and hadn't seen each other in at least 12 years. Pip had also worked for her maj and so the conversation flowed with lots of reminiscing and memories and various old colleagues' names being banded about. The stories and their sense of humour kept me from being bored and everything was interspersed with narrowboat tales as well.

So our first afternoon was happily taken up with socialising with this lively couple whose boat is stunning and fitted out to their own design. Not to mention meeting Ozzie their one-eyed bouncy cocker spaniel who behaved impeccably and was much loved by other customers in the pub. It was a suitable diversion from the foul weather; rain, hailstones and 40mph winds.

We locked up tight for the night and lit the fire. Good grief this is June?!


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Location:Fenny Compton