Tewkesbury to Worcester (River Severn)

We were getting ready to set off this morning when Kevin just had a check in the engine and found that the fuel filter bracket had come away from the engine, the bolts had somehow unscrewed, but Kev managed to refit it.  We can’t really understand how this happened as they had to unscrew upwards, but they did, lucky we saw it before we set off.

Mythe Bridge

Passing Upton Upon Severn

We set off from Tewkesbury up the River Severn towards Worcester and soon we were going underneath the single 170ft-span of the cast iron Mythe Bridge, built by Thomas Telford in 1828.  It was sunny when we set off but during our trip we had a couple of really heavy showers with sleet and hail, lucky we have our pram cover to keep us dry!  It was really cold as well, the wind was biting.  Up past Upton Upon Severn and on up the river we went and until after a few hours we were approaching Diglis Lock.  There are two locks at Diglis a small one and a big one and usually we go in the small one but today we went in the big one, not sure why but we went up the lock very gently and soon we were going out of the lock.

Approaching Diglis Locks

We stopped to get water just outside the lock then moored on the visitor moorings pontoon before the locks into Worcester basin.

Moored with Worcester Cathedral in distance

We had some lunch, then went up into Worcester and had a walk around the shops and came back to the boat along the River path, it turned out to be a nice sunny afternoon and did warm up a bit.

We are staying here now for a few days and on Sunday we are off to Stratford Upon Avon as there is a festival of cars where all the classic cars park up in the streets and Steve and Ian will be there with their Morgans, we are looking forward to seeing them and looking around all the cars, should be good.

Moored at Worcester

Gloucester Docks to Tewkesbury (River Severn)

Leaving Gloucester Lock

We left Gloucester Docks this morning, it was dry and sunny but really cold, more like Autumn than Spring!  Into the lock we went along with three other boats, Michelle one of the bridge keepers was on one of the boats helping a friend go up to Upton as they didn’t want to go up the river alone.

Going up the partings in convoy

Down we went and soon the gates were opening and one by one we went out into the partings, I got my rope caught on the pole that I was holding on to and it gave me a bit of a panic for a minute, but we let the other boats go out and Kev reversed and I pulled it off, so all was well and up the partings we went and then onto the main part of the River Severn.

Leading convoy out of Upper Lode Lock

It was dry but a real biting wind so we were glad to see Upper Lode lock, we all went in together and soon going out the other side.  We then turned off for Tewkesbury and waved bye to Michelle and the other two boats who were going onto Upton for the folk festival which is being held there this weekend.

We moored on the pontoon outside the lock and went and saw the lock keeper who said we could moor there overnight so we paid the £5 fee.

Tewkesbury

We had a walk around the town and this time we went into Tewkesbury Abbey which is lovely.  Consecrated in 1540, the church of the Benedictine Abbey of Tewkesbury survived the monastic dissolution of 1540 thanks to the generosity of the townspeople who bought it from King Henry VIII for the sum of £453 (the cost of the lead and the bells).  It remains as the spiritual focus of parish life today.

Tewkesbury Abbey

The Abbey is of cathedral proportions and is actually one of the largest parish churches in the country.  There has been a church on this site for over 1,200 years and the present building has stood for nearly 900 years.

We haven’t done this before, but it is a lovely Abbey and well worth a walk around.

We are staying here tonight then off up to Worcester tomorrow where we will stay for a few days then off up the narrows we go and we can’t wait.

Moored at Tewkesbury

2016 Trip - In Gloucester Docks ready to start adventure tomorrow

We are now in Gloucester Docks at the start of our 2016 trip.  We are going out on the River Severn tomorrow morning and going up to Tewkesbury.

Moored in Gloucester Docks

This year we are going up the Worcester & Birmingham canal and turning off at Kings Norton Junction and going into Birmingham that way via the Grand Union Canal, we will then do a couple of the small canals that surround Birmingham then down the Wolverhampton flight of locks, onto the Staffs and Worcester canal.  We will then be making our way to the Trent & Mersey canal, then the Shropshire Union to Chester and turning round and coming back down and hopefully if we have time, we may do the Macclesfield canal, but knowing how slowly we go, we may not even do all of this, but we will try!

The weather has been very mixed today, sunny spells then heavy rain showers with hailstones, but hopefully it will be better when we chug up the river tomorrow.

We are looking forward to our trip and hope you all enjoy reading about our adventures.