Upton Upon Severn to Gloucester Docks (River Severn)

Wednesday 12th October

Leaving Upton Upon Severn

Mythe Bridge

We are on the last leg of our journey today back to the Gloucester& Sharpness canal for the winter.  It was another nice morning as we set off from Upton Upon Severn down the river, hardly any flow and the river was like a mill pond. 

 

We chugged on and after a while we went under Mythe Bridge and past the turning to the River Avon.

Turning to the River Avon

Upper Lode Lock ready for us

We were then approaching Upper Lode Lock.  We had rung ahead to the lock keeper and so he had the lock all ready for us when we got there.  This is a huge lock but we hooked on to the poles and down we went nice and slowly.  He was a very friendly lock keeper.

Leaving the huge Upper Lode Lock

Once through there we headed on down the river.  We saw a couple of boats but it was quiet.  We passed a few waterside pubs and caravan parks and on we went until we were approaching the Partings which takes us down to Gloucester Lock.

We rang the lock keeper here to let him know we were coming and he said to me “sorry the lock is closed now until 5.30pm”, I thought oh no, Kev said my face was a picture!  I said to the lock keeper “why is it closed” and he said “its closed for lunch, I like a long lunch”.  I realised then it was Mike the usual lock keeper and he was teasing me, silly me for falling for it!!  He said he would get the lock ready for us. 

 

Coming down the Partings

We went down the partings, it used to be really narrow in this stretch but they have done some work here and now it is a lot wider and better.  We went under a few bridges around the last bend and there was Gloucester lock all ready for us.

Gloucester Dock ready for us

We went into the lock, hooked onto the poles and up we went nice and slow, the gates opened and we went out into Gloucester docks and moored on the pontoons, back where we started six months ago.

And out into Gloucester Docks

We are now at the end of our trip for this year and back on the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal.  We have been out for 27 weeks, we have travelled 423 miles through 9 different counties, namely Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, West Midlands, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire, Shropshire, Derbyshire and Greater Manchester and have done 323 locks (some narrow and some wide beam) a couple of tunnels.  A few lift and swing bridges were thrown in for good measure.

 We visited some really interesting places like Macclesfield and Bugsworth Basin and found some lovely villages and new places to visit, some right on the canal and some a short walk away or train ride away and also several really good farm shops and traditional Butchers.   We went up the Macclesfield canal and onto the Peak Forest Canal which was 500ft above sea level and the views were amazing.  We turned into fell walkers and went up Mow Cop and White Nancy, both over 1000ft above sea level, the climbs up were hard but the views were well worth it.  We met up with my friend Gill in Market Drayton and spent a lovely day with her and we also met Sue who moors at Higher Poynton and we spent a nice evening together when we passed through there.  We met Sue and her husband Shaun a couple of years ago on our travels so it was nice to meet up again.

Our friends John, Sharon & Smuggler were out on their Summer trip and moored at Manchester so we caught a train from Congleton to see them and we spent a lovely day together eating Italian food and drinking Gin!

We also met up with Bill and Al who moor on the G&S in the Winter and we travelled for a while with Bill and also met up with Ziggy and his girlfriend Tony who used to moor on the G&S and had a lovely evening with them and Tony made us a lovely Goat Curry, first time we had tasted Goat and it was very good.

We also went to Audlem this year and spent time with our Audlem family, Jane and Malcolm, Dave and Anthea and Sheila and Tony and not forgetting little Harry and Brock.  We had a great time with them as we always do and lots of laughs.  We are going to Audlem on our travels next year and can’t wait to see them all again then and see how much Harry and Brock have grown.

We also had a visit to our friends Geoff, Sue and Roxy by train to Isleham, near Ely for a few days and Goeff and Kev went off to Silverstone for the British Grand Prix, I stayed with Sue and Roxy, we had a lovely time with them and they looked after us so well as always, we love going to stay with them and hope to go again sometime when they are up to putting up with us again!!

It has been such a great trip, the weather was very kind to us, we were only confined to barracks due to rain for about 3 to 4 days in the whole trip.  We have really enjoyed travelling around again without any time constraints and can’t wait for next year’s trip.

It has been good fun doing the blog again and great that our friends and family have been following our progress, so thanks to everyone who has had a look.  This will be our last blog for this year as we are now going to hibernate on the Gloucester & Sharpness canal for the winter, but we will be out travelling the canals and rivers next year and doing our blog and hope you will follow us then.

Kev & Sheila

Moored in Gloucester Docks