Shiralee Cruise 2011 #19

Friday 22nd July.

Following on from the previous blog, the weather is much calmer this morning than it was yesterday afternoon, when the wind was pretty strong. Also, and unlike our last visit to Worcester, there were far more boats here. One charity boat had a devil of a job finding a space. Perhaps the holiday season is hotting-up now.

On a good day we are treated to the sights of University students rowing, canoeing and sculling up and down the river. The most interesting of these is a 12 man/woman canoe, with a drummer at the stern beating out the pace. Yesterday we had two of these go hammering past. They really do put some effort into it. Sometimes only alternate rowers will paddle, at other times they all give it some welly. It really makes me wish I had been able to attend uni. Ah, well, wishes could be fishes, for all it matters now!

Today we’re off to Upton-upon-Severn. Hopefully TV reception will be a wee bit better. It’s Friday and we do like to watch A Question of Sport.

So, my dear reader, what would you do regarding my comments bout those two canals? Unless you have had to navigate them you cannot comprehend the state they are in. To all intents and purposes they may as well close them down while they carry out essential weed control. In their current state it would be all but impossible to moor up in an emergency and that, dear reader, is a fact.

It was so bad on the short trip from Worcester to Hanbury and the connection to the Droitwich Canals that, rather than take a run up to Birmingham and Gas Street Basin afterwards, we decided instead to go on and do the River Avon. Maybe next year well approach Birmingham from the top end and minimise the amount of time we spend on the Worcester and Birmingham. Maybe!

What I am doing in the first instance is composing a letter to BW, which I will submit with a few photographs, backing up my claim as to the state of the B&W. Unfortunately we didn’t take many photos of the S&W, but we may have a few relevant to the subject.

I am also going to find contact details of David Suchet and Timothy West, both champions of our waterways, with a view to asking them to support my demands for a clean-up of these canals. But not before receiving a reply from BW.

In addition, if I don’t receive a satisfactory reply from BW and others, I’ll see what can be done via local and national media, such a newspapers and local news channels.

What do you think? What would you do?

Later………

We only suffered a little light rain on our way to Upton and only had to pass through one manned lock along the way, which was just past the entrance to the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. This left us 10 miles of lock-free travel in beautifully calm conditions.

We passed about seven other boats heading for Worcester and, since we had never cruised the Severn before Wifey took plenty of photos.

To be honest, although this is a pretty wide river and the longest in the UK, where both banks are wild along most of the route, with tall trees and such on both sides, there’s not much of interest to catch the eye. Between Worcester and Upton there is only one bridge crossing this river, so it’s not even broken up by villages or towns. Other than yacht clubs and the occasional stretch of open fields, it would have been totally boring had the weather been unkind to us. But, as it was such a beautiful day, the journey was very relaxing.

We arrived here at about 11.15 and quickly moored up at the floating pontoons. Personally I don’t think space for only four boats is anywhere near enough because, anybody turning up late in the day, especially during the school holiday season, is going to be hard pressed to find a mooring spot available. We were fortunate in that, by the time we arrived a couple of boats had already departed. Our timing in these matters is pretty good, having learned from experience to arrive at our destination before lunch time.

Following the obligatory cuppa and walking the dog, we set out to explore the town. The Nicholson’s Guide shows three pubs near the river but, walking up and down the high street, which is not that long, we saw at least another half dozen. How do they all survive, I wonder?

The rest of the town boasts quite a few old buildings, and one, that is also a pub dates back to 1601. There is also a wide variety of shops, including a deli, butchers, bakers, clothing shops, a Spar and Co-op, along with a few charity shops and antique shops, all in all a very interesting town and a great pleasure to stroll through.

We returned to the boat via one of the pubs nearest the river called The King’s Head and sat on the terrace with our drinks. No sooner had we sat down than it started to rain. So, off we went into the pub where I finished my first pint. Having bought the second one the rain stopped, so we made our way out to the terrace again. Within a few minutes it started raining again, at which point we drank up and went home. It’s been raining on and off since then.

Thankfully I was able to tune the TV in to digital, so we can watch A Question of Sport tonight. The picture and sound still break up sometimes, but nowhere near as bad as we have had. Had they improved the quality of analogue, rather than foist this godawful digital system on us, I for one would not have been unhappy. Living on solid land with an aerial tuned to digital is, for the most part, a pretty good viewing experience. But for us low-lifes floating around the inland waterways, digital TV is not all it’s cracked up to be and can be very difficult to tune in to at times.

You may remember the floods in this area in 2007 well, these pontoons are supported by huge, 6 inch steel pipes that are probably 25 ft high. When the water rises after heavy rain, which is not an unusual event in this country nowadays, what with global warming (?), the pontoons rise with it, so that moored boats stay safe and secure. During those floods the waters rose high enough for the people on the moored boats to paint messages at the top of the poles. We can’t quite read what they say, but the date is plain to see. Amazing! Good old stoic Brits, rather than sit and bemoan their predicament, they dig out the paint and brushes and leave messages for posterity. Brilliant!

Tomorrow, depending on the weather, we will either stay here another day, or go on to Tewkesbury and join the River Avon. Since that river is run by a charitable trust the use of it does not come free. The last time we ventured down it from Stratford it cost us £50, and we only travelled three miles before the river went into flood. Once the waters receded we returned to Stratford and blew 50 quid in the process. Hopefully we’ll have better luck this year.

Saturday 23rd July

Yesterday evening, too late for them to get all the way back to Worcester before dark, two young lads in a 32 foot narrow boat turned up here. They first tried to moor up by the steps near the pubs, but that didn’t seem possible, because they then came over to us. Now, since all four berths here were taken there was only one way they were going to stop here, and that was to moor alongside one of us.

Earlier on in the day we helped another boater to slip in on the other side of the pontoon we’re on and, because of debris between it and the wall he came in nose first so as to avoid fouling his prop. Our new arrivals decided they would try squeezing in alongside that boat first.

After a short while they reversed out again and headed towards the steps, which are further down river to us. You have to remember here, that the correct way to moor up on a river is facing against the current. Anyway, after a few minutes they had turned their boat around and decided to come alongside our boat, which was OK by us. Some folks do object to other boats tying up to their own, but for the life of me I don’t know why.

It appears that the first boater they tried did so object and the reason given was that he wouldn’t be able to open his side hatch and, what is more, he wouldn’t be able to close it either. Oh dear, what a shame, tut, tut! Some people…………..!
I did remind the new neighbours that we retire to bed at 10 pm and they promised to be quiet when they returned from the pub. They were true to their word too bless ‘em.

Now, all we have to do before leaving for Tewkesbury is to get a paper. We had thought to stay a second day and have a pub lunch but, as it is such a bright morning, and assuming it stays that way, we will probably get moving.

Meanwhile, true to a certain person’s suggestion, I’m keeping this blog shorter than most and, with the excellent connection here at Upton, it will be posted now.

Cheers folks and have a good weekend.

Dave, Sheila and Rustydog.