Shiralee Cruise 2011 #20

Saturday 23rd July

What a beautiful morning and it’s not yet 6 o/clock. The sun is shining, the mist is rising off the water and all is right with the world. Hmmm! Can it last I wonder?

Continuing on from my earlier ramblings, Sheila and I chatted yesterday about the possibility of completing the River Severn down to Gloucester and then giving the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal a whirl. However, after some consideration we decided not to tempt providence. Knowing our luck with rivers going into flood – remember the Soar in 2007 and the Avon in 2008 – we thought it best to leave that expedition for another time.

The G&S does have its attractions though. For a start all the swing bridges are manned. This is because the canal was designed to take much larger boats than our mere cockleshells, so the swing bridges are that much bigger. Humungous in fact. So, another time perhaps.

Six am and our neighbours from last night are already preparing to leave for Worcester. It seems that, in this instance we judged correctly in allowing these fellers to moor alongside. I can’t really blame our other neighbour from refusing them permission. He could have attracted problems and regretted his decision. I suppose we were lucky this time.

Just look at that, 06.15 and our neighbours have set off back to Worcester and they hardly disturbed us at all. If only there were more young people like them.
Sunday 24th July.

The day has started calm but overcast and, so long as it doesn’t rain heavily, we’ll be on our way to Tewkesbury. We had another boat moor up alongside us yesterday evening, so we’re going nowhere until they move.

I had a long chat with another neighbour before we went for a pub lunch yesterday and he told me about a food shop in town that is run by an ‘old bloke, about 70’. Hmmm! How nice of him to mention it, especially when I had already told him my age. Anyway, according to him this man makes some pretty good pork pies, one of my food loves. So before the pub lunch, we called in for a couple of those and, while we were there, bought a rather large beef and gravy pie as well. We’ve enjoyed a few real treats this year from local shops, such as bakeries and butchers.

So, whilst talking to our neighbour, who lives on the Gloucester and Sharpness, he went on to describe it to me. Apparently it is very wide along much of its length, as wide as the Severn and, when it reaches the estuary, it spreads right out and you can moor up and walk down to the sea. Of course, being a canal, you can only go out to sea through a lock, and it costs about £160 to engage the services of a pilot to take you from there, down the tidal Severn, to the Kennett and Avon Canal.

Doesn’t time fly? Here we are at Upton and it’s almost the end of July. We now have a little over two months and we’ll be back at Mercia for the winter. In that time frame we have to do the Coventry and Ashby canals. We also want to pay a visit to Barby marina on the North Oxford, just to see if it will be suitable for wintering over next year. So, lots to do, and only a couple of months in which to do it.

But first the Avon, Stratford upon it and the Stratford-on-Avon Canal, which should keep us busy for a good while. We reckon the Avon will take us about six days, although we’ll allow for ten. Gotta get our moneys worth, don’t we? There are plenty of mooring places along the way, although we have no idea how many spaces they have, and we want to see as much of the river and its towns and villages as we can.

Monday 25th July

Summer has finally arrived, with the past few days being a vast improvement on what came before.

Yesterday we left Upton at 08.30 and arrived at Tewkesbury at 11.00. Just 2½ hour to travel the six miles and one lock.

In keeping with rivers in general, mooring places are in short supply. Why this is the case, I can’t imagine, especially when you consider the amount of cruisers using them. These boats come in all shapes and sizes but, having seen the size of some of them it must be assumed there are quite a few rich folks living on, or near, a river.

Landing stages at locks also seem sparse, with only room for two boats to tie to whilst the lock is being operated. We were fortunate when arriving at the lock into Tewkesbury, in that we were the only boaters waiting to go through. In fact, had we thought to ask our neighbours of the night before, we would have discovered that they were also coming here and we could have travelled with them. They were just going through the lock as we arrived, so we had to wait for them and the boats coming down.

After the usual faffing about on arrival, we took a walk along the High Street and were amazed at the profusion of pubs. I know Tewkesbury is bigger than Upton, but there seems to be far more pubs than the town can support. However, this is a popular tourist spot and they probably do most business during the summer months.

We stopped off at the Nottingham Arms on the way back, had one drink in there, then carried on walking and had our second drink in The Olde Black Bear, which lies by the riverside. This pub is the oldest in Gloucestershire – or Gloster, as the county is known to locals – and dates back to 1301. Imagine that, over 700 years old! Quite a few of the buildings along the High Street also date back to a similar period, the most noticeable of which is Lloyds Bank, a four storey edifice of ancient origin, if I’m not mistaken.

This morning we start our cruise of the River Avon and, assuming we are able to stop off at the places we want to, we should reach Stratford around Sunday or Monday next.

Tuesday 26th July

Stopped off at the local marina in Tewkesbury yesterday before heading towards Stratford and, knowing there to be a dearth of mooring places on this river, we simply stopped at the first available place, which was Eckington, about eight miles and one lock away.

The Avon is far different to the Severn, having far more open scenery and far fewer tall trees to block the view. The weather was just great and, aside from a light breeze in places, as calm as a mill pond all the way.

We arrived at about 11.30, at which point I checked on the diesel receipt from the marina. Instead of a 70/30 split in our favour, the man who filled our tank charged us at 50/50, which was most annoying, especially as he had written 30% for propulsion on the docket. In mitigation of this man’s error I have to say the diesel pump stopped at 100 litres and he had to reset it and continue pumping another 17 litres into the tank.

I think I ought to explain how this split works. When that European lot ordered the charging of fuel duty on red diesel, our stupid government decided that, in the best interests of fair play we should accept a split of 60/40 in favour of the tax man. However, it was left to the boater to decide what to enter on the new form. Since that time, which was on the 1st of April 2009 – although the ruling became effective in November 2008 – I have been keeping a check on our usage, both domestic and propulsion and have almost always settled on 70/30 in our favour. This is because we use far more fuel on charging batteries and running the heater, than we do for cruising.

Anyway, I don’t believe the man at the marina did it deliberately, rather he had it in his head for a 70/30 split on the first 100 litres, forgetting he’d added another 17 to the tank, and managed to confuse himself in the process.

The village of Eckington is reached by a road that spends a great deal of its length uphill, as you would expect from a village close to a river. It is only about half a mile away, so we took a slow stroll up that hill and, to my delight, found a pub at the top of it called The Bull. This has obviously been refurbished in the modern style recently and serves Stone Cooked meals, whatever that means. On their menu we spotted Impala Steaks, which came in at about £23 a pop. Not for us then!

I have experienced a problem with just one other boater this year regarding the running of our engine, but I found another one yesterday evening in the form of a ‘noddy-boat’ owner. Noddy boats are, in case you are wondering, those silly little plastic cruisers that abound on canals and rivers.

In order to avoid annoying fellow boaters, I run our engine no later than 7 pm. The watershed is 8 pm.

Yesterday evening I switched it on at 5.30 with the intention of turning it off again at 7 pm, which I went out to do. Mor noddy boat owner gave me a right proper scowl and, since I don’t much care for that kind of behaviour, I asked him what his problem was.

“I’ve been breathing in your fumes in here”

“Sorry old chap”, I replied, “but I do have to charge my batteries you know”

He then suggested I should be a little more considerate.

OK, I could understand him being annoyed at the diesel fumes, had they been blowing his way, but the wind was in the opposite direction. At which point I decided he simply wasn’t worth the effort of further discussion. What is it with these people? They would have genuine cause for complaint if we ran our engines after the watershed. But, since I always switch off at least half an hour before that, I don’t see the problem.

In this instance, unlike the one I reported on earlier, I think he was simply annoyed at the continuous hum of the engine.

Today, we hope, we’ll be able to moor up at Pershore and take a walk into town. There are three sets of moorings there, so we should be OK.

Wednesday 27th July

Yesterday we made our way to Pershore and, since we had no idea as to the amount of moorings there were nearer to the town, we moored just before Pershore New Bridge. The Old Bridge saw plenty of action during the Civil War and, just in case Jerry attempted to overrun these islands from the Severn and Avon, the New Bridge was heavily fortified. There are still huge, round concrete bollards there preventing all but bicycles to cross it.

We walked across this bridge and into the town in the morning, up one side and down the other, and all we bought was a newspaper, a couple of savoury sausage roll, a couple of individual pizza type baguettes and some fruit. I say ‘only’, because Wifey conveniently forgot the ice creams, for which she received a sound rollicking.

Later in the afternoon another boat took up residence in front of us and, even later, a bunch of Eastern Europeans, possibly Polish, also turned up, complete with kids and bottles of vodka. Happily they didn’t cause any fuss or make much noise and departed for home quite early.

I had thought to post this yesterday but, with a virtually non-existent signal, I had to wait until today. However, I received a call from ‘Three’ in the afternoon, telling me that adjustments had been made to my email settings and could they check them out. Nope! No signal here. So, they will be phoning me again today some time.

I also downloaded 205 photos from Wifey’s camera, which gives her plenty to do in giving them names of places.

It is now a quarter to two in the afternoon and we have travelled from Pershore New Bridge moorings to Craycombe Turn moorings. This took us from 07.45 until 11.15 and took in three locks and seven miles. Fortunately we had the company of another boat going through the 2nd and 3rd locks, after which they went on to Evesham and we stopped here.

This is, I am pleased to relate, a very quiet spot and does not have picnic tables. It is also quite a walk from the nearest road so, unless we are visited by a boat load of drunks, we should enjoy a peaceful evening.

Tomorrow will see us at Evesham. Until then I will now post this blog.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Dave, Sheila and Rusty.