Shiralee Cruise 2011 #21

Thursday 28th July.

What a beautifully quiet spot this is at Craycombe Turn Moorings on the River Avon. We are about 19 miles from that most famous of Warwickshire towns, Stratford-upon-Avon, a town we visited on our first attempt to navigate the River Avon back in 2008, failing miserably when the river went into flood..

The town not only boasts the refurbished and newly reopened Shakespeare Theatre, but it also has loads of mooring spaces. However, it is not our plan to moor in the basin, rather we will stay on the river for a day or two and, when we’ve had another good look around, we’ll pass through the basin and onto the Stratford on Avon Canal.

Meanwhile, we have a few more stops to make along the way. Today will be Evesham, the moorings for which are about four miles away. After that we will, quite likely take in Bidford, Welford and Luddington. The boater who accompanied us through the locks yesterday also suggested a really good pub for a lunchtime stop, which is at George Billington Lock.

Luddington is where we finished up on our last attempt at navigating this river. We paid our £50 at Stratford and proceeded down river and, by the time we reached these moorings the river had gone into flood and we had to turn back three days later. Not this time though, this time the water level is so low that we are having to step up from the boat to the wharf, rather than being on a level or even higher up, as would be the case under normal river levels. I think the level is about six inches down on the average for this time of year.
Anyway, off to Evesham today.

Friday 29th July.

We only had one lock to come through yesterday and four miles, so we arrived at Evesham well before lunch time. For mooring spaces Evesham takes the cake along the Avon, with the possible exception of Stratford itself. Such a long stretch as to provide moorings for all who care to visit.

About half a mile after the lock is a ferry that is operated by rope by the ferryman sitting in the boat with his passengers. On approaching the ferry it is necessary for boaters to give three long blasts on the horn, so that he can lower the rope to allow passage across it. I dare say the ferryman considers this to be something of a pain, much the same as we do, but it’s a case of live and let live I suppose.

Evesham is a most attractive town especially when there are lots of people about and the children’s play area is being used to capacity. On the opposite side to the moorings is a trip boat which, due to the hot weather, was being well used. There is also a boat hire place hiring out small outboards and rowing boats and this was also doing a brisk trade.

Naturally we took a walk into town, but we were somewhat disappointed by the lack of food stores. I suppose I could have checked online for Tesco/Sainsbury/Morrison’s etcetera, but we had hoped for at least one mini-market. However, when we popped in again this morning, we did manage to find a Co-op, but that was all.

In addition to the most attractive waterfront, with lime trees standing about 80 feet high lining both banks, the moorings are controlled and maintained by the local council, which means there is no limit on the amount of time we can spend here. Of course, we have to be off the river before our 60 quids worth of licence runs out, but that’s the only limiting factor.

Compared to yesterday, today has been cloudy and cool, with very little river traffic about. Also, as with much of the Severn and Avon, TV reception has been pretty much non-existent. Indeed, here at Evesham the radio is pretty useless too. But why is it so easy finding Classic FM when BBC Radio 2 is non-existent?

Tomorrow we’ll be off to George Billington Lock which, according to a fellow boater of a couple of days ago, boasts a very good pub offering excellent food. I think it would be rude of us not to pay it a visit.

Saturday 30th July and the weather looks set fair for our trip to George Billington Lock. Thankfully, according to the forecasters, this situation should continue until Tuesday. However, we don’t expect to be off the river until Thursday, so we may experience a soaking. That soaking will not come soon enough, nor will it be heavy enough, for the river to go into flood.

I misremember if I mentioned anything in the last blog about my latest problems with email. Anyway, I have been receiving returned emails that look like they were sent by me but were, in actual fact, spam messages sent by someone else using my address. How this is done goodness only knows, but they have become another problem to deal with.

The long and short of it is, according to the people at my server, that I have no need to worry as my account has not been compromised. However, just to be on the safe side, please do let me know if you have received any messages that look like spam and, more importantly, have come to you bearing my address. If such is the case please forward them to me so that I can approach those concerned once again and get them to sort that out too.

Sunday 31st July.

I don’t know what it is about this river, but it seems to take forever to get through a lock. OK, so they are a little wider than doubles on canals, and because the water level is a bit low, the water tends to gush into the lock pretty rapidly, even so it shouldn’t take an hour to pass through one.

Yesterday we arrived at Evesham lock and found there was already a boat going through. This is not unusual when we leave later than planned. So, we had to wait for that one and then empty the lock for ourselves and the wee cruiser already there and waiting. Perhaps these locks are just slow at emptying. Anyway, this one took an hour to pass through but, since the cruiser hared off ahead to the next lock, that one didn’t take so long.

There is just one difference between these and the canals, it is obligatory to tie both forward and stern lines whilst in the lock and, having tried tying just the centre line and been thrown all over the place, we have abided by this rule ever since.

So, it took about 2½ hours to travel 3½ miles through two locks, a feat that would take an hour less on a canal? I’m still quite puzzled by this.

We arrived at about 11.30 and were advised by the couple in the cruiser to moor up at the Offenham Park moorings, which are by the roadside and make it possible to visit the local pub. This used to be called The George Billingham, after a local character. However, it has since been sold and had the name changed to The De Montfort Country Restaurant and Bar. I leave you to imagine what the new owners have done to the place. No Stella on tap, just a trio of other lagers, none of which is to my taste, so I settled for a Guinness. Goodness knows when one of these was last poored, but it didn’t settle well in my stomach, so I only suffered the one.

Coming out of this lock there is a long line of 24 hour moorings and, after what occurred later I was soon wishing we had moored there instead, especially in view of the tarted-up pub.
A short while after settling in another boat turned up and moored in front of us. These were the people who had to wait for us to pass through Evesham Lock. Anyway, I had a short chat with the man and it seemed they would probably use the pub. ‘Goody’, I thought, ‘a bit of company’.

A little while later the woman wandered off with the dog in the direction of the pub. When she returned the man started the engine, untied the ropes, and off they went. Obviously she wasn’t impressed with the pub. We, as I have said, wandered up there later and were, if anything even less impressed.

Some time later still, a wide beam moored in their place and settled in for the day. Later still, another wide beam moored up alongside them. This was now looking tricky for our Sunday morning departure, because there is only room for two boats here, with just a few feet behind us for manoeuvring past them.

The situation became even worse when a third boat, a cruiser, moored alongside the second one, and this one had a dinghy tied up behind it. It now looked impossible to leave here without disturbing them in the morning. So, I called out to the man on the cruiser and explained that we would be on our way at about 8 am and he promised to move up a bit and tie his dinghy alongside, neither of which he had bothered to do before we went to bed. Not that we got much sleep until past midnight.

It wasn’t just our neighbours causing a disturbance; and I must emphasise here, that sound travels at night and across the water; but we also had a bunch of fishermen by the other moorings, who were not being that quiet either. The fishermen are still there this morning and, at almost 6 am, are not being as quiet as they might, it being a Sunday morning and all.

So, we probably should have gone on to Bidford yesterday, as our first neighbours did. Had they stayed here we probably wouldn’t have had the other three boats cluttering up the place. What a disastrous evening that was.

Still, off to Bidford this morning. As I look out of the window, I can see the fishermen preparing to leave, or are they? I’m not so sure now. Nope! They seem to be staying. Me no understandee!! After catching a 12lb trout yesterday, one of them is busy hauling in his live bait for another attempt today. I’m not against angling as such, but I can’t say I care for this live bait business. Surely a lure is just as effective?

One thing I am sure of, we’re not going to find it easy getting out of here, unless our ‘friend’ on the cruiser gets up early and shifts his boat and dinghy!!

Come the time to leave here the people on the wide beams helped to ensure that we didn’t damage the cruiser or dinghy. The owner of both was still curled up in bed, blissfully unaware of the goings on.

For now, that is that, so I’ll post this short blog and continue it from Bidford.

Have a good week.

Dave, Sheila and Rusty.