June 11th 2011 - The River Severn

A lie in, locks on the Severn are not open until 0800 and unlike the Thames are not boater operated outside of opening hours. So, with Lincombe lock just over a mile downstream, there was no point in leaving before too much before 8. Still new territory for me, I've never been above Worcester before.

The day was perfect, clear skies and sunshine with not much wind, so a gentle cruise to the first lock. They are much bigger, therefore the first one was a bit intimidating, but after holding at the top for a couple of moments, on comes the green light and in we go. Just like the river locks on the Trent, only here on the Severn the lockies are ok with the boat not being tied when you're on your own so it's a real break from all that messing around with ropes and stuff. So a continued gentle cruise through, well, pretty much nothing really. No view over the high banks, just vegetation and a bunch of wildlife. I lost count of the number of Kingfishers who all seemed to appear on the right! On through the next lock (I'm an old hand at this now!) and to the lock landing for the newly restored Droitwich canal, the first lock in a good looking setting:

River Severn Lock:

Droitwich Canal:

Only to notice the sign pinned to the bottom gate "Droitwich canal not yet open" Oh bugger methinks! I'll not be going to Droitwich then. So, nothing else to do but continue on down the river towards Worcester.

Worcester duly appears, along with the trip boats and obligatory rowers. I go into a sort of total indecision, I was going to stop here, but just couldn't make up my mind where to moor, so I didn't and before I knew it I was into Diglis lock (I was going to turn and moor back upstream, but the lock gates opened and I was sort of drawn in!) Ok I think, I'll stop at the next mooring - which was at Upton Upon Severn, nearly 10 miles down the river!! Then I looked up to see the approach of some very black cloud, and yes, you guessed it! It absolutely tipped it down for the next hour. I was huddled under the umbrella, wind trying to part it from me, I was telling myself how stupid it was not to have stopped in Worcester, this was the punishment!

Worcester:

Anyway, it did stop and the sun made a further appearance along with the Upton visitor moorings. I couldn't quite fit into the one remaining gap on the pontoon, but just squeezed in by the steps just through the bridge. A piece of boat handling to be admired, well I admired it anyway! This now puts me about 2 days ahead of schedule, so I'm going to have a mini replan of the next few days. A rest day in Tewkesbury on Monday seems to be favourite, also need diesel and pump out!

Today:  22.5 miles -    4 locks -   7 hours
So Far: 92.5 miles - 121 locks - 56 hours