Narrowboat Just Heaven

The river had changed completely, smooth and as flat as a millpond. We were away by 6:20. We weren’t the only early birds as we shared Strensham lock with another narrowboat, but they were only aiming for Tewkesbury. We made good progress and got to Tewsesbury by 9:30. When we got there the BP boat “Robyn” was moored up with the occupants apparently still in bed. Why did they risk the river in the red last night if they weren’t in a hurry? We were out onto the Severn just after ten o’clock.

 

Until then the weather had been good, but almost as soon as we were on the Severn it started to rain, lightly at first, but then heavier and heavier. At Worcester we took on water and grabbed a bite to eat whilst it filled, then pressed on as we wanted to get to Stourport in case the Severn level came up overnight.

We got to Stourport about 5:30 by now the rain was really heavy, we were cold, tired and wet having been travelling for 11 hours, 7 of them in the rain. There was just enough space on the floating pontoon visitor’s moorings so we moored up and had hot showers and a glass of wine.
A little later on a Viking Afloat boat came down the staircase locks onto the river. They could see that there wasn’t room for them on the pontoon unless they overlapped into the “reserved for lock use” area. They were reluctant to moor there overnight, but it was nearly dark, raining very heavily and there wasn’t really anywhere else for them to go. I said that in their position I would moor up and if a boat came along to use the lock invite it to breast up with them. However another boater told them that they couldn’t stay there so they went off down river. About 20 mins later a Black Prince boat came up river and moored up in the same place and stayed there all night!

Comments(0)

We had arranged to pick up Teresa & Lindsay at Tewkesbury Marina at about 17:30.  As that should only have been about 6.5 hours cruising we had a late start and did a few jobs and washed one side of the boat before setting off at 10 o’clock. The weather was good and it we were having a pleasant run down to to Worcester. At Holt lock the locky warned us that there might be delays at Bevere Lock as the top paddle was broken and they were filling the lock with pumps. When we got there there were three boats waiting but no space for us. With a bit of shuffling along we slotted in between two. I could see the six huge diesel pumps filling the lock. Two boats came out and two more went in. Then three more hire boats arrived. One of them a Black Prince one got himself in a complete mess trying to come alongside another waiting boat. At one point he was directly across the river with his bow pushed up against the bollards protecting the weir. It took us just over an hour to get through the lock, so now we were behind schedule.

We stopped briefly at Worcester where we topped up the water and had lunch whilst it was filling. The rest of the journey down was uneventful until Upton upon Severn where it started to rain. It rained hard then for the rest of the day. We got to Avon Lock at Tewkesbury just after five. The locky came out in the pouring rain to deal with us and was very friendly and helpful. He relieved me of £45.00 for the ANT licence and we chugged a couple of hundred yards up the the marina’s visitor moorings where T & L were waiting for us.

Comments(0)

I spent most of yesterday afternoon installing a new calorifier. The previous repair had lasted about a month, but then it started leaking somewhere else so we decided it wasn’t worth trying to repair it again. I bought a new one from Surejust who were extremely helpful and patient with my many queries.

The install went fairly well even though the working space in the cupboard is vary limited.

We set out after lunch and made good progress down to Stourport. The intention was to moor overnight on the river pontoons, but when we got there all the space was taken. We carried on through Lincomb Lock to the pub moorings at Hampstall ferry. It looked like there was no space here too as the Edward Elgar trip boat was taking up about half the space and a couple of cruisers the rest. As we hovered about looking for a space the captain of the Edward Elgar called out “If you’re looking for a space, I’m leaving in 20 to 30 mins”. So we tied up temporarily and waited. Well it was almost an hour before his elderly customers tottered down the ramp from the pub and climbed aboard.

We moored up and I went into the pub to see what the arrangements were. It’s £10.00 per night, or free if you take a meal in the pub, so we ate in the pub !

Comments(0)

As we only needed to get to Stourport today we had a leisurely start and set off just after nine. The weather had changed overnight and it was much cooler than the previous days. A quiet, uneventful run up to the Hampstall Inn at Astley Burf. The pub has recently put in excellent new moorings. The moorings are for pub patrons only, so I went up and bought a pint of cider. We had actually stopped for a late morning “full English” which didnt really go with cider, so I poured it into a bottle and saved it for later. The pub was just starting serving the carvery Sunday Lunch, which looked excellent value for money.

By one thirty we had arrivedin Stourport and made our way up the two narrow staircases from the river. There was one other boat ( a Brookline hire boat) ahead of us, but other than that it was very quiet.

As we came through the basins I heard someone call out “Hello Mr Heaven”. I turned around to see NB  Ruffian which is owned by another Mr Heaven, an accountant from Birmingham, possibly a relation but quite distant. As we were waiting for York St lock they pulled up behind us and we had a short chat. He said that they were just out for a short cruise to Pratt’s Wharf. We had also condsidered stopping at Pratt’s Wharf, but when we got there there was only one space so we thought we would let Ruffian have it. (Also the nearby sewage works was having a ’smelly’ day)

We went on a little further and finally moored up just above Falling Sands lock. We were just in time, as I was securing the ropes it started to rain which was the begining of a terrific thunderstorm. About an hour or so later, after the storm had passed, we decided to go on a walk. We went up to bridge 11, crossed over and up the lane leading down to it. Then along the road looking for the lane that leads down to Oldington bridge. We knew that it was down through a industrial estate, but this road has several and we tried all of them until we found the right one. When we walked back alon the towpath past Pratt’s Wharf Ruffian wasnt there so perhaps the thunderstorm persuaded them to moor up earlier.

Comments(0)

Up earlyish and had breakfast before 8:00 so we could be ready when the bridgekeeper came on duty. Heddi walked to Sainsbury’s to get a few things and I followed with the boat after the bridge had opened. We called the lock keeper who said that we may have to wait as they had some “work flats” going though and he didnt want to empty the lock too many times as the river level was rather low. When we arrived the lock gates were open and there was a small work boat already in the lock attached to some pontoons lashed together. I expected to have to wait for more work boats, but we locked down straight away. We overtook the work boat as we left the lock. he was going very slowly trying to push the pontoons against the current.

Unlike our previous trips up river the current was fairly slow and the GPS showed us doing about 4.2mph up to the parting and around 4.8 -5.0 on the main river. At this speed we knew that we should in in Worcester by mid afternoon.

The weather was really hot and we were glad of the breeze to keep us cool, the cows were stood in the water cooling their feet.

We arrived in Worcester about 3:30, picked up water at the point near the trip boats and went off to find somehere to moor. We prefer the mooring upstraem of the boat clubs. It’s quieter there than by the Sabrina bridge. The mooring were much busier than we have seen them before, we did find a space, but it wasnt ideal.

What we hadn’t reaslised was that the racing would be on and it was Ladies Day. The weather was much kinder than for our visit last year.
It was rather noisy as we had moored close to one of the PA speakers for the races, but by about 6 o’clock it had finished. We went for a walk later and were astounded by all the mess left around by the race goers. All credit to the race organisers though. They had an army of cleaners working throughout the evening and it was all gone by the morning.

Comments(0)

An early start at 6:15! Josh stayed in bed until about 8:30. To start with the weather wasn’t too bad, but it got worse. As we were coming down river to Worcester it was very cold and raining hard.
We stopped at Worcester for a cooked breakfast and I lit the fire to warm the boat up and dry us out. As the afternoon wore on the weather improved, and by the time we arrived at Gloucester lock at about 6 o’clock it had stopped raining and warmed up a bit. I went to call the lock keeper and discovered that my phone, which had been in my pocket, had been ruined by the rainwater that had filled my pocket!
We had to wait for the lock as they were operating restricted hours due to the low river levels. We stopped at the new Sainsbury’s to get some food for the barbecue on Sunday. By the time we had finished shopping it was after 19:00 so the bridge keepers were off duty, but we found a mooring just up from Hempstead bridge.
Josh found the trip down river rather boring as there isnt anything to do.

Comments(0)

We left Worcester after breakfast and arrived at Stourport about midday.

After a bit of shopping and a light lunch we walked to Bewdley along the riverside path. It’s a lovely walk of about four miles. The weather was perfect, so warm in fact that we needed an ice cream when we arrived in Bewdley. We felt too lazy to walk back so we caught a bus. I havent been on a bus for years and was surprised by how pleasant an experience it was.

Comments(0)

Just after eight o’clock we left Pratts wharf and headed for Stourport. As we approached York St lock two boats pulled out in front of us. One of them then proceded to wind just above the lock. We had to wait while he winded, then wait to go down the lock behind him. It would have been more polite to let us pass before trying to wind, or at least to say ‘thank you’ to us for waiting. It later turned out that they were only going down into the basin to enter the dry dock anyway.

When we got to the top of the first staircase there were two boats waiting and one coming up. There is very limited space there so we breasted up with one on the pontoon. A young family on a Viking Afloat boat were next down and we helped work them through. By this time another hire boat (Countrywide Cruisers) had arrived to go down. A Canaltime boat started coming up the lower staircase without checking the situation further up. So by the time we came out of the bottom chamber of the top staircase there were two boats waiting in the short basin to come up. With quite a lot of manouvering it was all sorted out and we headed off down river.

During all the above Heddi chatted to the crew of another boat in the dry dock. We need to have our bottom blacked next autumn and havent quite decided whether to do it ourselves or have it done professionally.

We had planned to top up with water at Holt lock, but the watr point seems to have been removed. By the time we discovered this the bacon & sausages were already cooked, so we moored up on the pontoon anyway and had breakfast. I knew that there was a water point just before Diglis locks so we decided to go there, get the water then come back up river to moor by the racecource. However as we were passing the trip boat moorings I spotted a water point tuck away round a corner so we topped up there instead.

In the afternoon we we went for a wander round the shops looking for inspirations for Christmas presents !

Comments(0)

Just up for the day with friends David & Veronica. They live in South Africa and are over in the UK for the summer. David is interested in narrowboats and is considering one for their UK base, so we thought that a little taster by way of a day trip would be a good idea.

We arrived at Kidderminster just after 10:00. The owners of NB Tetty, which is also moored at Roundhill Wharf, also live in South Africa and happened to be onboard. So David & Veronica had a natter to them while we got the boat ready to depart. We then winded by Tesco and headed down to Stourport. The weather wasnt too good and it started to rain.

The narrow lock staircase was out of action as BW were replacing a cill on the lowest lock into the river, so we had to use the wide locks. This was a BW supervised operation requiring two boats to breast up in order to negotiate the tight turn in the lower basin. We went down with a Countrywide Cruisers hire boat. It took quite a while and it was just gone one o’clock when we got out onto the river. We had planned to go down to the Hampstall Inn for lunch, that was nearly an hour away and we were getting hungry. When we got to the pub we discovered that they dont serve food on Mondays!

So we headed off back up to Stourport again, by this time it was raining much harder. As it would take quite while to get back up through the two wide locks we moored up on the pontoons and went in search of lunch. The newly opened Windlass Cafe looked good so we decided on that. While we were in the cafe the rain suddenly started to pour even harder!. BW were only allowing boats through the wide locks in pairs so we had to wait for another boat to arrive before we could go up. After about 20mins an Anglo Welsh hire boat came up the river and we went up with them. They were novices and had done nothing like this before, but were willing to learn and did very well. As we left the top lock the heavens opened for the most amazing downpour. Veronica and I had gone ahead to set York St lock and had sheltered under the bridge, but Heddi & David got drenched.

We had noticed two Canaltime (or Canal Bost Club as they are called now) boats going up from the river just before us. When I got to the lock one was just leaving and the other was moored by the services block. I started to prepare the lock but a woman said that it wasnt our turn and we had to wait for their second boat as they were traveling together. I replied that as there wasnt a boat waiting on the lock moorings we assumed that the lock was available for use, and that their other boat was getting water or whatever. She then started complaining that no one told them they were supposed to wait on the lock moorings and that no one told them where they had to go after coming up off the river. I asked if they had a book (Nicholsons or Pearsons) but she complained that they hadn’t been given one. I then tried to politely give her some information about waterway operation & etiquette etc but she then remonstrated that they knew what to do as they had “been boating for years”.

The rain had stopped now and everything was OK until just after Pratts Wharf . There were several boats stopped and we got closed it was obvious why. There was a tree down across the cut. A couple of other boats were waiting in our direction and one the other way. I asked the guy on the baot nearest the tree if BW had been called, he said that they had. David thought that we might be able to move it ourselves so, with the help of a passing cyclist, we had a go, but no luck. I called BW thinking that a second report might speed them up, but they knew nothing about it! A BW guy rang me back about 5 minutes later saying that they would have a team there in about 30mins.

Fortyfive mins later two guys turned up, but with no tools or anything. The message they got said that boats were just squeezing past but needed assistance! One of them went back and returned about 20mins later with a truck and chainsaws etc. It didnt take them long to clear a way through and we were on our way.

We packed up and David drove home, getting back at about 10 o’clock - 3 hours later than expected.

Comments(0)

The rain had stopped for part of the night, but then started again heavily around 6:00. I was a little conerned that the river levels would come up too much and we wouldnt be able to get back. This part of the severn often becomes un-navigable after several days of heavy rain around the headwaters in Wales. I logged on to Metcheck and it didnt look good. They were forcasting another day of heavy rain and giving out a “severe weather warning” with “risks of localised flooding in the Midlands & Wales”. We decided that the best thing was to leave straight away and get off of the river as soon as possible.
Heddi and I donned the wet weather gear and started off up river. Jan & Mike stayed in bed! The flow on the river was stronger than usual and the level had come up about a foot and was still rising. But we made good progress and got to Stourport in three hours. We were kept supplied with cups of tea, but this time no sausage sandwiches.
We were going to stop on the pontoons for lunch and wait for the rain to stop, but there was no room. So we started up the staircases. The first one went OK. Heddi & Mike were working the second one and had already emptied the bottom chamber and I had brought the boat in. When they went up to the top chamber there was a boat waiting to come in. The woman who was crewing had opened the gate paddle (even though the lock was already full) and then berated Heddi & Mike for trying to steal ‘her’ lock. Luckily a BW guy was on hand and quickly put her in her place and told her to let us through. She obviously thought that it was a ordinary lock, which demonstrates either her incompetance or stupidity (probably both). Up through York St lock and on to the safety of the canal for bacon & egg sandwiches.

Back to the home mooring for strawberries, clotted cream & macaroons (seems to be a lot of eating this trip!) then packed up and headed home.

Comments(0)