Avon Trip 2012 - Gloucester

Avon Trip 2012

Frampton to Gloucester

23 August 2012

8 miles - 0 locks - 2 hours

You can put away your maps when you are cruising the Gloucester Sharpness (when did it change from Gloucester Berkley as it is referred to in all the old books?) because its a there and back again sort of canal. Today I did get the Pearsons out but only because I wanted to explore the remains of the Stroudwater's direct link to the Severn. 

Severn ferry

I love my Pearson's, not because of a devotion of geographic accuracy but because of the passion and humour which accompanies the maps. However, a word of warning about these maps - the accuracy diminishes in a direct proportion to the distance you are away from the cut. Put more simply, imagine the good Mr Pearson out on his trusty bike surveying the lie of the land. All nice and accurate within his field of vision but totally unreliable as you stray further afield. Mr Pearson is directly responsible for many of my unexpected "finds" as I struggle to make the indications on the map fit the ground I cover! For pure geographic accuracy go for Nicholson or Waterways Routes.

Apples and pears fresh from the bank plus a bowl full of walnuts

Anyway, having completed my somewhat erratic exploration of the canal to Framilode I returned to the boat and founds clouds of steam emanating from the galley. Jam making was proceeding apace so I was sent hither to seek out 40 walnuts and some sweet plums. Along the way I encountered three men and a boat, a veritable scene lifted directly from the pages of Jerome K Jerome. They has dropped their camping skiff, Wozisname,  into the upper Avon and had paddled all he way to Saul over a period of 4 days, camping in the skiff as they progressed. Next year, apparently, they will return to France for their summer lads tour.

Camping skiff

Having been here two years ago there was no serious reason why we should travel Sharpness and back. There is much left to be explored in this unique corner of the world - Slimbridge Nature Reserve, the Purton Hulks and an old castle to name but a few, but we had received a call fro a journalist wanting to to an article on Wild Side and a Monday meeting in Stratrord would be ideal - so we will say goodbye to the Gloucester and Sharpness and head back.

We refuelled at the very helpful Saul Marina (85p per litre pre tax) and lingered as we travelled past the assorted craft in the boatyard for repair. Its much more diverse that a canal boatyard in the Midlands.  Then it was the long straights into the city with just ourselves for company. Apples were picked and bridge keepers waved at and before we knew it, two hours had passed and we were approaching the crowded skyline of Gloucester Quays. 

Greengages ripening in the cratch

Its always a bit of a worry, approaching Llanthony Bridge if all you want are the services before it. I always have visions of the huge structure rising up for my passage only for me to turn aside at the last moment. I pointed the bows resolutely for the tap and made a clear signal that I was turning left and the bridge desk remained solidly in place.

The metamorphis of Blaisdon plums

We called at Sainsbury's for more sugar, pumped out and re watered and finally returned to out favoured spot to the south of Llanthony Bridge. All very quiet and convenient for a tour of the mall tomorrow. Maybe this peace can be attributed in part to a bit of good karma emanating from the lightship Sula, which serves as the local Bhuddist centre. Quite fitting really - the Bhuddists shedding spiritual illumination from a decommissioned light ship!

By a  strange twist of serendipity, our stay in Gloucester Docks coincides with me reading the section in Iris Bryce's second book where they stopped for six months in virtually the same spot in 1975. Tomorrow it is back on the River Severn and then up the Avon, new waters for the crew of Wand'Ring Bark.

Stroudwater Canal - to the Severn

Stroudwater Canal

The lost section from Saul Junction to the River Severn

August 2012

And now, as Monty Python used to say, for something completely different.

Our trip to the Gloucester Sharpness was without particular purpose or plan, but I did have a hankering to seek out the remains of the old branch which took the Stroudwater Canal directly to the estuary, but which was abandoned when the G&S was built and offered a safer point of entry / exit to the River Severn.

River Severn upstream from Framilode

Belle was busy making jam and indicated that a morning tied to the bank would be welcomed, so that left me with a few hours to fill. Out came the folding bike with its one working brake and I was off, freewheeling down into Saul Village and beyond to Framilode and the Arlingham peninsular which juts out onto a huge bow on the Severn, a bit like a rural Isle of Dogs.

Downstream towards the Forest of Dean

This is a remote area but one where getting lost on a bike has its advantages. You can never get very lost as all roads lead to the river but it does offer good exploring potential. I zig zagged back and forth, looking at churches, farms, punts, drains and of course, 100's of plum trees.

I chatted with locals and learned all about the now abandoned plum industry - an industry which suffers periodic crop failures and causes  the big supermarkets to but in product from abroad.

Winch near the tidal lock and Saul Church

After a bit of searching I came across Framilode Church, next the the old Lock Cottage and overlooking the Severn tideway. Relics of a nautical past abound and a rusting winch is to be found beside the church, presumably used to winch boats into the now filled in lock.

Stroudwater Canal at Framilode

Whilst the start of the canal proper is in the ground of Lock Cottage, the real start is a reed filled trench behind a row of cottages which expands into a pool of open water at he Trow House pub, filled with fish, ducks and swans after which it returns to its reed filled status and it passes under Moor Street and the open fields beyond. 

Moor Street Bridge

From here the course of the canal is less distinct, its bed filled in and the adjoining River Frome aligned to a near parallel course. The route is readily accessible with a footpath along its route which finally emerged to the west of Saul Junction with its cosmetically restored lock suggesting how the area may have looked when the Stroudwater crossed the G&S.

Stroudwater canal bed hijacked by the River Frome

This sections isn't long, maybe a mile and a half, but its well worth a visit is you are mooring in the area and there is always the promise of a pint at The Trow.

 Top lock at Saul Junction

Avon trip 2012 - Frampton

Avon 2012

Upton to Frampton on Severn

22nd August 2012

8 miles - 0 locks - 2 hours

Todays destination was Frampton, mid way along the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal. Hands up how many people immediately think of Fampton Comes Alive, the classic Prog Rock album by Peter Frampton  back in 1976 every time this village is mentioned? Belle claims ignorance of this artist, which makes me feel a bit old.

 Gloucester warehouses and lightship

Gloucester Docks

Anyway, back to boating.  Today was a delightfully short run along the canal to meet up with the  lawyer we used in our numerous skirmished with Birmingham's Education Authority. Our contacts were so regular and protracted he and his wife have become personal friends and this was an opportunity to meet up.

The weir below Gloucester Docks

It was a slow start with Belle making jam whilst I ventured out to Sainsburys taking a detour to see the weir over the Severn below Gloucester Lock and also the site of the old Llanthony Secunda Abbey which is now part of the grounds of Gloucester College. There is not a lot to see today but in its time the abbey extended into the now abandoned docks with the canal itself cutting right through the nave. I suspect that the idea of tearing down an abbey to build a canal would not get far today. 

Llanthony Secunda Priory

We pottered and foraged as we progressed, collecting apples, plums and blackberries before tying up just beyond the old Cadbury's factory. 

Gloucester and Sharpness Canal at Frampton

The traffic volume on the canal was low, just a few plastic pigs blasting along with thick curls of black exhaust bubbling up from their sterns. Amid this garishness we passed Rose of York, a wooden narrowboat built specifically for leisure use on 1971. Maintaining her is clearly a labour of love but she was undoubtedly a cut above the normal and had me reaching for my camera.

Rose of York

Lovely friends

Our legal visit included an hours trip along the canal, picking up a bucket of apples and pears from trees overhanging the cut. This foraging streak continued into the evening when we wandered into Frampton - offering more plums, cherry plums, pears, apples and most unusually, green Walnuts which are destined for a bottle of Vodka to make into Nocino - an Italian tipple Belle has been planning for ages.

Frampton Village

As a village, it is an interesting place. A village surrounding the most amazingly large open space. This place must have an unusual history, but today it is the preserve of city commuters who occupy the extensive houses around its perimeter.  The day was rounded off with a walk back to some damsons at Saul Junction where I collected 8 kilo's in my ruck sac and made it back just at the light was failing. The cratch is rapidly filling up with ingredients - and that's a lot of stoning and preparation.

Avon Trip 2012 - Gloucester

Avon 2012

Upton to Gloucester

21 August 2012

20 miles - 2 locks - 4 hours

We spent the night on the moorings in the the company of nb's Autumn Years and Arden who spend their summers cruising together, but who were leaving before us. Given the strong flow we cast off and did a big leisurely figure of 8 in the river, allowing Autumn Years to move off - much to the puzzlement of the other moorers. I think I made things worse when I swung back to our starting point declaring "well that's enough cruising for one day - time for a stiff drink!"

Upton on Severn

Now Upon on Severn has a little secret and I will share it with you. Its the little bookshop on the high street. It appears chaotic, and in some respects it is, but it is also a veritable Aladdins Cave overseen be an eccentric gentleman who is to bookselling what Basil Fawlty has to hotel keeping. The trouble is that he knows what he is doing and carries the most magnificent stock. The secret is to accept him as on the the world's under cherished treasures and to defer to him in his kingdom.

 Flood markings at Upton on Severn

For starters his sign says he opens at 10.00am, but as we approached this literary holy of holies at the appointed hour its high priest was skuttling off with a "we are closed - try again in 30 minutes" called over his receding shoulder. We are no faint hearted book fiends so we retired to a local cafe to await the return of the Shekinah Glory once more. The patience of the faithful was rewarded and at last we were allowed into the sanctum, the high priest siting in his usual place, in the room to the right of his entrance which is piled floor to ceiling with books awaiting sorting and pricing. To the uninitiated it looks like chaos but to those of us in the know,   in this shambles lies the true path to literary Nirvana.

Gravel Barges on the River Severn

Oh! sorry - I seem to be caught up in a moment of rapture there. We finally escaped bowed down with a heavy load of boating and preserve making books, swapping the fine haul of obscurity for a crisp £50 note, which seemed to please the high priest no end. This little haul did include one absolute bargain - a coloured in copy of the BCN "Blue Book". For BCN fans this is the Bible but was printed in black and white. The practice was to colour the canals in blue (an unrealistic colour if ever there was one) but its a long job and it was well worth the money to have it done for me. But that wasn't the end of the excitement of Upton. No, far from it. We were out and about in foraging mode and chanced upon a Greengage tree, almost smothered in an oak. The fruit wasn't quite ripe but we quickly picked a ruck sack full for ripening in the coming days. Greengages are as rare as hens teeth so this was a big bonus. 

So, we cast off for a second time at 12.15 and the strong flow helped us eat up the miles to Tewkesbury and the confluence with the River Avon. We will return here in a few days but it was reassuring to see the water flowing slow and clear - it usually looks like a raging cappuccino when we arrive. 

Then its out onto the 16 mile semi tidal reach to Gloucester. We joined on the high tide with less than a foot of drop at Lower Lode Lock - the last on the river. The River Severn is notorious for its tree lined banks which seem to close in and leave you in mind of the book Heart of Darkness. But below Lower Lode the trees receded and the views open out over the surrounding meadows. This is a bit of a lonely waterway, travelled by few and hire boats are almost totally absent. Its a place for solitary contemplation and niggling worries that the engine seems to sound a bit different today.... a fear which routinely assails me when I have nothing better to worry about. 

Gloucester Docks

Unlike the Trent, there wasn't much chatter on the VHF but I did call Gloucester Lock at Upper Parting and again at the Railway Bridge so I was mildly irritated to turn the corner to the lock approach by the "big wall" and discover that the lock was closed and the red light was telling me to stop. This is the first time I have had to hold back on the wall and opted instead to try and hold my position in reverse. I located the stern against the wall and waited, and waited, and waited. After what seemed an age the light flashed telling me the lock was being prepared and finally we were allowed into the safety of the lock chamber, gateway to the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal.

A word of warning here. Gloucester Council places a restriction on the opening of Llanthony Bridge - 8.30 till 9.00am and 4.30 till 5.30pm. We arrived at 4.32 so settled on for a wait - not that it is a difficult place to entertain yourself. Gloucester Docks are an impressive location.

Having passed through the bridge we restocked at the very convenient Sainsbury's and then allowed ourselves to be blown against the blackberry bushes where we picked 5kg of jamming fruit. We pumped out and re watered before settling in for a peaceful night on the pontoon beside the unopened section of the Gloucester Quays redevelopment.

Great place this.

Gloucester 2010 - A dash for freedom

Gloucester to Worcester

28th August 2010

30 miles - 5 locks - 9 hours

Yesterday's water predictions were not optimistic, so I hauled myself over to the lock keepers office at 8.00am with little expectation in my step. Mentally we were prepared for yet another day in Gloucester, so imagine my surprise to be told that against all the odds, the water level had dropped a metre overnight and was now inside the green zone, by the smallest of margin - and was like that all the way up the river.

Narrowboats in Gloucester dock

Put another way - we were hot to trot.

I rushed back to Wand'ring Bark and informed the still horizontal crew that we would be casting off in 15 minutes, and they both had to be up and dressed before we emerged onto the Severn.  8.20am saw us leave our home for the last four days and enter the Dock lock with another narrowboat. This other boat clearly had a much bigger engine than WB, because she started to pull away even before we were out of the lock.

Unusual clouds above Gloucester

Whilst the Severn had dropped a lot it still had a significant flow on it - about 3.5 mph which robbed WB of much of its forward speed, which is just over 5.00mph flat out of still flat water. This strong current resulted in the two mile passage to Upper Parting taking about an hour, after which the flow slackened and we managed to pick up the pace to a heady 2.5 mph. Half a mile an hour makes a big difference at these low speeds. However, as Jeff and Belle pointed out - 2.5 mph is a good canal speed on some of the shallower waterways - and we were making better progress than on the Trent when we cruised over three metres of fresh. I quake at the memory of it!

Telford's road bridge at Tewkesbury

As you will remember, I was planning to take it easy and avoid straining the shaft, but the flow left me little choice other than open up the throttle and maintain a constant engine speed of over 2000rpm. I periodically took a look at the shaft and engine throbbing beneath me but all appeared OK so I crossed my fingers and ploughed on in a welter of spray.

Perhaps the greatest danger on the lower section of the river was the debris being washed down the Avon. Huge chunks of timber appeared, lying low an the water had to be avoided, as did the big clumps of floating weed.

Floating debris

Just above Haw Bridge we came across five firemen in a RIB, coaxing a cow back onto dry land. I don't know how long the unfortunate beast had been in the water but it was soon back on dry land the the firemen were speeding to their recovery point at Apperley.

Cow rescue - very amoosing

The influence of the ebbing tide weakened as we progressed and by the time we passed the Avon confluence our land speed had risen to a dizzy 4.00mph - which is about as good as it ever gets on the Severn.

Aggregates fleet laid up for the weekend

Lower Lode Inn

The evening before we had been chewing the cud with Chris and Maralyn of nb Nebulae, who also happen to moor at Calf Heath. We had exchanged thoughts about the slim possibility of escaping Gloucester today and they had pretty much given up hope. As we left they were still fast asleep but apparently woke as we chugged into the lock and figured if we could make it so could they - and made a start an hour later. We had been comparing top speeds and worked out that they could make nearly 0.5 mph more than us - so I spent the afternoon keeping a weather eye over my shoulder for the bows of a grey narrowboat. Sure enough, a couple of miles below Diglis lock I spied a blob of grey behind a small mountain of foam which slowly but relentlessly reeled me in.

Upton on Severn - enjoying its annual folk festival

In the end three narrowboats approached Diglis Lock together, and warned by Chris on the VHF of our impending arrival, were directed to the large lock. The third boat had been on the Avon and became trapped for three days. Their only way off was downstream and they has to shoot a number of very narrow bridges with a minimum of control. The helmsman still looked a bit grey about the gills and was very keen to return to the embrace of the canals.

Nebulae waiting to enter Diglis locks

We both rose through the two barge locks into Diglis Basin, using the rubbish disposal point and taps before seeking out a mooring for the night. We moved back to the very end of the wharf near the basin itself, a spot we have used on a number of occasions whilst Nebulae went through the lock at the Commandery and moored on the official moorings. Our spot had the advantage of having the Anchor pub just round the corner and thus a ready supply of take out beer.

Sailing boat which was outpacing the narrowboats.

As it turned out, the weather was the best of the holiday so far - bright sun but tempered by a  strong North Westerly breeze which dictated the use of a fleece out on the water.