Gloucester 2010 - Flooded in

Stuck in Gloucester

27th August 2010

Immobile

One of the problems of the Gloucester Sharpness Canal is its location at the far end of the River Severn. The Severn is a mercurial waterway which had repelled our attempts at navigation on more than one occasion and whose levels seem unconnected to the local rainfall.

Alexandra Warehouse

Llanthony Bridge

As we are nursing a fragile propshaft we decided to take it easy and make a slow passage up the river, starting early and hopefully making it to Worcester in a single burst. We therefore presented ourselves at Gloucester Docks lock at 8.00am prompt, and were puzzled to see the traffic light remain on red. This prompted a visit to the lock keepers booth only to discover that the river has risen a metre overnight and was on the red boards all the way up to Stourport. He was cagey about making any predictions as to when it may fall back again, but suggested that Sunday (two days time) was about as early as we could hope for. If we did want to venture out it would be against his advice, we would have to sign a disclaimer and this would void our insurance. All in all not a hard decision.

So, another day in Gloucester, probably two. What to do?

There is a lot to see in Gloucester to we occupied ourselves with a long visit to the amazing cathedral with its modern sculpture exhibition in the morning, a trip to the cinema in the afternoon and some friends over for a curry in the evening. All in all a good day, in spite of yet another change of plan.

Here are a few of the images I captured as we walked round the cathedral:

East window

Side chapel window

Side chapel roof

Sculpture and nave

Christ pierced

Reflections in water sculpture

Recycled motorcycle