Upton on Severn to Stourport (Last Day) Sunday 5-10-14

Last day today of this trip.
Went for a walk around Upton last night. Some interesting old shops like the old Co-Op below..

The boat was nice and warm last night despite icy winds outside. Made getting up for our planned early start difficult but despite this we were under way at 0800. Weak sunshine and mist rising from the river. Its a fair old stretch to our first lock at Worcester about 17 miles.

3 and a half hours later we were into the huge Diglis Basin lock at Worcester.

Diglis Lock

Then through the pleasing riverscape of Worcester.

Unfortunately we hadnt gone very far out the other side of Worcester when we found ourselves in the middle of a rowing race. A guy on the bank shouted in a posh voice through a loud hailer "Narrow Boat keep to Starboard" I think he meant me. And I think Starboard is "Right" but is not a term used on the nland Waterways.  Presently boats raced past in the opposite direction forcing us to a virtual stop while they passed.

Hard to Starboard while the rowers go past

So onwards through the Bevere Lock and Holt Lock until we came to the Hamstall Public House where we picked up some passengers. My sister, Jim and Pam, my Nephew, David, and his fiance Kaz and our  Matthew and Kerry and our grandaughter Mollie. Mollie was able to try my hat!

David and Kaz at the front of the boat, Jim steering while Pam and me do the lock. into the clock basin Stourport

So thats it for now; here I am writing up the blog at 1915 on Sunday evening for the last time on this trip. As always I want to keep travelling but I will have to be content now and give Stourbridge Lion a well earned rest after 197 miles at 3 mph!

Tewkesbury to Upton on Severn Saturday 4-10-14

Well we had a bit of an interruption there. A nice interruption because I got to name a train. A first for me. Craigentinny depot near Edinburgh where I had my first management job is 100 years old (well 105 but we have to give a bit of licence). I left there 23 years ago but they asked me back to name a locomotive after the depot-great honour for me. In the end I got the two longest serving guys there to pull the string. So here is me doing my Boris Johnson impression.

Thats enough of that lets get back to the waterways and the job in hand. When I do these blogs we have to have a poem on at least one entry so here is the offering for this trip:-

On Eckington Bridge

bt A.T. Quiller-Couch (Extract)

Man shall outlast his battles. They have swept

Avon from Naseby Field to Savern Ham;

And Evesham's dedicated stones have stepp'd

Down to the dust with Montfort's oriflamme.

Nor the red tear nor the reflected tower

Abides; but yet these elegant grooves remain,

Worn in the sandstone parapet hour by hour

By labouring bargemen where they shifted ropes;

E'en so shall men turn back from violent hopes

To Adam's cheer, and toil with spade again.

Hope you liked that. I did but got a bit lost around oriflame but it came back later.

Drive to Stourport, bus to Worcester, Costa Coffee, Train to Aschurch, bus to Tewkesbury marina. At 1220 we were in reverse and pulling back into the Avon.

Reversing out of Tewkesbury marina.

Through Avon lock and into the wide Severn. Not been this way up the river before. The Severn is wide and deep with lots of cross currents but we were making way against the flow despite early rain.

As you can see from this shot looking back from the boat the Severn is very wide here. But we made steady progress. The banks are quite high so you cant see a massive amount but from my usual perch sitting on Stourbridge Lions roof, legs dangling inside while steering, there were good views of the Malverns standing clear in the after rain sunshine. 

After a short while we were overhauled by another boat pulling lots of revs and creating quite a wash. It was Kinver! Now that may not mean much to many of you but before we had Stourbridge Lion we had a share in Kinver. What a surprising coincidence. (hope hey dont pull the engine off its mountings!)

Sadly commercial carrying of freight is pretty rare on the waterways these days but occasionally you come across some. On this part of the Severn there is a little barge traffic in gravel from Ryall wharf to Ripple. Only a few miles but better than nothing. All the barges are named after fish.

Gravel Barges. River Severn

After a couple of hours steady running we moored at Upton on Severn. Not always possible to get into this charming riverside town due to limited mooring but today we did, even if climbing up to the bank was slightly precarious.

Then the engine wouldnt shut down! Being a diesel engine  this can be a problem. I shut down the engine manually and made a call to RCR got their man out who drove over from Northampton! A 40 Amp fuse had blown but he had no spare. and although I have a good supple of fuses, or so I thought, I had no 40 Amps.  Fortunatly there was a petrol station over the road and I was able to procure a 30A fuse which he fitted and it held. Must sort that out as it will blow again.

 Walk round the town and salmon with veg for dinner.

 Lit fire as rather cold today.