We knew the weather forecast was not good for Saturday but there looked like there might be a dry spell between 10 & 12, so we departed before 10 and it immediately started raining! We started the descent of Offerton Locks and were soon drenched to the skin. The only good thing was that most of the locks were in our favour, but we stopped after 3 locks to change into dry things, which was a waste of time because we were soon wet again.
We took a lunch break on the outskirts of Worcester and phoned up to book an overnight berth in Worcester Marina, aka Lowesmoor Basin. After lunch we carried on through another 6 locks to the marina where we were directed to a berth which involved reversing though a kind of ‘goalpost’ arrangement, which is designed to hold the boat straight as we were moored end-on to the basin edge.
We were glad to have the luxury of mains electricity at the marina as we needed to make good use of our tumble dryer! We had arranged for our son Jer and the children to meet us there, but whilst waiting for them we had a phone call from my niece Kate who was on holiday in the area with her husband Stephen, so we had five visitors & a dog for the evening which led to a visit to The Anchor at Diglis Dock for a meal!
The grandchildren stayed with us overnight and in the morning we left in much better weather, the staff at Worcester Marina were most helpful despite it being a ‘turn-around day’ for their hire boats. Morley was a big help with the remaining locks and by 12 noon we were through Diglis Dock and out onto the wide waters of the River Severn, which was quite calm despite the previous day’s rain.
Diglis was our only lock on the Severn today so it was a straightforward cruise downstream to Tewkesbury with the Malvern Hills in the distance. Upton Blues Festival was in full swing as we passed and we saw and heard a couple of the acts as we went by, also the Conway Castle was just manoeuvring as we approached so we had to hold back, just glad there wasn’t more flow on the river! “MV Conway Castle is the largest passenger vessel on the River Severn”
Soon we were passing under the M50 and as we saw Mythe Bridge we knew it was time to leave the Severn and join the Avon. Bob the Lockkeeper locked us though Avon Lock, found us a nice mooring facing King John’s Bridge and told us to make ourselves comfortable before relieving us of the fees for our Avon Navigation Trust licence and mooring. Jer came and collected the children before tea as they have another week of school before they break up.
We are spending a few days here and already have visitors scheduled, but more are always welcome.
Enjoy your stop – hopefully the boat is nice & cool despite the heat today.
Thanks Toni, not that cool in the boat, but there’s a nice shady tree beside us!