Sunday 26th May
2019
After watering up, we left the moorings and retraced out steps
upstream. The run up to Bevere Lock was interesting, there were many skiffs
from Worcester Rowing Club with it being Bank Holiday, all to be negotiated. At
the lock itself there were four skiffs between us and the lock, the lock was not
ready and, with a broken down boat on the lock landing, we had to hold
ourselves in the river.
We passed through three locks that day, Bevere, Holt and Lincomb. Bevere
was easily passed through once passed the rowing skiffs, the lock keeper at
Holt, an Irishman, was full of chat, interesting but with the gates unopened,
we were a captive audience. The keeper at Lincomb was, unusually, a young guy
but dour and completely disinterested.
There was nothing much of interest apart from the locks, the entrance
to the Droitwich Canal and the River Salwarpe just upriver. Holt Lock is particularly
attractive with the nearby Holt Fleet Bridge, a lovely almost delicate looking
bridge built in 1830 by Thomas Telford, a true testament to his engineering
abilities.
Above Lincomb Lock Wesaw the sobering sight of a narrow boat high and dry on the bank, a victim of flooding on the river.
The river environment above Lincomb Lock becomes busier. There are
abandoned oil wharves where barges from Gloucester and Bristol would have
unloaded their cargoes up until the 1980’s. The wharves and oil tanks are still
there but the wharf is now full of river steamers and barges and a Clyde
Puffer, VIC 99, now converted to a house boat but not looking very well cared
for.
Approaching Stourport-on-Severn
On the outskirts of Stourport-on-Severn is a derelict
factory/warehouse building and then the locks themselves are reached. Stourport
is the limit of safe navigation for narrow boats, although it is possible to
travel a further mile or so upriver, it is not considered safe.
We managed to stop on the last available river mooring and so didn’t have
to go up the locks into the basins. After a quick walk around the basins and a
chat with the CRT staff, we returned to the boat for our Sunday dinner.
River Moorings at Stourport-on-Severn
We had mentioned the CRT initiative, Boating Buddies, a scheme that
boaters sign up to for volunteers to spend a day on a boat. We had signed up to
this in Birmingham earlier in the year but had had no contact from CRT. The
volunteers and permanent staff here had not even heard of it. A shame.
Weather: wet and quite miserable in the morning, brightening in the
afternoon.
Day Total: 3 locks; 11 miles; 0 Tunnels; 0 Swing Bridges; 0 Lift
Bridges; 0 Boat Lift; engine running hours 5.3
Overall Total: 523 locks; 923 miles; 46 tunnels; 14 Swing Bridges; 3
Lift Bridges; 2 Boat Lifts; engine running hours 604.6
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