Saturday 8^th June 2019

We moved from the mooring but only travelled for 2 miles and stopped just before Saul Junction, passing a couple of old, abandoned Severn Trow barges. Saul Junction is a name that had always intrigued us, but turned out to be nothing like we were expecting. It is a beautiful, rural, isolated location. The junction of the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal and the Stroudwater Canal.

The Stroudwater Canal was opened in 1779 and so predated the G&S by almost 50 years and provided a link between the River Severn and the town of Stroud. Along with the slightly later Thames & Severn Canal, which connects the Stroudwater Canal with the River Thames at Lechlade and was completed in 1789, the two, now known as the Cotswolds Canals, provided a through route from the River Severn ports of Bristol and Gloucester, and London. The two were abandoned in the early half of the 20^th century although there are ambitious plans for their restoration.

We walked to the junction itself, where there is a restored lock at the top of the section of the Stroudwater Canal that leads down to the river. This lock has a curious operating mechanism of a windlass operated rack and pinion arrangement that connects to an arm at the top of the paddle. Not dissimilar to the paddles on the Glasson Branch of the Lancaster Canal.

    

Saul Junction

Lock Paddle Arrangement on Stroudwater Canal

We followed the bed of the canal across fields to the hamlet of Upper Framilode where the canal is still in water. Just beyond this, at Framilode, the canal passes through another lock into the river. However, the lock and river junction are now in the garden of a private house and so we could not see the junction itself.

We stood at the river wall at Framilode gazing out over the river towards the far bank. It was a real “pinch me” moment. Wide open spaces with the tide coming in and debris in the river racing past, but travelling inland.

We called into the church of St. Peter’s right beside the river. A curious church inside, more what you would expect of a Massachusetts mariner’s chapel.

    

  

St. Peter’s Church, Framilode

Retracing our steps, we called in to the Ship Inn at Upper Framilode. We sat in the front garden, an absolutely gorgeous location. An older local came out of the pub, so yokel we could barely understand him. He sat on the bank of the canal and, with wellies on, slid down the bank and started pulling reeds out of the water. Apparently he does this regularly to stop their spread. He then walked to a little rowing boat in which he stood and rowed himself across the canal to his house on the opposite bank. Such is his daily habit.

We walked back to Saul Junction and stopped at the bridge keepers hut. This bridge is controlled remotely, the keeper keeping watch by CCTV and is hydraulically operated. Inside the hut the furniture is original with a huge desk and wooden partitions with railings on top and a slot for the passing of documentation.

We carried on up the Stroudwater Canal for a few hundred yards where, at a low road bridge, the canal bed becomes dry again. Following around the large marina complex, we came back on the canal and followed down it towards the boat, first calling at the Cotswold’s Canal Trust information centre. However, when questioned about the canal and its history they didn’t seem to know much and seemed little interested.

On the opposite bank is a boat builders and repair yard with a motley assortment of many interesting looking boats, all awaiting attention.

We both feel as though we have been in the wars. In M&S yesterday, Brenda clouted her elbow on the counter and is struggling to use her left arm and my back is quite bad again. 

Weather: a nice, pleasantly warm day.

Day Total: 0 locks; 2 miles; 0 Tunnels; 1 Swing Bridge; 0 Lift Bridges; 0 Boat Lift; engine running hours 0.8

Overall Total: 539 locks; 972 miles; 46 tunnels; 16 Swing Bridges; 5 Lift Bridges; 2 Boat Lifts; engine running hours 624.0