Tuesday 18^th June 2019

What words do we use to describe today?

Awesome.

Exciting.
Dramatic.

Adventurous.
Scary.
A real adrenaline rush.

We had a pilot booked for 0930 and the swing bridge was to open for us at 0730. Brendan, our pilot, had rowed up from Purton the previous evening to meet with us and he also gave the boat a quick external inspection. A very calm sounding character, it was good to meet with him prior to the crossing.

We had alarms set, a very rare occurrence for us these days, for 0515, a few slices of toast and made ready to set off with a rising sense of trepidation. The bridge was duly opened at 0730 as promised and we moved into the commercial dock. There were now three vessels alongside. Apart from the Wes Nicole, there was the German vessel “Vaerland”, a 3,211 ton general cargo ship, and the Barbadian flagged “Wilson Gijon”, 3,690 tons that had arrived from Kiel, Germany. These ships were in the region of 300 feet long and 42 feet wide as opposed to our 58½ feet by 7 and 14.7 tons. We felt very small.

Up to this point, crossing over Sharpness Docks was the largest expanse of water Bridge Street had ever travelled on, but all that was soon to change. We entered the lock at 0740, absolutely enormous, took ropes from the CRT staff and were then lowered in the lock. From Sharpness Docks, the lock lowers vessels down to the level of the river. Outside the lock is a tidal basin beyond which are breakwaters either side of the channel and then the river itself. The lock is only opened from 2 hours before high tide, up until high tide, to maintain water levels in the docks.

High tide was due at 0935.  

The lower gates were opened and there, in the tidal basin, was a narrow boat and a broad beam that had travelled up from Portishead on the incoming tide. Brendan was on the narrowboat and transferred across to us in the lock at 0753. We then passed out of the lock and tied up onto a pontoon in the tidal basin to await the ebbing tide. Behind us, the lock gates closed. We felt almost like a lamb being led to slaughter.

     

Sharpness Lock and the narrowboat in the tidal basin

Brenda brought out tea and coffee and sandwiches for Brendan and at 0905, just before the tide turned, we left the pontoon. Brendan stated that the pilot normally takes the helm but he agreed to me steering the boat. The tidal basin has to be left under full power in order to be able to stem the tide, still passing upstream, and absolutely surging through the legs of the breakwaters. It was a very sobering sight.

Bridge Street develops 43 horsepower at 2,800rpm but she had only ever been taken up to 2,100rpm previously, and this for only for a short time. In the words of a couple we had met, Ken and Astrid, who were standing beside the lock to see us off, we shot out onto the river doing 2,400rpm. Brendan had told me to aim for the end of the downstream breakwater, but the flow was moving the boat away all the time which took a lot of countering. At the end of the pier, we turned into the current, but for quite a few anxious minutes, we were almost stationery despite the power of the engine and the end of the pier only very gradually, moved behind us. And all the time, Brendan was as calm as can be.

Emerging from Sharpness Lock

We hugged the eastern bank of the river where the pull of the current was not so strong and passed the two decommissioned nuclear power stations at Berkeley and Oldbury with Sharpness gradually receding behind us.

We then crossed over the river to the western bank before the approach of the Severn Road Bridges. The tide had now turned and was well on the ebb, with many currents, eddies and much floating debris. We passed a small, rocky island, with a chapel set amongst the rocks, a past hermit’s sanctuary.

The first Severn Road Bridge carries the M48. It is 1-mile-long and 445 feet above the river. This bridge, built in 1966, is a suspension bridge with two towers. We passed very close to the foot of the western tower and, with the current surging around it, got some feel of the speed we were moving at.

Just 20 minutes later we approached the second bridge, a much larger structure, serpentine in shape. This bridge carries the M4 and was built in 1996. It is 3.1 miles long and 449 feet above the river. It has a series of supporting piers at each end, leading to two central towers supporting the central, navigable section. The bridge is built at a stretch of the river known as “The Shoots”. Here there are two huge chunks of submerged rock, one each side of the river, that diverts most of the flow through the “shoot”. Brendan had warned that we would pass through this central span sideways. At the time, I didn’t know if he was joking. He wasn’t!

As we approached the bridge, we were well to the east of the central span and steering at an angle of about 30˚ to it. As we got closer to the bridge the boat, almost at the mercy of the pull of the current, turned more and more sideways. The sideways speed increased and the forward motion was negligible. When we passed under the bridge we did not seem to be making any headway with the boat travelling ever faster sideways and the stern overtaking the bow. As the flow of the river became ever stronger, the boat actually started to list about 10 to 15˚ into the current as the undertow was dragging the underwater hull. I found this a little scary but again, Brendan was as calm as can be. He’s seen it all before.

     

Severn Road Bridges

Current flow in river

Once past the bridges we moved to the eastern side of the river and slowed down as were going to be too early for the lock at Portishead. We more or less drifted across the entrances to Avonmouth and Portbury Docks and the mouth of the River Avon to Bristol. Brendan planned this so as to show us the route to follow and way markers for the passage across to the Avon tomorrow.

It was interesting for me to see the entrance lock into Avonmouth Docks. I had passed through this many times when I was deep sea with Lamport & Holt on the South America runs. Avonmouth was always the first UK port after a trip.

We continued drifting, almost sideways, with the engine ticking over, until off Portishead when we steered for the harbour pier wall and tied up to await the lock. It had started to rain although just lightly to start.

Brendan presented us with a brass plaque marking the crossing. Brilliant. Apparently last year, just 80 canal boats made the crossing, so we belong to quite a select group and felt pleased with ourselves although, it has to be said, relieved to be at the marina. It had been a fantastic experience though. We felt very safe with Brendan on board and he was full of local knowledge, not just of the river but also places around us and he contributed hugely to our enjoyment of the crossing. Boats actually, do not require a pilot although should anything go wrong, the insurance companies would wash their hands of you. Personally, I think it crazy that anybody, with no experience, is able to venture onto the estuary alone. As a former seafarer, I wouldn’t even consider it. It is a wild place with many changing currents and shifting sandbanks and is not just a river. It is an estuary that is also a commercial shipping route.

The lock opened at the appointed time of 1215 and we entered, tying to the floating pontoon. Brendan left us and the rain turned into an absolute downpour. The entrance lock to Portishead Marina is massive, like all the river and harbour locks we have been in recently, but has a rise of over 9 meters. The lock fills in a very unusual and dramatic way. The gates are formed like clam shells, each of a circular quadrant that hydraulically retract against the lock wall. Once the gates were closed behind us the top gates are hydraulically jacked off their hinges so that two curtains of water gushed from each one. The sight, noise and turbulence were staggering and scary.

Once clear of the lock we had to travel the length of the marina, in heavy rain, before being able to turn and pass back down the marina to our appointed mooring. We peeled off our wet clothing, had a brew and congratulated ourselves. We were also very pleased with the performance of the boat. The engine ran at 2,400rpm for over 2 hours without a glitch and Brendan commented on how fast she was and how well she handled.

When the rain had cleared, we walked over to the Marina Office to pay our dues. An overnight stay cost us £52.60. Scandalous. The pontoon we were on didn’t even have any services.

 

           

Portishead Marina and the flows from the lock gates

We walked around the marina and learnt it had been a commercial port until 1976 importing coal, timber and phosphorus for producing sulphur in a quayside factory. Today, the dock is the centre of what is, essentially, a new village of apartment blocks. We thought them very nice, but Brendan was full of contempt for them. He remembers the place as it was, it is always a shame when all of a place's past disappears. We stopped for a well-earned pint in a marina side bar. We had wanted to explore but it came on to rain again, so we returned to the boat. The rain continued all evening.

It had been quite a day, very memorable.

Weather: a fine day until the rain started in the afternoon.

Day Total: 2 locks; 21 miles; 0 Tunnels; 5 Swing Bridge; 0 Lift Bridges; 0 Boat Lift; engine running hours 4.7

Overall Total: 541 locks; 1012 miles; 46 tunnels; 32 Swing Bridges; 5 Lift Bridges; 2 Boat Lifts; engine running hours 638.2hrs