We left the Pershore moorings at
9am in gorgeous sunshine.
Pershore Lock works differently to other locks on the Avon as it has a
ground paddle which must be opened first.
There are two turbines at Pershore.
The twin Archimedean screw hydroelectric scheme, designed by Renewables
First, was successfully commissioned on 20th August 2014. The system delivered a million units of
carbon free electricity in its first year of operation.
The next lock was Nafford Lock where we saw this sad sight.
Last time we came this way Eckington Bridge was covered in scaffolding
so it was nice to see it in all its glory.
Eckington Bridge is a Grade II listed building and has been scheduled as
an ancient monument. The first bridge at
the site was built in 1440, replacing an earlier ferry, but this fell into
disrepair and was replaced by the current stone bridge in the 1720s.
At Strensham Lock we met one of the two hire boats that had been in front
of us. The other one had missed the lock
and gone gayly down the weir stream! As
it happened it was good for us as we went in the lock first and it was manned
by a very active hire boat crew!
We got into Tewkesbury and sat around waiting for my dental
appointment. It was a 7 minute walk – or
it should have been had I not walked straight passed it! The dentist told me that I had a broken tooth
(how much was this guy charging me?) and that it needs to be crowned by my own
dentist but he has put a temporary filling in which doesn’t feel very secure to
me.
Back at the boat it was very hot and we weren’t in the best place so
Richard went and asked the Lockie if it was OK to go down to Gloucester. It was so it was a quick about turn and into
the lock. Down through the lock with
nothing to do but hold a rope and out onto the Avon again and then finally onto
the Severn.
I sat out at the front enjoying the view and the lovely afternoon until
it started to rain. I headed back inside
not a moment too soon as it started pouring down and thundering. We put the pram cover up to protect Richard a
bit. Last time we were came down to
Gloucester it poured with rain and Richard got soaked. We were with another narrowboat who had its
pram cover up and this prompted Richard to decide that a pram cover would be
good. Seems rather ironic that we needed
it today.
At Gloucester Lock I had to brave the elements too by doing my duty as
bow rope holder. The lock seemed to take
an age to fill up and I got absolutely soaked.
The water was pouring down inside my sleeve which was unpleasant to say
the least! It was about 6.30pm and we
were lucky to get a pontoon. There were
a few motor cruisers moored up taking up two pontoons as they were too fat to
go along side. By the time we had moored
up we were like two drowned rats. By the
time both of us had had showers the rain had stopped – typical! We are moored right in front of a Greek
restaurant so we sat on their terrace and caught the evening sun and had a very
nice meal.
Poor Muffin had had a rotten day so we took him for a nice walk in
Castlemeads.
28.21 miles
6 locks
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