Stourport - southerly terminus of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal and our entrance to England's longest River the mighty River Severn.
Entering the Stourport basins that take you through a series of locks into the river we took advantage of the Limekiln Chandlery fuel and toilet pump-out facility. A full tank of water at the Canal and River Trust water-point an we were good to go. Narrow locks ( there are wide beam locks also) are a pair of staircase locks with a short pound in between. If a boat is coming the other way you can wait to pass in the pound but do not enter the 'staircase' sections together. Bridges block your view, so you have to make the effort of looking over them to see if other traffic is coming in the opposite direction.
Once on the river at Stourport there are a very few visitor pontoons together with lock-mooring spaces. Space is very limited on these pontoons so be prepared to carry on and take your mooring chances further on the river. We were lucky on this occasion and found a mooring enabling us to stay in Stourport for the night.
This was the first time we that we had the time and opportunity to explore the historic Stourport basins and accompanied by my trusty hound 'Suzy' spent a leisurely hour in the afternoon sunshine enjoying the river views. Exhausted by our wanderings we 'found' ......just by chance 'The Angel' pub overlooking the river and decided to try (just in the interests of market research you understand) some of their fine range of beers. They do an excellent bag of local Porky Scratchings and if 'Suzy' had been endowed with opposable thumbs she would have given a positive 'thumbs up' to. She helped to scoff two bags, so I think this was a very positive canine market research experience. My 'experience' was also very positive and we all retired to our floating bed on the River Severn in a relaxed state that encouraged instant sleep until the bright sunshine of the morning.
Breakfast over and by 8am we were heading towards Worcester.
Locks on the River Severn are gigantic by our canal standards and are of course manned. Looping lines bow and stern to the vertical stainless-steel cables ensures your safe rise or fall in the lock. Most lock-keepers like to have you opposite their tall 'office' so that they can see if you are O.K. especially if you are in the lock solo. They will direct you to one side of the lock or other as you approach.
Worcester is like one of the many large canal or riverside towns or cities that do not take advantage of the spending power of visiting boat crews. Moorings are basically poor and not exactly plentiful, added to the fact you have to pay !!!!!
We managed to find one of the very poor moorings near the racecourse as you enter Worcester from Stourport. This has steel rings attached to water side of the bank so that you scrape all the paint off your boat hull as you attempt to moor - obviously designed by somebody without the slightest boating experience. We continued on and found a better place near the River footbridge - not exactly ideal but at least the rings were in the correct place.
Being a rule-abiding boater I found the car-park machine as directed and paid the correct fee, putting the boat index number in first. Oh yes.... they do check, last time we were here a parking warden promptly asked us for our ticket !! Welcome to Worcester.
I am glad we persevered with the Worcester moorings on this occasion and spent the day visiting the Cathedral and the riverside walks together with a little shopping .......well worth our £4 'parking' ticket. Not sure about the scratched paint though.
Our next destination on the river was Stourport-upon-Severn. A delightful town that suffers from the same problem as Worcester - a lack of moorings. Last time we came through we gave up visiting the town when we had to admit defeat regarding vacant moorings and regretfully sailed on with money meant for Upton- upon-Severn shops and pubs left unspent.
On this occasion we were very lucky ( mainly because it was early in the day) and moored on the Canal and River Trust pontoon mooring which has space for perhaps four or five boats. This pontoon is fairly recent and was a subject of controversy when CRT promptly promised it to a commercial trip boat. Sense prevailed eventually and if your stars are in alignment and you come early, this is the place to moor. One problem with the pontoon is the 3ft x 2ft CRT sign that explains it is a visitor mooring is the wrong way around and faces the town not the river. As you pass you are left wondering what kind of mooring it is......by the time you guess you are on the way to Gloucester.
Upton is well worth the trouble with plenty of good places to eat and drink including the 'Anchor Inn' founded in 1601 ..... how time flies when you are enjoying a few beers. It (Upton not The Anchor) also has a laundrette which will certainly be useful for boats without washing machines.
Arriving at Gloucester about lunchtime we called Gloucester dock lock on my mobile at 'Upper Partings' where there is a sign with their number on it. I tried the VHF but had bad reception from the lock despite good signals from a trip boat calling the nearby Lanthony Bridge. When we rounded the corner with the lock facing us it was all ready.
Gloucester dock has plenty of 48 hour moorings and is a very enjoyable place to stay with lots to see and do including the Waterways Museum and Gloucester Cathedral for example. During our stay there was two large schooners and a another sailing ship in the dry-dock, all adding to a visual feel to the docks similar to its heyday during the nineteenth century.
Moorings in Gloucester dock are limited to 48 hour so we will soon move out of the dock onto the Gloucester and Sharpness ship canal.
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| Stourport Wide-beam locks |
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| Stourport Visitor mooring |
Entering the Stourport basins that take you through a series of locks into the river we took advantage of the Limekiln Chandlery fuel and toilet pump-out facility. A full tank of water at the Canal and River Trust water-point an we were good to go. Narrow locks ( there are wide beam locks also) are a pair of staircase locks with a short pound in between. If a boat is coming the other way you can wait to pass in the pound but do not enter the 'staircase' sections together. Bridges block your view, so you have to make the effort of looking over them to see if other traffic is coming in the opposite direction.
Once on the river at Stourport there are a very few visitor pontoons together with lock-mooring spaces. Space is very limited on these pontoons so be prepared to carry on and take your mooring chances further on the river. We were lucky on this occasion and found a mooring enabling us to stay in Stourport for the night.
 |
| Stourport Basin |
This was the first time we that we had the time and opportunity to explore the historic Stourport basins and accompanied by my trusty hound 'Suzy' spent a leisurely hour in the afternoon sunshine enjoying the river views. Exhausted by our wanderings we 'found' ......just by chance 'The Angel' pub overlooking the river and decided to try (just in the interests of market research you understand) some of their fine range of beers. They do an excellent bag of local Porky Scratchings and if 'Suzy' had been endowed with opposable thumbs she would have given a positive 'thumbs up' to. She helped to scoff two bags, so I think this was a very positive canine market research experience. My 'experience' was also very positive and we all retired to our floating bed on the River Severn in a relaxed state that encouraged instant sleep until the bright sunshine of the morning.
Breakfast over and by 8am we were heading towards Worcester.
Locks on the River Severn are gigantic by our canal standards and are of course manned. Looping lines bow and stern to the vertical stainless-steel cables ensures your safe rise or fall in the lock. Most lock-keepers like to have you opposite their tall 'office' so that they can see if you are O.K. especially if you are in the lock solo. They will direct you to one side of the lock or other as you approach.
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| River Severn lock. |
Worcester is like one of the many large canal or riverside towns or cities that do not take advantage of the spending power of visiting boat crews. Moorings are basically poor and not exactly plentiful, added to the fact you have to pay !!!!!
We managed to find one of the very poor moorings near the racecourse as you enter Worcester from Stourport. This has steel rings attached to water side of the bank so that you scrape all the paint off your boat hull as you attempt to moor - obviously designed by somebody without the slightest boating experience. We continued on and found a better place near the River footbridge - not exactly ideal but at least the rings were in the correct place.
Being a rule-abiding boater I found the car-park machine as directed and paid the correct fee, putting the boat index number in first. Oh yes.... they do check, last time we were here a parking warden promptly asked us for our ticket !! Welcome to Worcester.
I am glad we persevered with the Worcester moorings on this occasion and spent the day visiting the Cathedral and the riverside walks together with a little shopping .......well worth our £4 'parking' ticket. Not sure about the scratched paint though.
 |
| River Severn. Worcester |
Our next destination on the river was Stourport-upon-Severn. A delightful town that suffers from the same problem as Worcester - a lack of moorings. Last time we came through we gave up visiting the town when we had to admit defeat regarding vacant moorings and regretfully sailed on with money meant for Upton- upon-Severn shops and pubs left unspent.
On this occasion we were very lucky ( mainly because it was early in the day) and moored on the Canal and River Trust pontoon mooring which has space for perhaps four or five boats. This pontoon is fairly recent and was a subject of controversy when CRT promptly promised it to a commercial trip boat. Sense prevailed eventually and if your stars are in alignment and you come early, this is the place to moor. One problem with the pontoon is the 3ft x 2ft CRT sign that explains it is a visitor mooring is the wrong way around and faces the town not the river. As you pass you are left wondering what kind of mooring it is......by the time you guess you are on the way to Gloucester.
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| Upton-on-Severn visitor moorings. Strictly copyright author. |
Upton is well worth the trouble with plenty of good places to eat and drink including the 'Anchor Inn' founded in 1601 ..... how time flies when you are enjoying a few beers. It (Upton not The Anchor) also has a laundrette which will certainly be useful for boats without washing machines.
 |
| Anchor Inn....serving beer since 1601. Upton-on-Severn |
Arriving at Gloucester about lunchtime we called Gloucester dock lock on my mobile at 'Upper Partings' where there is a sign with their number on it. I tried the VHF but had bad reception from the lock despite good signals from a trip boat calling the nearby Lanthony Bridge. When we rounded the corner with the lock facing us it was all ready.
Gloucester dock has plenty of 48 hour moorings and is a very enjoyable place to stay with lots to see and do including the Waterways Museum and Gloucester Cathedral for example. During our stay there was two large schooners and a another sailing ship in the dry-dock, all adding to a visual feel to the docks similar to its heyday during the nineteenth century.
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| Schooners including the Spanish training ship 'ATYLA' undergoing repairs in Gloucester dock. Strictly Copyright.author. |
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| 'Earl of Pembroke' in Gloucester dry dock. |
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| Gloucester Cathedral. Strictly Copyright Author. |
Moorings in Gloucester dock are limited to 48 hour so we will soon move out of the dock onto the Gloucester and Sharpness ship canal.
