The morning was grey and damp but no time to sit around, we were ready to set off just after 8-30 am this morning so I rang the lock keeper and he said just come round and it will be ready, by the time I had untied, reversed out and swung round the gates were open and off we went.
By now we had a fine drizzle and I put my coat on, good job I did as minutes later it was raining real rain but the sun was out.
The flow in the partings was not as bad as I expected and we chugged up at a steady 3½mph. when we cleared the partings this went up to 4mph. The levels are well down as could bee seen by the silt at the Partings, it can get quite shallow just here and I have seen boats aground.
Going up the river was approximately 1mph slower than when we came down, I was quite happy at 4mph without taxing the engine, I expected about 3½mph. The red Lion at Wainlode looks a lovely establishment for a sunny afternoon, but there is no chance of getting near to moor a Narrowboat with the shallow water, the signs say keep left.
I didn’t expect to meet a boat sailing down the river, I actually met two, the second a very small yacht powered by a set of Mirror Dingy sails and making very good progress to wind.
We did pass the sailing club, they had their buoys set out for racing and were just launching a fleet of Laser dinghies, please to get through before they started as I am sure it would have been interesting. After leaving the lock at Gloucester the next one we came to was Upper Lode Lock, this originally had sloping sides but has been almost doubled in length with conventional straight sides.
After leaving the lock we were soon past to where the Severn and the Avon Converge, after this theriver slowed even more and I dropped the revs for more pleasant cruising.
I think this is a water sampling station to sample from the centre of the river as well as instrumentation from the bank.
Its probably an eventual bit of kit as water is nor only extracted in several location including .Tewkesbury but waste water is also discharged further up stream
I have a feeling these structures were to do with the transporting of petrol during the war.
Being Sunday the gravel boats were all tied up on their wharf, there were four in total, moored three abreast and a single, a little further upstream we passed the loading facility also of course standing idle a Sunday. Being painted a light green help it blend in, maybe not the best idea.
The going got a bit slow under the Thameside Way A4440 bridge where in narrows down then picks up again to Diglis Lock, once we had locked up we moored for the night on the river visitor mooring pontoons just above the lock. Since we have been here a few hire boats have gone down stream, I am not sure where they will moor for the night as you can’t just pull over and moor like on the canals, I expect some of them will end up on Tewkesbury lock landing sometime after 7pm.
Today’s Journey
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