Tuesday 26th
We wanted to leave by 9am but it was nearer 9.45am when we got under way. Heading into the flow of the river we let the current take us round. Much windier this morning and a tad chilly too but progress was swift and we made the junction with the Avon in good time. In fact so quick did we get there that we almost sailed past the entrance! It was only a boat coming out that made us realise.
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| Gravel barge fully laden on the Severn |
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| The approach to Avon lock |
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| Avon lock, the only manned lock on the river. |
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| The Avon licence was £50 for the week |
After obtaining the licence from the very nice lock lady (she also sold us the Avon guide book for £4 and three more plaques at £7 each) we turned left to go upstream. At first glance there was an awful lot of craft at Tewkesbury and the moorings were few and far between. Best thing was for us to keep going and soon we entered the most rural and beautiful river imaginable.. No doubt there are other rivers equally as pleasant but we have yet to find them. Pershore was our destination so only three locks to do. Strensham, Nafford and Pershore lock.
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| Heading upstream at Tewkesbury |
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| Strensham lock and the first unmanned lock |
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| Leaving Strensham lock and the facilities (water and elsan) on the right |
At Nafford lock we caught up with a single hander. He very kindly hung on for us to arrive so we had company on this and our last lock of the day, Pershore lock. Waving farewell to him as he continued his journey to Evesham, we found idyllic moorings on the park. The sun had come out making it a very pleasant afternoon. We celebrated being on this lovely river with a Pimms and Lizzie made the most of the British sunshine saying the Aussie winter had started so she might as well get a bit of a tan to show the guys back home.
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| Nafford lock |
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| Having a spot of bother keeping his boat to the side. |
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| Pershore lock |
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| Moorings on the park |
Today, Wednesday 27th
So this morning, after a Skype call to my brother Andre in Australia praising the merits of his daughter, we got underway by 10.30am. The first lock, Wyre, was most peculiar. It was a diamond lock which was almost impossible to secure to. In fact we didn't bother roping just relied on Ian and Lizzie to control the flow. Took a bit longer to do but, with Evesham only a few miles away and the town in which we would say farewell to Liz, we wanted to enjoy our last few hours together at a sedate pace.
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| Wyre weir |
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| Wyre lock |
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| Must leave exit gates open. |
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| Fladbury Mill and weir |
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| Chadbury lock |
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| Tucked behind the lock gate this demoiselle. |
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| And finally our destination for tonight. Moored on the pontoon in Evesham |
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| At Evesham station. |
We have had a wonderful few days catching up with our niece. So sad to see her leave. She is like a second daughter to us and will be missed by us both. It's made us even more determined to go to Australia sooner rather then later. I have this need now to see my twin brother again, after all the last time I saw him was at Christmas 2009.
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