England Part 5

Rob and I said our goodbyes to Louise and Lorna and headed through the bottom lock and onto the river for the last time. The weather was a little overcast, with spotty drizzle, but we were in good spirits. The very first river lock was less than five minutes from Stratford and as we approached, I realised that we were dealing with a whole new thing here. First, the weirs. The weirs divert the flow of the river so that the lock doesn't disrupt the normal flow of the river. They are large, and fast moving and all the guidebooks say that the current can suck you in if you aren't careful... Great, one more thing for me to stress about (needlessly). My favourite is when the weirs are not marked. Here is a picture that I did not take...


Then there are the river locks. These are twice as wide as the canal locks, allowing the wider river barges to navigate or for two narrowboats to go down together. Twice as wide means twice as challenging when there are just two of you. It also means that the gates were a heck of a lot heavier to open and close... Another picture I did not take..

Despite the challenges, we survived the first lock without any issues and I gradually relaxed into enjoying the river. I even sucked up the courage to try navigating the boat and I realised it was actually a lot easier to deal with on the river.

There are not a lot of places to stop along the river Avon, so we pushed through, eating a sandwich of VERY mature cheddar and ham on the go and drinking copious amounts of hot tea and coffee. Around 4pm, we passed through our first ever manned lock at Evesham. The lock divided the Upper and Lower Avon Navigation Trusts and the lockkeeper was a wealth of information (also, it was so nice not to have to deal with trying to man the lock by ourselves...) We were concerned about finding a secure spot to stop for the night and the lock keeper said we could go for another 2 or 3 hours to tie up in the one spot that was in the middle of nowhere or we could stop just around the bend in the river at Evesham. We opted for Evesham, worried that we might not be able to make the next stopping point before dark.
Evesham was a market town, but in the late afternoons watery light, it was a little depressing, evidence of economic woes everywhere (so many vacant shops). We walked for a good 20 minutes trying to find a pub for dinner. On the verge of giving up and returning to the boat for a dinner of soup and sandwiches, we finally found a place - the Royal Oak Inn. They weren't serving dinner yet, but we had a few beverages while we waited.

Rob had (surprise) fish and chips while I settled on local sausages and mash. OMG, the best sausages and gravy I have ever hed. Perfectly seasoned, perfect texture, abundance of gravy and good mash. Rob was so jealous, even though his fish and chips were the best ones he had enjoyed so far.

We stumbled back to the boat and enjoyed an evening of crib before tucking in early so we could get up early and make the final push to Tewkesbury.
We were under way with the dinner. THe day was even more dreary than the previous one and the locks seemed more challenging. We encountered a diamond shaped (!) lock that was a real challenge for us and the nerves were starting to fray. Rob stumbled on the roof of the boat, trying to jumb out at another lock and help me. I tried to push the boat off as I leapt on and almost got my leg caught between the wall and the boat railing. We were trying to reach Tewkesbury before nightfall, so it was another lunch on the go, this time a hot beef stew I had prepared the night before. It was cold, windy, the sky was heavy with threatening rain showers...

We reached the last lock before Tewkesbury (still at least an hour out) and there was a traffic jam of power boats ahead of us, then the exit of the lock was super awkward and we almost got stuck trying to get out. More fraying of nerves...
The threatening clouds made good on their promise and it started to rain as King John's bridge came into view. We had finally reached Tewkesbury, the end of the navigable portion of the River Avon. Just through the bridge was the lock that led out onto the River Severn, so we quickly attempted to tie up. Yeah attempted. The spot was just not quite the right size for our boat and we couldn't get both ends secured properly. The rain was starting to really come down and because 54ft and an engine seperated Rob and I, we were having communication issues. For the first time, we found ourselves snapping at each other. There were a few angry tears from me and we finally got the boat secured. Inside, out of the rain, we sank into our respective chairs, maintaining the angry silence for about 30 seconds before we started laughing hysterically at the ridiculousness of it all. Oh, and the rain stopped once we were inside...
We dried off, cleaned up, paid the lockkeeper our very small moorage fee for the night and headed out to explore Tewkesbury.
Next time, falling for the Abbey, Fish and chips, the River Severn and arriving in Worcester....