Worcester 12th June

In good weather, there is nothing to beat a cruise on a wide river. We were definitely nervous at the start  but the Severn was an absolute treat.
Hardly any traffic either so it felt as though we had the whole thing to ourselves.

We arrived in Worcester in early afternoon and moored up just below the Racecourse. Funny enough, we had to walk to the local car park to get a pay and display ticket! Worcester City Council charges £4 per 24 hours. In so doing, we saw that we were moored 50 yards from a wall of sound:
prepping for a concert the next night by James Bay (sorry, who?). Worse, both entry points to the pontoon would be blocked; no way to leave but by water. So we did: moved to the next set of moorings, much handier for city centre and just the other side of the rowing centre.

11th June and we were up and exploring and the day rapidly filled up. Shops then museum:
 then lunch at Hickorys steakhouse, then back to digest!
Then Alison to evensong at the Cathedral.
and then both to the Odeon to see Jurassic World which Andrew had booked earlier in the day:
And it was handy keeping us away from the concert which was extremely loud and not our style, but which stopped not long after we got back.

Sunday we are due to move down to Tewkesbury,  and hopefully to meet up with an ex GMB colleague who lives locally. First thing though is to discover if the next lock, which broke yesterday,  has been mended yet! We were alerted to this by the Narrow Boat Owners Association: nothing on the C&RT website. We set off at half 9, just as the Cathedral bells were sounding off:
past the mob of Swans
and away, dodging cruisers, launches, canoes, kayaks, sailing dinghies,  you name it.

The lock we were concerned about was working fine, and a strange T shape, we think so that trains of Severn flats could be packed in, back in the day. We were still inside the lock when this photo was taken:
All the river was very green with high banks so not much view of the wider countryside.  This was the best view of Tewkesbury:
As the R. Avon joined discreetly on our left.  The next mooring spot was full so we continued for another mile or so. We had been sharing the locks with another narrowboat and had asked then if we could breast up if they found the last spot. They were fine with that, so that's what happened at the next mooring stage. It was attached to a pub, the Yew Tree, absolutely on the middle of nowhere but next door to the Tewkesbury sailing club.
It was regatta day or something at the club and the approach to the pontoon was alive with dinghies apparently playing chicken with each other and totally ignoring these two 15 ton lumps of steel creeping among them. Too terrified to take pics!

No wrecks, and no sooner had we tied up than the crew of the grp cruiser also moored up came back from their Sunday lunch and moved off. We therefore shuffled along into their space.

I then let Martin, my ex colleague,  know where we were, and he came over for a catch up - really good to see him again. 

We stayed another day as the pub is not open Mondays - Thursdays so we weren't in anyone's way. Andrew had a busy day working on improving the waterproofing of the hatch area and Alison sorting her gig lists and reminding herself of the music.
The toppest of top moorings - had it been open.

During the evening we were passed by a hotel boat
And Andrew had an online IWA  committee meeting which all worked well. Another committee member was also on her boat; after all it is the cruising season. 

Tuesday we leave this lovely spot, our most peaceful mooring yet, into the centre of Gloucester.



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