Free at last. Free at last!

So there we were, in Gloucester Docks - a week ago last Monday - ready to head North on the River Severn, on Tuesday morning ... but; sadly; 'twas not to be.

It has rained quite a lot, recently, in England. Actually ... it has raided an AWFUL lot! This occasioned exceptionally high flows on the Severn; such that traffic was halted until the levels ameliorated. That didn't happen until last Monday morning! Gloucester Docks is not the worst place to be incarcerated aboard our cosy floating home, but six days is rather beyond a joke. However ... 
        ... once out of the lock, we found ourselves beating upriver against a 2-3 MPH current, and pleased to be achieving a speed (over-the-ground) of between 3/4 MPH. One tends to be fastidious when mooring, overnight, to a pontoon in a stream of 3MPH water. Even having double-checked before retiring; a fragmented night's sleep ia all that can be had.

After two days of 'bucking the trend', we finally entered the canal system at Stourport Upon Severn. Our hearts were gladdened to note that the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal has lovely narrow locks; only about six inches wider than Moonstone. This makes them easier - and faster - to negotiate, than the fourteen foot wide locks.

We made good time up through Kidderminster, to the junction with the (quite narrow) Stourbridge Canal; wending its way up through Dudley, to the southern end of the Dudley Tunnel. As this is so poorly ventilated; no combustion engines are allowed, so we were quite excited (we're easily excited!) at the prospect of being towed - by an electric tug - through a small, two-mile tunnel; into the Black Country Museum.

As Rabbie Burns (of immortal memory) tells us:
       "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men, gang aft a-gley".

Did I mention that, of recent times, precipitation rates have been somewhat excessive? The water level in the Dudley Tunnel is such that Moonstone was about three inched too high to safely negotiate said tunnel. BLAST!!! (or words to that effect.)

However ... we had a fallback plan. Should it eventuate that the Dudley Tunnel were to be impassable for us; Plan B would find us using the 'Dudley No. 2 Canal' and the Netherton Tunnel; a deviation adding only about 2-3 hours to our planned route.

However ... as Rabbie Burns (of immortal memory) tells us:

       "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men, gang aft a-gley".
During the previous evening, some spotty-faced young vandals decided to brighten their drab lives by joy-riding a 'cherry-picker' along the towpath of the aforementioned Dudley No. 2 Canal. The towpath not being quite wide enough for this unaccustomed vehicle, it toppled into the water ... thereby blocking the navigation in the middle of a narrow ravine. Viz:

So, Tom, (I hear you enquire) did you have a Plan C??? Well ... we do have options ... 

Option 1 - we can await the removal of the obstruction from the navigation; at the bottom of a fairly steep, and difficult to access, ravine. Canal and River Trust have no estimate of a time frame for this operation!
Option 2 - We can, similarly, await falling water levels in the Dudley Tunnel. God has given us no estimate of her time frame on this alternative.
Option - 3 Go the long way around ... entailing an excess 3 days of cruising. Oh, well ... Plan C it must be. Or ... 
Option 3 point 2 - we can shanghai a crew to assist our passage down the 30 locks towards our our newly mandated route!!! We managed to lure Mike Halpin and Hilary Spencer (yes; she of Artisan, Mrs. Ackroyd and Quicksilver)

to join us, and then pressed them into service. They've done this canal-boating thing before, so their service was invaluable.... three miles and 24 locks in less than three hours ... huzzah!

I'll let you know how we get on. Cheers, Tom.

STOP PRESS

Sunday morning.

We've just been informed that the impeding scissors-platform was removed from the canal about an hour after we turned around!!! &^%$£"^%$£&^%*)&^(*&

The Gloucester-Sharpness Canal.

To avoid the treacherous (30 ft. rise and fall) tides,currents, sandbanks and narrow winding of the lower (navigable part) of the River Severn; the 16-mile long Gloucester-Sharpness Canal was opened in 1827. This enabled Gloucester to become quite a major port. Its many brick-built warehouses and factories are still extant, and this part of the city has become a lively hub of retail and recreation ... never envisioned when I lived here from 1952 to 1959.

The two dry-docks of T Nielsen and Co shipyard are now greatly in demand for the restoration of heritage craft; of which this Pilot Cutter is particularly graceful example.

Wanting to include as much exploration as possible: we set off down the canal, to Sharpness. Approaching the southern end of the canal, we spotted this unusual structure,

and found it to be the sole remaining part of what had been the Severn Railway Bridge ... 

 ... until 1960; when this crashed into it and damaged it beyond repair! Treacherous indeed.


Whilst in Gloucester - the focal point of the trip, in fact - I had an excellent (standing room only!) concert, at The Fountain Inn, as a fund-raiser for the SECOND ANNUAL GLOUCESTER SHANTY FESTIVAL. It was a great success; raising about £500.

Whilst we were in the area, our new friend: Robin Burton; was a wonderful guide and mentor. One day he took us to see the MECHANICAL MUSIC MUSEUM, in Northleach ... fascinating! Additional to the superb examples of some beautifully crafted musical boxes and Edison cylinder recording players, we saw mechanical pianos, barrelorgans, juke boxes which play (about 20' diam.) steel 'floppy' discs and even a mechanical 'player' button-accordion! There exists a small factory - near Portsmouth - which still makes those steel discs; which is why we were able to listen to a David Bowie melody!!!

This plays better than ever I will be able to.
You just pump the bellows and press the switch!

Then there was the gig at the Tooting Folk Club; on Saturday evening! Being over a hundred miles from where we were moored, this involved getting a train to Warwick, collecting the car, and driving to London. It was all very well worth the effort, as Ruth and Rupert (no mean musicians, themselves!) organize a really nice club and turned out a large and enthusiastic audience ... thanks guys. Right now - Monday morning - Lyn is driving the car back to Warwick whilst I prepare for a solo run, back up the canal to Gloucester ... in the rain!!! I'll meet her there this afternoon, then we'll wait for the weather to clear before proceeding upriver towards Birmingham. 'Bye for now friends!