A Gravel Barge, Eddie Spotting and Tewkesbury.

Thursday 12th July 2018 in Tewkesbury.
We set off south after breakfast and approached the cathedral through the arches of the old bridge.

Another colourful giraffe on the river walk beneath the cathedral was attracting attention, although we never did discover why it had a traffic cone up the side of its neck!

Diglis locks, just below the cathedral, are the start of the Worcester and Birmingham canal, which we did (and much enjoyed) last year.

At Worcester lock, we were greeted by a familiar face, the same lady lock keeper who saw us through Limcomb lock, just south of Stourport, two days ago.

There is very little commercial traffic on the river these days, but one exception is this fleet of barges that takes gravel from a wharf a few miles above Upton to another wharf  at Saxon's Load. We saw the barge "Elven" being loaded and, because we stopped for fuel at Upton, she overtook us and we later saw her arriving to be unloaded. Quite a difference in the draught between unloaded and loaded!

Upton-on-Severn is very pretty and you can just glimpse the Malvern Hills in the distance. There is a large marina opposite the town and we stopped to pick up fuel.

The M50 bridge and M was happy because we saw an "Eddie" going over it.

Another of Thomas Telford's bridges as we approached Tewkesbury.

There is a sharp left turn to enter the River Avon, almost concealed by vegetation and water lilies. A short arm takes you up to the lock and up on to the river proper.

Tewkesbury (old name Theocsbury) is too attractive not to spend time exploring it. The Abbey is a delight. It survived Henry VIII because the local townsfolk purchased it from Henry for £453, which was the assessed value of the lead on the roof!

The structure is very Norman and the town is getting ready for its 900th anniversary in 2021. King John is buried here.

The ceilings are magnificent and have been restored with their original colouring.

Half timbered buildings a-plenty all around the town including these pretty waterside cottages. The town has a medieaeval festival next weekend and many houses and shops were displaying banners of coats of arms of participants in the Battle of Tewkesbury on 4th May 1471 between the House of York and the House of Lancaster. On this occasion, the House of York prevailed, which lead to a period of stability until the death of Edward IV in 1483.

W.A. Shakespeare was a very well known boat builder based in this building, which is now an antique shop run by his descendant. There is a flood level marker from 2007 on the door, which would have meant that R would have been up to his thighs in water then.

A very pleasant overnight mooring just yards from the lock ready to go back down on to the Severn tomorrow to continue on to Gloucester.

Today: 16 miles, 1 lock and 6.6 hours (including power).
Trip: 100 miles, 58 locks and 54.0 hours.