Day Four (in the Big Brother Narrow Boat)

WOW! This must be a record, at least for us, 30 miles, 6 locks, three operated by us, and the others operated by British Waterways (thanks fellas). Lin was right, we could do it in one day. Unleashed the bollards at 08:30hrs and proceeded down to lock 3 near the Commandery, our first lock of the day. We planned to stop at the water point, and in the mean time Lin put some bacon under a slow grill, and while we were filling the water we ate our bacon butties. A man with a dog came by to use the other facilities there and left his Alsatian dog tied up outside. The dog couldn't keep his eyes off us while we tucked in to our butties. Needless to say he didn't get any even though his deep, begging, soulful eyes played on our conscience. The next lock is No. 2, a very large double lock and takes a long time to fill and empty, and the same applies to No1. This was the last lock we operated today as the others are operated by BW.

Waiting for Lock 2 to fill

View of Diglis Basin

Another view of Diglis Basin

On to the Severn and its wide and at this time of year flowing slowly. Our first river lock is only half a mile away and we hold back and wait for the lock keeper to give us the green light. There are two locks here and we had the big lock all to ourselves. its very gentle and takes a fair while to empty, and then its only about three feet difference in level. Once out its about fifteen miles to Tewkesbury where the next lock is and the River Avon joins the Severn. Its very quiet, the river is dotted with the occasional club moorings and full of white cruisers af all shapes and sizes. We only saw four boats on the move during the whole journey, and three were narrowboats. At Wainlodes Hill the water was really rough being whipped up by the strong wind, but I managed to take a photo of the Red Lion as we passed. This was one of our first caravan trips in our early days, and they still have their caravan site today. As we passed Upper Parting where the river splits, I rang Gloucester Lock to confirm our arrival and to ensure the lock would be ready for us when we arrived. We shared the lock with a cruiser and it was plenty large enough for possibly six narrow boats. Once in the dock we headed over to the pontoons to moor up.

Massive lock gates at Diglis River lock

The Red Lion Wainlodes Hill

Cliffey Wood, a scene from the Severn

We reached Gloucester Dock at around 16:40hrs and moored up on the pontoon right outside Dr. Foster's (who went to Gloucester).