The River Seven and beyond
Hello Again
It’s Monday morning the 7th June 2010
we have just left Gloucester Docks after spending two weeks down this way, not all of them at the docks, We arrived here at Gloucester Docks on Tuesday 25th May after another hot day of
travelling down the River seven, another first for us, after leaving the marina at Tewkesbury you go through Avon Lock which takes you on to the River Severn, which can at times be quite a trial if the weather has been very bad and rainy, but for us it was like a mill pond after all the lovely weather we have been having, so it was a lovely trip, like I have said many times before, it’s always lovely covering new ground and it certainly was, we arrived at Gloucester Docks at about 3.30pm and it was really lovely, there has been a lot of work gone on and the old historic docks have been all done up like London really with loads of flats made from the very old warehouse buildings, there is also a new shopping mall called Gloucester Quays, which I am sure when everything is finished and all of the shops are up and running will be super, but I think maybe the credit crunch may have affected some of the investments, it is a shopping mall full of outlet shops all the big names, and I wonder with all of these outlet shops that spring up all over the country, who buys the stuff from the shops that aren’t outlet shops? As these are so cheap, got two pairs of Fit Flop lookey likeys for seventeen pound a pair, which is such a bargain from my originals at 45 quid ! And I certainly haven’t noticed that the originals have picked my bottom up, or flattened my tummy any, I still have to pick my bottom up when going uphill to stop it dragging on the floor!! So maybe these others will be better, well they can’t be any worse, and at two pairs for the price of one pair of Fit Flops I think I have a bargain, as they are very comfy to wear,
When we arrived at the docks there wasn’t many boats in but as the week went on it started filling with all kinds of lovely cruisers and narrow boats, and we were invited to join in with the Three Clubs Regatta, that is Stourport Yacht Club, The Bungalow Club also from stourport, (they are called the bungalow club as they have them bungalow things to live in by the river) which seems like a perfect way to live, best of both worlds, and also Gloucester yacht Club, I didn’t see any yachts but that is what they are called ? Mostly cruisers and narrow boats, met some great people, Brett on a big Dutch Barge called Edith who was organising things, he gave us the invite as we were already there in the basin, as you can only moor for 48 hours, but with the club for only a fiver we could stay all the bank holiday weekend. Ray on nb.Babe Max invited us to the yacht club on Friday night and introduced us too loads of fellow boaters and made us feel right welcome, there were loads of activities, and on Sunday there were lots of silly games on little boats here in the basin, I will put up pictures, (oh my gosh a jet just flew over here so low almost taking the varnish of our very cute Cratch, and almost scared the beejeesus out of both of us, Richard in his own little world driving the boat and me in mine writing this piece here in the Cratch !! ) Where was I before being rudely interrupted by the M.O.D, ah yes see the pictures in the gallery when I get plenty of G power. On the Saturday night we had also been invited to the annual Dinner at the Chinese /Thai restaurant on the Basin which was a buffet style which we had starter main and dessert for only ten pounds instead of £15.95, which was a right bargain, an a jolly lovely week, which flew by again. We left Gloucester Dock to go up the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal which was built here because ( hang on I will go get the little book that tells me everything) ah here we are “Well it doesn’t actually say, but it was built as the River Severn was quite un navigable and always relied on the tides from the estuary so this is why they built this 15 and a half mile length of canal, it is truly wonderful and some say 16 feet deep, which is a whole lot deeper than the canals we are used to, but this had to carry the big ship coming up the River Severn. We pootled up stopping at Frampton on Severn , one of the prettiest villages we have seen for a long time, stayed over night in the quiet beauty of this wonderful place, the next morning we went to the water tap across the canal, took everything off the top of the boat to scrub down the roof and sides of the boat, as I had forgotten to mention that in Gloucester Locks, the seagulls spend the whole time , pooing from great and not so great heights and I am sure they are laughing as they do it, they seem to be howling amongst themselves at who had the best shot!! We then pootled down the rest of the way to get to Sharpness another beautiful spot that one would never knew existed unless this is what you do, it was absolutely gorgeous, we moored just before the basin at the end as it was a beautiful spot overlooking the Severn estuary that goes off into the Bristol Chanel where we could see the two Severn Bridges that go in and out of Wales, Truly amazing views and the weather was absolutely terrific. We were staying here for a couple of days so walked miles seeing all the loveliness around, we also cycled several miles “I know it says two on the map” to Berkley Castle where legend has it that King Edward the second was murdered, it a really well kept 10th century castle, well it was started in the 10th century at
their are some parts of that still left in very good condition, and so many interesting things to see inside. We left Sharpness to travel back to Gloucester on Friday as Richard’s old mate Trev was coming on a visit, as he used to live in Gloucester and has always said that when we get down this way he would come a visitin, which he did, with his mat Jeremy, so we had a lovely day entertaining on Saturday, and seeing some more of the sites, lovely to see you both again. On Sunday Richard and I went for a wander around Gloucester again, we were going to climb up the top of the Cathedral, as they do tours up to the top for only 3 quid, Richard went up last week when we were here while I went round the shops, as I had pains in my hips “hope they are not going to give up on me” and I didn’t think I would make the 200 and odd steps to the top, but was o.k. to do it on Sunday but there was no trip going up there, however one of the guides around the place said we could go on a trip down in the Crypts so we did that instead, and very interesting it was too. We had a Sunday Lunch which was nothing to write home about, but hey some you win some you lose and today we set sail back up on to the Stratford from whence we came, so until the next time I will bid you bye bye.for now
Until the next time
Lots of love
Chrissie Richard and Rio
(No I don’t mean Rio Ferdinand has joined us on our travels since being dumped from the team) Rio’s the dog isn’t he!! x x |
