Monday, 14 July 2014

Cruising the Warwickshire Avon - Part II July 2014

Our Summer Cruise 2014

We have been enjoying superb sunny weather on the River Avon and had intended to moor overnight at Evesham - the warm evenings also brings out locals to that location and we had heard it could get noisy in the evening with drinkers etc.
So having done the shopping - we decided to head back up river!

What a delightful trip - into the warm late afternoon sun - and mooring in the peace of the country!


Enjoying the evening sun - moored in the lock cut at George Billington Lock - one of our favourites on this section

My attempt at doing an eye splice - the candle is to seal the ends of the nylon rope 

Finished article
 
We have been having lots of salads - here with a seafood mix (one for you Colin!)
 

The Vale of Evesham is well known for its fruit and vegetable growing - water extraction plays a big part in this and I assume the Avon Navigation Trust can gain an extra income?

Looking upstream at the Bidford Bridge (we moored just below overnight).
The arch for navigation is the 2nd on the right - not the tallest middle arch!
There is an old Roman ford laid just behind the bridge which had to be dynamited to clear a route for navigation.
We needed to put the engine power on to 'push' through the bridge hole

There are many beautiful houses and gardens next to the river - this one is opposite our Bidford mooring. We had the pleasure of the garden (without any of the work needed!)

 
Chris manoeuvres the boat

This photo shows one of the deeper locks at 7'6". The paddle is opened on the same side as the boat to let the powerful jet go around the boat

The Upper Avon varies in width - here is an open section

Two more fine houses with extensive gardens and a little boat house

 

Back at Stratford - moored opposite the Royal Shakespeare Theatre

Early morning rowers set off

The river level has dropped, say 1" since we set off last week?

The new plaque to commemorate the re-opening of the River Avon 40th years in 1974 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
 




1 comment:

  1. Sorry we cleared off without saying goodbye the other day. We didn't want to disturb your sleep!! Mike & Mary

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