The River Avon

I had planned this part of the trip in my head from recollections of previous trips.  Evidently my recollection was wanting, for I had promised to pick up Pat at Hatton Railway Station on Friday morning.  Today was Wednesday.  It was dawning on me that I had better get a move on, so a 6:00am start saw me on the way.  The river level was "in the green" and the flow (as I was going upstream) not bad because I could easily maintain 4 mph, the speed limit, on 1400 revs. However, how would I be able to deal with the Avon Locks single handed?  The rules on the Lower Avon are that both gates should be opened and the boat roped up fore and aft.  Fortunately at the first lock, Strensham, I had help from a small cruiser moored nearby, once I had moored below on the awkwardly sited lock landing and opened the gates.  As there are no steps up from below, the only way is to enter slowly, throw the stern rope up, then get on the roof with the centre rope and get up the lock ladder with it to secure the boat initially.  Then the stern rope can be tied off to the bollard and a further trip down the lock ladder will retrieve the bow rope to tie off.   The top gate paddles a quite vicious and there is no way to control the boat without adequate lines.  Thanking my helpers I carried on.  The handbook provided by the Lower Avon Trust gives lots of useful information including diagrams of approaches to all the locks with navigational hazards explained, so I was ready for the odd ground paddle on the other side of the lock island at Pershore.  There were short relationships with other boats, but in essence, all the locks were against me, a shame really, because the other rule is that both exit gates are left open.  It was becoming evident to me that progress on the water was slower than progress in my mind.  Evesham was reached at 15:00hrs and I was only halfway up the river.   Such a shame that I was in such a hurry, this journey really deserves a couple of weeks.  I decided that I would stop at 19:00hrs wherever.  So, just past Bidford, I moored up at Elsie and Hiram Billington Lock on the overnight moorings.  I didn't take long to heat up the remains of yesterday's chili and I retired to bed early anticipating another long day in the morning.

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