It is all in the timing - 10th August 2020

 Sunday 10th August 2020                                                                                                                         Hawford Visitor Moorings to The Bird in Hand, Stouport on Severn   9.75 miles, 9 locks

A 09:00 hours start had been agreed with the crew from nb Doris and we were about 5 minutes ahead of ourselves, which turned out to be a blessing.  As we left our moorings a boat appeared from the round the bend waiting to go down onto the river.  It is all in the timing and this time we got it right and they were left waiting.

Just the two double locks to traverse and we were soon on the River Severn.  It was overcast as we set off from the mooring, but it was not long before we the sun popped out and we had a wonderful trip along the river.  It is always good to have deep water under the hull.  It is not the most scenic of rivers, but the weather was perfect and we really enjoyed the run and made the most of the peace and serenity before our eyes and ears were over loaded at Stourport. Just a few photos to share the serenity of this river - well on a calm day it is serene.

There is a lot of work going on at Holt Lock

Nothing more arduous to do than hold onto a rope in these river locks and let someone else push all the buttons.

As we approached Stouport there was just one boat (the green one) waiting to up the lock before us.  It could have been a whole lot worse.

A Dad was out supervising his son and daughter whilst they fished.  As we approached there were cries of  'Dad, Dad, come quick - it is a whopper'!

I did not get a close up of her catch, but it did look quite sizeable

My first glimpse of the fun fair and it looked as though it was shut - sadly I was soon to discover that was not the case.  The eyes and ears took a full battering.  This is one place I would find it very hard to be a volunteer lock keeper.

Another boat went down after the green one went up

The volunteer on duty looked very hot, tired and pretty done in.  He asked if we would be okay as he was in dire need of a cuppa.  I said we would and off he went.  Between the two crews we got both boats up the two double staircases without anyone else wanting to come down.

Next stop was to be the services on the other side of the basin at Stourport.  We squeezed in as there was another boat already there.  His hose was by the waterpoint, but nothing seemed to be going on.  I asked if he was going to fill up his boat – it was then he realised he had forgotten to put the hose back on board.  Perhaps we arrived at the right time for him, or suspect the hose would have been left behind.

It transpired that he was waiting for the VLK to arrive as he was giving him a lift back to the locks – it is a long walk round in very fierce heat.  I hope his cuppa and a bit of lunch had revived him ready for a hot afternoon’s work.

Once they had moved off we moored up with nb Doris breasted up beside us.  Watered and emptied we were about to untie and move on when a Starline hire boat (they are based in Stouport) popped round the corner and onto the lock landing ready to go up our last lock of the day.  Not such good timing for us, but such is life.

This was to be the crews first ever lock and a Starline employee was with them giving very good instructions.  He then invited us to take the lock as it would be more practice for his holiday makers, so we had actually got the timing right!

As we left a boat was coming along the cut, so the gates were left open.   The boat, however, pulled over and moored!  Thankfully the hire boat crew and instructor were there to deal with the gate which saved me having to go back to deal with it. 

We continued on past some well kept properties and pretty gardens

Our destination was the moorings just past the Bird in Hand before the disused railway line. The latter is a favourite walk for us, but not today as it was far too hot.

It was not long before nb Doris arrived and slotted in behind us

Whilst in email correspondence with the treasurer of our canal society  (Worcester, Birmingham & Droitwich Canal Society) recently we discovered that he lives a 5 minute walk from the Bird in Hand.  We had not met him before as he has been unable to attend many meetings for several years as he had been caring for his wife.  She passed away in May (nothing Covid related) and we had agreed to phone him if we stopped here.   We did, he walked round and we went and sat at a very shaded tree at the Bird in Hand.  This was our first visit to a pub in over 5 months!  Joe wanted a cuppa, but they had no milk, so it had to be a cold drink whilst Chris and I enjoyed our pint of bitter and half of cider, respectively.  We spent a lovely hour chatting to Joe and found out he had been in the RAF and on Vulcans, but a few years after we were, so our paths had not crossed previously. It is a small world we live in.

Apart from a couple of rumbles of thunder and a few spots of heavy rain, the storms that were around passed us by.