Summer Cruise - Stourport to Tibberton

Saturday 2nd August 2008

Stourport to Tibberton

We turned up at the chandlery at Stourport Basin, only to find that it didn't open until 10 am - so we refilled the water tank and emptied the cassettes. We then went and bought a 15 kg anchor with chain and a long 'warp' to attach it to the boat (not a lot of point in chucking the anchor over if you don't have it tied to the boat). Despite being told on the phone that the chandlery would have lifejackets for adults it only had lifejackets for very small adults (less than 8 stone), and only two buoyancy aids for adults. We bought them anyway and decided that whoever was likely to be on the counter at the back would wear them, as they were most likely to fall in. To be honest, the river was so quiet that we really weren't sure why we were wearing them, many people don't. We couldn't buy a 'man overboard' ladder (it's very hard to get out of the water fully clothed onto a boat), but decided that if we needed to we could use a rope with a loop tied in it (you put your foot in it to help you to climb up).

We placed the anchor onto the hatch at the back of the boat and we set off down through the two sets of narrow staircase locks and onto the Severn.

Compared to the canals the Severn is massively wide - there were loads of boats heading past us upstream. We reckoned our speed was about 6 mph - the usual top speed on the canals being 4 mph, but here we could use a bit more engine power, and there was a slight current too.

The weirs were very tame as there had been very little rain, but we were amused by the 'traffic signs' at every lock and weir.

We went through three large locks - each operated by a lock-keeper, and reached Worcester - some 12 and a half miles in about 3 hours.

Worcester has some very large boats moving about, and it isn't always obvious which way to go

The sun was shining and Worcester itself is very attractive.

We tied up outside Diglis Basin and went to set the lock - at which point a trip boat turned up - making us look very small.

We then headed off through Worcester and up the Worcester and Birmingham as far as Tibberton (avoiding mooring near the noisy motorway), and went for a meal in the pub.

Daily total: 21.95 miles, 24 locks

Running total: 159 miles, 179 locks, 9 tunnels