River Avon

Mooring in the basin at Stratford-Upon-Avon is limited to 48 hours. We spent the second day of our stay with a bit of domestic ‘stuff’ and then the delights of exploring. The laundry (Silly Suds)did a ‘drop-in’ service (drop your laundry in and they will wash and dry it for you) so we took our laundry, negotiated a price, which included ironing, arranged a time to pick it up again and left…job done! We were free to spend our time on more pleasurable pursuits.

Gower Memorial Statue

Winedown was moored in the shadow of the Gower memorial statue. By 1769 there was a growing appreciation of the works of Shakespeare and this was somewhat due to the Garricks Stratford jubilee festival, held in the same year. As a sign of appreciation, Lord Ronald Gower commissioned (and personally funded) the memorial statue and presented it to the town in 1888. The figures around the base of the Shakespearian characters of Hamlet, Lady Macbeth, Falstaff and Prince Hal.


 We later found the oldest pub in Stratford-Upon-Avon, The Garrick Inn, originally owned by the same Garrick family dating back to 14th centuary.

While enjoying half a pint of cider, I noticed a sign over the bar that read as follows… ‘Here we are together, drinking Wine, Ale and Stout. May the roof above us never fall in and the friends below never fall out…’

Shakespeare's family home

And just to prove that we don't spend all out time in pubs... We explored the town of Stratford-Upon -Avon, relishing in the wonderful old architecture and history

The fool

Inscription at the base of 'The Fool'

Leaving Stratford-Upon-Avon  behind

On the morning of Wednesday 18th June, we bought a river licence (the Avon river is run by the Avon Navigation Trust and therefore a separate licence is required) and left the Stratford basin to enjoy once more the pleasures of boating on a river. We had been having gorgeous weather for the past few weeks and therefore the river levels were well within the normal navigation limits and the flow was even a little sluggish, so little cause for concern.

 Unlike the River Thames, the locks on the River Avon are not manned and are all manual so after clearing lock 56 which joins the basin to the river, we turned south, worked 3 locks over 5 miles and moored before WA Cadbury lock near Welford-on-Avon. It was very remote with no access to the town at all, but that didn’t bother us since we had frequented a number of pubs over the past few days. It was time for me to remember how the galley worked and where my oven was!

Bidford-On-Avon

 We were in no hurry to get to Tewksbury (the end of the Avon Navigation) so on Thursday we stretched ourselves to work 3 locks over 3 miles before mooring in the delightful village of Bidford-On-Avon.

Moored near the recreational ground

The mooring is right next to the recreational ground and although the mooring itself is limited the park offered BBQ areas as well as a children’s play park, tennis courts and a cricket green. The mooring is only 24h mooring but we were a bit naughty and stretched it to 36 hours as it was so enjoyable.


 While we were moored at Bidford, a tugfronted narrowboat, Daedalus owned by Simon and Pat, moored behind us and when we set off the next morning they joined us so that we could share the locks.

View of Workman Bridge - Evesham

We happily worked the next 4 locks over 8 miles and shortly after lunch we moored at the Workman Gardens in Evesham.

For boaters not familiar with this part of the river, I have to warn that the Evesham lock is a bit tricky to navigate. Coming downstream as we were, it isn’t until you are at the lock that you can see if it's occupied, full or empty and the lock operation mooring is quite short (having said that, there were volunteers manning the lock to help boaters through). In addition, NB Daedalus, 67ft got stuck in the lock. We had to clear the lock to allow Daedalus to go diagonally across it before they could open the lock gate.

During our time together at the locks, we discovered that Pat and Simon had many similar experiences to us. They had bought their boat as a project boat and fitted her out themselves. Unlike us, they even got involved in the structure of the hull. I take my hat off to them as that was a ‘bridge too far’ for us. Ian and I spent a lovely afternoon in Abby park (across the river from Workman Gardens) exploring the remains of the abbey before we went into the town to replenish supplies. We found that there was a Morris Dancing Festival taking place at one end of the Abbey gardens and sound of their music carried on the light breeze.

On returning to the boat, we saw Simon about to go for a bicycle ride. He invited us to join them for drinks later that evening and so it was that we had another boozy evening with a lovely couple.

Sunday morning, we were woken at the crack of dawn by people shouting instructions to rowing boats in the water. We had moored opposite the Evesham Rowing club and a lovely sunny Sunday morning (albeit 6:00am) is prime time for the rowers.

Although Evesham offered 48h mooring (which are plentiful), we said goodbye to Simon and Pat on NB Daedalus and set off for Pershore just 11 miles and 3 locks down the Avon River. The long stretches between locks made for a lovely relaxing trip.

Sunday is usually prime time for the fishermen too, and while most of them will nod or wave a greeting, there are some who are none too pleased to be disturbed but these noisy narrowboaters. One fisherman studiously avoided our greeting and even put his hands over his ears to show his displeasure. Nowt as strange as folk! 

As the Avon River has a wide flood plain, villages are often set far back so there is little to disturb the natural order. The iridescent blue flash of the kingfisher can often be seen skimming the water. On more than one occasion we saw the trails of the grass snake as it attempted to cross the river. Sadly to say, we saw little sign of the water vole.

Reaching Pershore, we were pleasantly surprised to see that there was ample mooring alongside the recreational ground above Pershore lock. We were spoiled for choice for a mooring spot.

 Ian had found a pub called the Pickled Plum and had phoned ahead to book a table for lunch. This was to be our wedding anniversary celebratory lunch. We found the Pickled Plum on the top edge of Pershore and it was well worth the walk.

I would happily have stayed an extra day at Pershore but we had Doctors’ appointments to keep and therefore had to get Winedown into the marina at Tewksbury. After replenishing supplies at the supermarket situated at the opposite end of the recreational ground, we set off for the last 14 miles of the Avon River, with just 3 locks to work.

Tewksbury marina gave us a lovely mooring spot alongside the river. Across the river from the marina, there were lovely parklands to overlook. Although we were in a marina, if we looked over the river we had an idyllic setting in the warm sunshine with a gentle wind and a wonderful vista. This is what boating is all about.

The following day, we hired a car from Enterprise – they have a wonderful service whereby they will pick-up and drop-off wherever you are – and leaving Winedown safely tucked up in Tewksbury marina, set off down the motorway towards Reading. 

After the tedium (but necessity) of doctors and dentist, we were able to enjoy our grandchildren for a few days and even had time to look up old friends, Mick (the marina manager at Frouds Bridge), his good lady, Sue and assistant, Bill. We enjoyed the summer sunshine with them at the Butt Inn near Aldermaston Wharf.