Last day on the Avon

Pershore to Tewkesbury : 14 miles, 3 locks
To date : 753 miles, 480 locks

We had a grey, overcast day for the most part.  In the afternoon the sun battled to come out but all it really did was create a terrible glare on the river ahead.  It was mild though.

We moved just down a little from our mooring first to fill our water tanks.  The lovely willow at the river edge hung so low that we could barely see ahead.  While the water tank filled, I got out the garden pruners and gave the willow a haircut.

We had three locks today.  The first, Pershore, was just ahead.  We'd seen in our river guide that there were moorings on the lock island there too.  We had thought we might go down and check them out as we enjoyed mooring at Wyre Lock.  I'm glad we didn't bother because the lock at Pershore was nowhere near as pretty an environment.  The best moorings in Pershore were right where we'd been!  I enjoyed being there.  While I worked I had a view on one side of a grassy field and Asda and the village beyond.  On the side hatch side we could have been in any rural location.  Usually just a swan in sight.

The next lock was an interesting one.  It had a swing bridge in the centre of the lock.  To enter the lock I first had to jump off and open the swing bridge.  Once we'd emptied the lock we could close the bridge again as we had plenty of room beneath it.

We had planned to stop at the last lock for lunch.  Again, there were moorings showing on our guide.  When we got there we found the mooring was no longer a public one.  I walked around to investigate and a fellow.... perhaps he was a lock keeper.... came to offer assistance.  When I explained our dilemma he said to just moor on the other side of the island and if anyone asks, just say we're waiting for water!  There was a couple of plastic boats on the water point already.  We had a quick lunch and headed off again.

From then on I worked for most of the way.  Mick called me if there was something of interest to see but I got my work for the day done.  We passed beneath Eckington Bridge, built in 1728 and made from a lovely reddish stone.  We passed beneath the M6 with trucks whizzing by overhead.

Arriving in Tewkesbury we pulled into the first mooring we saw beyond the bridge.  We'll be off again in the morning to tackle the Severn so we weren't overly fussed.  Barry was rather unimpressed with the spot behind us as there were some apartments beside it.  He fussed a bit and eventually moved just beyond the lock to a vacant mooring there.  The rest of us were a little mystified as to why that spot was any better but he was happy so peace descended.

It was 3pm so we had only a couple of hours to explore Tewkesbury.  We visited the Tewkesbury Abbey, another amazing building well worth the visit.  It had a fantastic organ - photo below for my um!  The town itself had plenty of interesting old buildings.  We could have done with an extra day here but unfortunately we just can't see everything.

We've been a bit disappointed with the Avon river guide we bought as there are moorings and facilities that no longer exist.  We've been caught out a couple of times.  It's such a shame that so many are disappearing.  The moorings are extremely limited as it is!