As Eddie inched us further away from the canal, Yorkie and I looked back to see the junction with the canal (marked by the pontoons) rapidly disappearing; there was no going back now.
Although we had the tough task of forging our way upstream, against a river virtually in flood, looking back at the junction, we couldn't help thinking that had we been going the other way, we might have been travelling so fast, that negotiating the turn into the canal, and not shooting past, might have been quite difficult. If anyone could do it though we felt sure that Eddie could. However, on this occasion we didn't need to put him to the test.
After the narrow canal, the amount of water in the river and the speed with which it was moving was quite awesome. However, once we were pointing in the right direction, there was no doubt that we were making progress. It wasn't fast and no doubt our fuel economy wasn't very good, but we were all happy and relieved, especially Eddie.
We began to relax and take in our surroundings. There was no other boats around and we had the river all to ourselves. When we phoned the lock-keeper at the first lock he told us it would take us a while to reach him. It was nice to be expected though and we had the bonus of having the lock ready for us as we approached it. As we got close, the lock gates started to open and the traffic lights changed to green. This made us feel very special.
The lock- keepers on the Severn are very helpful and very patient, so they get our paw of approval. After the first lock there was a very noticeable drop in the speed of the current so we began to enjoy ourselves even more, especially in the intervals between showers.
It wasn't long before Stourport on Severn hoved into sight and it was time to turn off onto the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal.
The next stage of our journey was about to begin - how exciting!
Lots of love, George, Yorkie, Eddie and crew xxx
2 comments:
Three cheers for Captain Eddie! Suffolk Branch were glad it his capable paws at the helm and not their's. Fred decided discretion was the better part of valour and retreated below decks and made cups of bear tea instead.
Midlands Branch think that the first photo. does make it look a rather exciting part of the trip. They think it good that "steady Eddie' was in charge.
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