Berkeley Pill

[Reptile Smile]

Hi all,

Am heading upriver tomorrow for the first time, and on my chart, Berkeley Pill looks like a relatively large inlet before you get to Sharpness. Are there any mooring buoys in there? Any good for a lunch stop?

 

[chanelyacht]

Hi all,

Am heading upriver tomorrow for the first time, and on my chart, Berkeley Pill looks like a relatively large inlet before you get to Sharpness. Are there any mooring buoys in there? Any good for a lunch stop?

Wouldn't recommend it in the least.

Very shallow and constantly moving, and due to the flat land around, very little shelter. Some local boats use it, but these are normally trailled and there is a very small launch / recovery window.

 

[wotayottie]

try oldbury pill ( thornbury SC ) instead. Or white house bay on the opposite bank.

 

[graham]

+1 for Oldbury Pill.I only visited there once and that was years ago but remember a warm welcome from the club members.

St Pierre Pill is between the two bridges and is home to Chepstow and District Yacht Club who are also a friendly bunch. google it for pilotage notes etc.

The whole area above Avonmouth is not to be trifled with personally I only venture there in settled weather and perfect visibility.

 

[quimby]

+1 for Oldbury Pill.I only visited there once and that was years ago but remember a warm welcome from the club members.

St Pierre Pill is between the two bridges and is home to Chepstow and District Yacht Club who are also a friendly bunch. google it for pilotage notes etc.

The whole area above Avonmouth is not to be trifled with personally I only venture there in settled weather and perfect visibility.

ReptileSmile is a new member and I saw him set off for a sail upriver this morning, while I did a few cleaning jobs on Sarabande.
As he was late setting off with his new/old Seagull I am sure he would never reach Berkeley Pill!
As I left I spotted him on the way back on the far side of the Old Bridge.

Now! Berkeley Pill we used a couple of years ago when we had a trip up to Lydney and a fellow yachtie had engine trouble, so we nipped into the Pill and tried to repair it without success, I towed him across to Lydney without any problem.

We stayed in the Pill for a short period maybe 15-20 minutes!
Its ok to stay and have a quick brew if you are early, instead of being swept up river.

 

[graham]

ReptileSmile is a new member and I saw him set off for a sail upriver this morning, while I did a few cleaning jobs on Sarabande.
As he was late setting off with his new/old Seagull I am sure he would never reach Berkeley Pill!
As I left I spotted him on the way back on the far side of the Old Bridge.

Now! Berkeley Pill we used a couple of years ago when we had a trip up to Lydney and a fellow yachtie had engine trouble, so we nipped into the Pill and tried to repair it without success, I towed him across to Lydney without any problem.

We stayed in the Pill for a short period maybe 15-20 minutes!
Its ok to stay and have a quick brew if you are early, instead of being swept up river.

Sorry Reptile Smile.I hadnt realized you were allready in St Pierre Pill.

Interesting to read that Berkeley Pill is useable. Does anyone dry out over low water there?

 

[quimby]

Sorry Reptile Smile.I hadnt realized you were allready in St Pierre Pill.

Interesting to read that Berkeley Pill is useable. Does anyone dry out over low water there?

We didn`t hang around long enough to find out!

 

[quimby]

Sorry Reptile Smile.I hadnt realized you were allready in St Pierre Pill.

Interesting to read that Berkeley Pill is useable. Does anyone dry out over low water there?

Shows the dried out Pill on Google earth.

 

[Severnman]

Berkeley Pill is extremely steep sided. Taking the ground would be hazardous to say the least. There are no marks.

 

[wotayottie]

why not white house bay? is there still a buoy in there that you could hang off?

 

[quimby]

why not white house bay? is there still a buoy in there that you could hang off?

Yes its still there!
Also 51.48.32 W 2.26.13W has 2 bouys just inside.Colne Pill

 

[Reptile Smile]

Hi all, thanks for all the input! Sorry, I didn't make it clear at all that I was setting off from St Pierre Pill. One of our members had talked about Cone Pill as being somewhere that, if one still had a big flood pushing up, could be used to hang off a buoy until a convenient time to come back, and I wondered if Berkeley Pill could be similar. I gather neither is ideal to dry in!