River Avon

[Happy1]

During my 'holidays' I have taken the opportunity of exploring with my boat. I took the boat to Evesham where I launched it at a local marina, and moored up at the public mooring in the town centre. We had to pay £10 to launch, included leaving car and trailer if required, then had to visit the lock keeper at Evesham produce insurance and safety certificate which new boats CE marking covers, and paid a small fee for 48hrs use of the river, plus £5 for a lock key (apparently it fits all the locks in the UK).

The speed limit was 4mph one way and 6mph the other, still haven't worked out why, but no good for water ski's /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif Nearly got done for speeding as I forgot my computer was in Knts /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif Anyway, first morning I woke up my boat was absolutely covered in fleas, so many that my boat looked black !! I have never seen so many fleas in all my life, all brown bread. I spent about an hour cleaning up the boat and canvas's, as not only was it covered in fleas but the green water had put a ring around my boat and made my white fenders look a mess. Some Swams had also done their business on one of my ropes and I can assure you they are into BIG business.

Anyway had a couple of days out cruising the river and going through the locks, very peaceful, just what I needed. I had a few narrow boats trying to burn me off to get to the lock first, but somehow seemed to get there first /forums/images/icons/wink.gif. Had a nice lunch in Wyre Piddle moored up at the pub there, a very relaxing Sunday.

Using the looks is pretty easy, but it is a slow process and only one long narrow boat can get in most at a time, so if you are behind a couple, it could be a long wait! But an experience and I am sure we will return one day.

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple> "You only see what you recognise, and you only recognise what you know" <font color=purple>

 

[BrendanS]

Good stuff! You seem to have overcome your dislike of trailering?

Err, what were these flea thingies.....you'd have been bitten to bits if they were...just like a holiday in Scotland with midges /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

<hr width=100% size=1>Err, let me know if Depsol enters the forum, I'll go and hide

 

[MadFrank]

The Avon is my home base and have spent many hours on the lower reaches near Tewkesbury where it joins the Severn. The two worst things about the Avon are the hire boats from Telstar and the three dingy sailing clubs. These combine to make for a less than stress-free criuse on a narrow (at places) river. The Avon makes up for itself with some nice views - and of course The Fleet Inn - where if you're lucky you can find a mooring and sup a beer or two with your sandwiches.....or if the wind catches you wrong....completely fluff it up in front of the tourists and other boaters who will help you scrape the bits of white GRP off the metal edgings the pub decides should constitute the edges of the moorings.

I recently trailered the boat up to Windermere - great fun but discovered that while the ability to max out at 6 or 7 knots on a river is fine but when you're on Windermere and want to enjoy the swell the speed is totally inadequate.

The result - want a new faster boat - need to convince the wife.

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[Bejasus]

Hi Peter, welcome back. You should trailer up to the Norfolk broads where there are no locks or fleas/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif and you can water ski at several areas including on river stretches. I can help with some info if you require.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.arweb.co.uk/argallery/h00>http://www.arweb.co.uk/argallery/h00</A>

 

[Happy1]

I was actually thinking of doing that, I want to get best value out of my trailering ability, with a balance over using the MDL marina I have a years berthing at. Now I have experienced the Avon, I am ready for new adventures, I think it is good to understand the whole aspect of boating, hence me undertaking my sail dayskipper training soon.

I do feel that there is something very peaceful about small river boating, but I do like the buzz of a large open expanse of the Ocean, just need a bigger boat to get the full experience of that /forums/images/icons/wink.gif I don't know how long we will keep this small boat, but there are pro's and con's with both large & small. As I have committed myself to small and a trailer at the moment, I will be concentrating on activities suitable for that e.g water ski, donut, small river exploration and of course the flexibility of being able to travel around the country and Europe.

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple> "You only see what you recognise, and you only recognise what you know" <font color=purple>

 

[sailbadthesinner]

Re: Happy the Raggie

Dayskipper eh?
theory i assume or are you hankering to play with rags and sticks.
If you want a good contact for your practical i highly reccomend my rya instructor.

welcome back peter
glad to hear you're having fun


<hr width=100% size=1><font color=red>if guinness is good for you. i must be very very good</font color=red>

 

[Renegade_Master]

Re: H1

"hence me undertaking my sail dayskipper training soon"

What not yer Day Skip motor boat with Sun Coast then?

Welcome back Pete CGN

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.suncoastmarine.co.uk>Sun Coast Sea School & Charter</A>

 

[Happy1]

Re: H1

Hi Clive,

Nothing against SunCoast, I would love the sunshine, but I feel that there would be more challenges weatherwise over here, plus I would get to see some of the local sailing spots. I will bear you in mind later in the year for Yachtmaster /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple> "You only see what you recognise, and you only recognise what you know" <font color=purple>

 

[rickp]

I (and some friends) just completed the Avon Ring in a 60ft narrowboat (in 5.5 days). We spent 2 days on the Avon - mainly in glorious sunshine. We did get some spectacular thunder storms on the Sunday - but nothing that we couldn't boat through

We were headed for the Fleet Inn on Friday evening. I was suprised to get mooring as it was a lovely evening and my past experience has been that its quite difficult, but this time there was only a small cruiser there - leaving plenty of space for the narrowboat. A second narrowboat breasted up later in the evening - and although we tried hard, we woke them up when we finally shook of the effects of the beer and left at 11am the following morning.

Leicester Ring in a week next year I think.

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[Happy1]

Did you get covered in fleas as well?

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple> "You only see what you recognise, and you only recognise what you know" <font color=purple>

 

[Renegade_Master]

Re: H1

No worries

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.suncoastmarine.co.uk>Sun Coast Sea School & Charter</A>

 

[rickp]

No - didn't seem to. We moored at the Evesham LANT moorings - the pontoons that are a bit back from gardens. Perhaps that was the difference? Plus it was a Viking Afloat boat - so yellow and brownish in colour, not white.

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[Happy1]

I was on the moorings opposite the rowing club, but under the trees, I guess they must have thought my white boat was a big light and all swarmed on me /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif Very nice place though, and the people very friendly up there, plus very cheap compared to London for booze & food.

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple> "You only see what you recognise, and you only recognise what you know" <font color=purple>

 

[rickp]

Thats slightly further upstream than we were. You must have been close to the water point (that some narrowboat had moored right by, causing us to need to wind and approach heading downstream - otherwise we didn't have a long enough hose).

There did seem to be quite a social gathering on that bit of water front. Disposable bbqs in action and the like. The Rowing club had a social event on the night we were there too - so we were glad not to be too close to it

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[Happy1]

Unfortunately the narrowboat in front of us kept his diesel engine running, my boat, canopy and my lungs were worse the wear for that selfish act. We were near the hoses so that is the right spot. The mooring there are free for 24hrs at a time, a great spot to chill out, just amazing how dirty the water is, and how arrogant the rowing coaches are, screaming their heads off at little girls doing their best to row.

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple> "You only see what you recognise, and you only recognise what you know" <font color=purple>

 

[rickp]

I saw quite a few Stratford Cruiser boats moored up with their engines running. I wondered if thats the instructions they'd been given? We were told by Viking that we may want to run the engine if the fridge complained about low voltage - but as we were cruising for more than 8 hours a day, and not using much power when moored it wasn't an issue for us.

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