Worcester to Stourport

It’s not our first visit to Worcester so we were reasonably familiar with the street layout. We moored on the 48 hour moorings below Sidbury Lock walking up to the lock passing the Commandery on our way into the city. The last battle of the Civil War was fought in Worcester and the Commandery had a significant role.

First stop was the cathedral.  Some type of official service was being conducted in the Nave so we confined out movements to the Cloister.  The Charter House was also closed to the public.

The cloisters have stone vault rooves whilst the main roof is constructed of timber.  A small information plaque stated the cloister rooves provide a fire resistant barrier to the main roof.  Whilst this is logical I also suspect the weight of stone in the cloisters helps brace and support the main structure.  Both King John and Arthur Tudor (older brother of Henry VIII) are interned in the cathedral.

The other thing Jan and I remember about Worcester is Royal Worcester Porcelain.  Manufacturing ceased in 2009 and the site is now a museum.

 

In the evening I went for a second walk around the city taking yet another photo of the cathedral by night.

This morning we reversed back to the water point and topped up the tank before winding above the Diglis Basin locks and going back down onto the river.  

Things started to get interesting above Worcester Bridge.  British Canoeing were holding races and the contestants were certainly adhering to the rule “paddles before power”.  They were also determined to occupy which ever side of the river they felt gave them a competitive advantage.

For a couple of kilometres we were hard against the left (port) bank when we should have been on the opposite side.  Eventually we reached the end buoy and had the river to ourselves.

Jan noticed a couple of suitable riverside homes……. if we had the money!

Only three locks today and all of them manned by CRT staff.  The river level must be low at the moment because there was only a 6ft rise at each lock.

We had a small smile as we passed Stourport Marina.  One boater waved at us signally to slow down because we were producing too much wake.

What wake…. the river is wide and deep here.  However we slowed down to tick-over and received a happy smile in response.

Well that’s the last of rivers for a few months.  It will be back to ditch crawling for us!