The River Severn!

It was only a short distance from our towpath mooring on the Staffs and Worcester Canal to the pontoon on the River Severn but it took a long time.

At the end of the canal we entered the marina and backed Rainboat into finger moorings to fill with diesel. Next came water and bins on the other side of the marina. After that, a stop at the pontoon in the adjacent basin to wait for the locks.

A volunteer helped Will work us through the two sets of staircase locks and finally we were steering Rainboat out onto the big wide river!

We'd never piloted her on a flowing watercourse before and were glad for the tips people had given us as well as the research Will had done. We decided to moor at the floating pontoon just 100m downriver, but to do this we needed to drive past, then turn Rainboat so she was facing upstream. Vicky shuffled along the gunnel and hopped off the bow with the mooring rope, quickly winding it round a T bar to help her hold the boat against the flow. If we'd jumped off the stern as we always did on the canals, we'd have risked the bow being caught by the current and swept out.

It didn't go particularly smoothly because the mooring rope caught the anchor Will had placed on the bow and pulled it off the side into the water. Fortunately he'd made sure it was secured to Rainboat and it was easy enough to haul in. We decided to store it on the roof after this.

We were glad to be allowed 2 days here because an Evri parcel Vicky's stepmum had sent had gone missing on Friday. We were able to return to the Post Office on Monday and to our relief the deliverer had found it in the back of their van. Looking at comparisons of delivery firms, Evri rates very poorly so we'll try and avoid them in the future.

We took time to adjust to being on the river. There was a delicious feeling of 'newness' watching the broad stretch of water flowing past the window, the sand martins darting in and out of their burrows on the natural sandy bank topped by mature trees.

Leo seemed more settled in our end of pontoon position because there was nobody walking past the boat. We needed to be more cautious getting the dogs on and off the boat and walking them by the river as there was a large drop into the water and the current could easily carry them away, but there was a lovely wide, path leading to a big park where the grass was cut short; not good for wildlife but Leo and Tiger could run freely without getting their legs tangled in the undergowth.Read more