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River Severn - Single Handed


jeddlad

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks for the good bits of advice, as usual the replies did stray slightly off topic!

 

I had a great trip down the Severn from Stourport, no issues with the locks, flow or state of the river. The week I spent on the Gloucester & Sharpness was one of the best trips on my boat. Coming back up the Severn was a bit different as the flow and wind were quite strong, I struggled along at 1.5 mph until I picked up a very useful spring tide helping me up towards Tewkesbury.

 

The lock and bridge keepers on the Severn and the G&S were all brilliant and very helpful.

 

I would strongly recommend a hand held VHF for anyone contemplating this trip. I bought a 2nd hand ICOM and it was worth it's weight in gold. Yes, you can use a mobile phone but I found the hand held VHF  very useful for keeping in touch with the lock and bridge keepers, also good for hearing what other boat traffic is around. 

 

The Avon locks were a faff on my own but all in all, an excellent trip.

On 04/08/2019 at 00:05, TheBiscuits said:

You will be fine.

 

The locks are easy, because the lockies (mostly!) know what they are doing, and of course they are all worked for you.  Your thoughts are good - it shows you have done your research - but a lot of first time hire boaters use that stretch with minimal training and very few catastrophes!

 

The trick with Gloucester Lock is to ring or radio the lockie when you come past the Upper Parting before you hit the East Channel, and follow their advice, and the lock will likely be open and green lighted when you reach it.  If not, it's critical to get your stern line on the chains first which won't be a problem for you single handed.

 

Best tip for the river: don't be scared to spin your boat 180 degrees to work against the flow if needed.  It's much easier to control the boat bow into flow than trying to do it in reverse if there is a bit much fresh on the river.

The biscuits and John 6767 get the prize for the most sensible bits of advice.......thanks 

Edited by jeddlad
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