Avon and Severn Tewkesbury

[andy4502]

Hi all

 

am not new to boating (have had boat 3 1/2 years) but am new from July on the Avon and have got a marina slot At Tewkesbury 

 

we have had a great summer but this is the first flood (we went out before the storm but moored up before storm Alex arrived)

 

any advice on time for river to become navigable again and what the flow rates are (engine was only 21HP when new 30 years ago!) and the likely time warning we get for flood conditions?

 

i want to keep using the boat through winter as I did on the mon and brec if possible 

 

any advice or tips welcome, I am on the email alert system but can’t get the text warnings to work 

[Rob-M]

For the Avon it can rise rapidly, my parents use to moor at Bredon and we spent a week stuck at The Fleet as the river rose so fast overnight that it was over the garden. My dad was on the roof of the boat cutting branches off the tree during the night so we could rise with the water levels. We were rowing our dinghy over the garden to get off the boat.

Watching the weather above the upper Avon will give an indication of how much water is on its way down plus watching the Severn as that can also rise above the Avon and back up at Tewkesbury.

[Detling]

A few years ago the Thames was on red boards for 4 months without a break. Remember usually your insurance will not cover you if you are moving the boat on a river in the red.  I don't know the Avon that well, but the Severn can run a 7 knots at times, probably faster than your canal boat flat out, mine can only do 6.5 MPH with a 42 HP engine..

[Richard Fairhurst]

51 minutes ago, andy4502 said:

we have had a great summer but this is the first flood (we went out before the storm but moored up before storm Alex arrived)

 

any advice on time for river to become navigable again and what the flow rates are (engine was only 21HP when new 30 years ago!) and the likely time warning we get for flood conditions?

Ours is not much more (25hp) and can struggle with the Severn at times. If it's at the cusp of green/amber then we'll typically make slow progress upstream from Tewkesbury to Worcester. On the one occasion we did it on the cusp of amber/red it was horrid - less than 1mph over land going under the Worcester southern bypass bridge (always the fastest current in my experience).

Edited October 6, 2020 by Richard Fairhurst

[Murflynn]

all the weirs on the Avon that I am familiar with have no sluices - they are just shallow waterfalls.   a suitable boat could shoot the rapids at each weir in winter floods. 

 

.......................  not recommended of course.

 

 

useful link:  https://riverlevels.uk/river-avon-stratford-upon-avon-stratford#.X3xlIe0o9PY

 

Edited October 6, 2020 by Murflynn

[GUMPY]

Last year the Nene which rises in pretty much the same place as the Avon was on SSA from October to March so unusable.

 

Couple of flooding accounts from the Avon

http://www.andrewdyke.co.uk/evesham_in_flood_easter_1998.html

Nine years later

http://www.andrewdyke.co.uk/evesham_in_flood_july_2007.htm

 

 

[john6767]

11 minutes ago, Murflynn said:

all the weirs on the Avon that I am familiar with have no sluices - they are just shallow waterfalls.   a suitable boat could shoot the rapids at each weir in winter floods. 

 

.......................  not recommended of course.

 

 

useful link:  https://riverlevels.uk/river-avon-stratford-upon-avon-stratford#.X3xlIe0o9PY

 

 

12 minutes ago, Murflynn said:

all the weirs on the Avon that I am familiar with have no sluices - they are just shallow waterfalls.   a suitable boat could shoot the rapids at each weir in winter floods. 

 

.......................  not recommended of course.

 

 

useful link:  https://riverlevels.uk/river-avon-stratford-upon-avon-stratford#.X3xlIe0o9PY

 

Top Gear went over a weir in their hover van, cringe worthy watching

 

 

[fatmanblue]

The Avon is volatile, quick to rise and usually (not always) quick to fall.

The Severn builds slower, and holds up for longer periods (last winter being a good example).

 

At Tewkesbury the two meet and once the Severn rises to the Avon level it can stay there for a long time, holding the Avon up with it.

 

Keep an eye on the ANT River Watch page for levels:  https://www.avonnavigationtrust.org/river-watch/  - this now helpfully links to the Mythe Bridge gauge on the Severn which has a predicted level forward 36 hours (as do the Evesham and Stratford gauges).  If you look now you can really see the volatility in some of the locations.

[ditchcrawler]

Just have a read of this http://www.andrewdyke.co.uk/evesham_in_flood_easter_1998.html

[nbfiresprite]

5 hours ago, Loddon said:

Last year the Nene which rises in pretty much the same place as the Avon was on SSA from October to March so unusable.

 

Couple of flooding accounts from the Avon

http://www.andrewdyke.co.uk/evesham_in_flood_easter_1998.html

Nine years later

http://www.andrewdyke.co.uk/evesham_in_flood_july_2007.htm

 

 

In 2000 the Nene was in flood for most of that year.

[GUMPY]

43 minutes ago, nbfiresprite said:

In 2000 the Nene was in flood for most of that year.

Its been unusable apart from July, August and September since last October, not all due to flooding. Nine out of Twelve is not a good average.

[matty40s]

The Nene coal boat sold his boat Bletchley to Jules 2 years ago as he had enough of stoppages and floods making it impossible to deliver by water.

[GUMPY]

"A sometimes navigable flood control system" is how Brian Collings described the Nene to me, not far off the truth.