Ship lock (Gloucester)

[Chewbacka]

2 hours ago, Graham Davis said:

Perhaps I'm a lttle confused (not unusual!)

If the boat is currently at Sharpness, and you are moving to a mooring at Gloucester, presumably in the Docks, then you will not need to pass through any locks, only several swing bridges.
And there are no locks between Saul Marina and the "main" canal. What looks like the old "trow" lock between the two is now a dry dock.

Perhaps you could confirm exactly where you intend to finally moor? Is it after Gloucester, on the river?

I think you will find that they will moor in Saul Junction but when they wish to go further than 8 miles they will have to pass a lock and go onto the river.  That is what they are wondering about 

[Graham Davis]

Possibly, but that doesn't explain this comment in the reply I quoted:

8 hours ago, Pets aboard. said:

Thank you for all the advise.

we are cruising from sharpness way up to Gloucester . 

We will be defiantly doing a lot of short trips up the canal to Gloucester and turn round and go back. With some shopping in between! 

We will indeed go for a reckie and watch from above the lock and speak to the lock keeper.

my husband did say we decided on Saul marina as it was half a hour from home but maybe we should have looked at the route from marina on the canal. Goggle earth doesn't quite do it . Nice marina though.

My rose tinted glasses are off now, and reality kicks in. I didn't think of weirs and high rivers etc, a lot more to it than the dream of owning a narrow boat! 

Which canal?

[mrsmelly]

9 hours ago, Pets aboard. said:

Thank you for all the advise.

we are cruising from sharpness way up to Gloucester . 

We will be defiantly doing a lot of short trips up the canal to Gloucester and turn round and go back. With some shopping in between! 

We will indeed go for a reckie and watch from above the lock and speak to the lock keeper.

my husband did say we decided on Saul marina as it was half a hour from home but maybe we should have looked at the route from marina on the canal. Goggle earth doesn't quite do it . Nice marina though.

My rose tinted glasses are off now, and reality kicks in. I didn't think of weirs and high rivers etc, a lot more to it than the dream of owning a narrow boat! 

You dont have to stay there forever Beauty of boats is you can easily move to another area. The problem with you choice of marina is that put simply you are on one short straightish windswept canal. At one end is basicaly the SEA with the second highest tidal rise in the WORLD and the other end is the river which has more water flowing through it than any other river in England and floods quite readily, apart from that its a good choice  We have moored both in Gloucester docks and at Saul junction. I have to say I couldnt wait to get away from Saul junction but different people like different things. Just make sure you pick a reasonable day for your first trip onto the Severn as you dont want to put yourself off narrowboats. We moored a proper boat shaped boat in the docks but it was a narrowboat we had at Saul and it was absolutely fine on the Severn as have all our other boats 

[Rob-M]

23 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

You dont have to stay there forever Beauty of boats is you can easily move to another area. The problem with you choice of marina is that put simply you are on one short straightish windswept canal. At one end is basicaly the SEA with the second highest tidal rise in the WORLD and the other end is the river which has more water flowing through it than any other river in England and floods quite readily, apart from that its a good choice  We have moored both in Gloucester docks and at Saul junction. I have to say I couldnt wait to get away from Saul junction but different people like different things. Just make sure you pick a reasonable day for your first trip onto the Severn as you dont want to put yourself off narrowboats. We moored a proper boat shaped boat in the docks but it was a narrowboat we had at Saul and it was absolutely fine on the Severn as have all our other boats 

I agree, there is only so many times you can plod up and down the G&S. Each time we went away from Saul I would worry the Severn would flood and we wouldn't get back although it never actually happened to us and it is a couple of days either end of your holiday to get up and down from Saul to the main canal network.

[mrsmelly]

2 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

I agree, there is only so many times you can plod up and down the G&S. Each time we went away from Saul I would worry the Severn would flood and we wouldn't get back although it never actually happened to us and it is a couple of days either end of your holiday to get up and down from Saul to the main canal network.

Yes the problem is often " what if " when rivers come into the equasion. I have had some fab days on the severn its got some boring but some nice bits and if you can moor at the Haw bridge its nice. We also used to moor a few miles north of Gloucester at a smashing pub on the left bank that used to flood quite often and was at the end of a long track on its own if going by car? Cant remember its name its not too long ago maybe twenty years but the pub could well be closed now such is the way its trade was effected winter time.

[john6767]

I was a bit confused as well.  So the boat is already on the G&S and you will be mooring it at Saul Marina.  We have used that marina twice for a month or two short term moorings, and as a marina it is very nice, but I would say many of the boats there are lived on and rarely leave the marina.  The G&S in nice weather is fab, and not having any locks to do is nice for a bit, but I can see It getting a bit boring after a while.

Ignoring the sea route means you are going to be regular users of the Severn up to Tewkesbury and beyond for anything more than a weekend outing.  If I were you I would do the VHF course and get a hand held radio, it will save you faffing about waiting at Junction bridge at Saul Junction as you go in and out of the marina, and make it easy to communicate with Llanthony bridge, Gloucester lock and Upper Lode lock.

Edited March 24, 2018 by john6767

[rusty69]

Our 70ft boat looked a bit small when we visited

[mrsmelly]

2 minutes ago, rusty69 said:

Our 70ft boat looked a bit small when we visited

Thats cos narrowboats ARE small. Has always made me giggle when I hear the term " Big Woolwich " and suchlike when in reality in the greater scheme of things a full size narrowboat is a small boat. I vividly remember a day I had on the USS Nimitz in the late 70s until which time I had thought the Ark Royal was a big ship...........nope!!.

[sharpness]

4 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

 a smashing pub on the left bank that used to flood quite often and was at the end of a long track on its own if going by car? Cant remember its name

The Boat Inn at Ashleworth

[mrsmelly]

9 hours ago, sharpness said:

The Boat Inn at Ashleworth

Ahh thanks it could be? Looking at the pictures the building looks wrong but thats probably just memory.

[sharpness]

13 hours ago, mrsmelly said:

Ahh thanks it could be? Looking at the pictures the building looks wrong but thats probably just memory.

Cant think where else, the next one up is The Haw Bridge Inn and that's on the main road.

[Keeping Up]

There's the Yew Tree at Chaseley, that's at the end of a long road

[mrsmelly]

9 hours ago, Keeping Up said:

There's the Yew Tree at Chaseley, that's at the end of a long road

Yup. Well done that man that looks like it.

[RichM]

On 23/03/2018 at 13:55, Pets aboard. said:

Hello 

our first post.

we take ownership of our first Narrowboat on Tuesday both very excited. But very nervous.

we have a marina sorted at Saul junction , the thing is, after spending a few hours following the canal up to Gloucester via Google Earth we are faced with that huge lock. We are complete novices and the thought of going through feels us with dread.

we have chatted to someone at the marina and to our amazement we are so surprised how many people don't sail their boats and have not gone further than the marina entrance or a little further! 

Is a ships lock treated any different that a normal smaller lock.

we know it has a lock keeper along this stretch and we have a few bridges to navigate before we get there.but!

we won't be going out just yet as we have got to get our cat and dog their boat legs first.

Any advise please. 

Well the winds look OK in Gloucester tomorrow if a little bleak along with high chance of rain. If the water levels are OK then it's doable on the weather front. There will be a water level board just before you enter Gloucester lock, so do check that. It is best to speak to and communicate with lock keepers as they will give you advice and alert you to anything you may need to be aware of. (fallen branches, larger oncoming vessels etc)

The Severn is much different to the G&S and you can seriously go hours without seeing anyone, a very different experience. I first traveled up the Severn in April 2016. It turned out to be plain sailing in all honesty but it wasn't what I'd call a pleasant trip and I'd definitely wait for a better time of year before doing it again unless there was no other option. 

You may feel more confident if you hang fire at Gloucester docks until finding someone who is also heading up the Severn and ask if they'd be happy for you to follow behind. 

 

[Onewheeler]

I don't recommend this until you've done a few trips on the river, but it's great fun to go out of Glos Lock a couple of hours before the tide is due to overtop the weirs, stop at Ashleworth (about ninety minutes / 8 km from Glos) for a couple of pints, and then continue as the tide starts running up. You'll be at Upper Lode (14 km further on) in not much over an hour and go faster over the ground than almost any other opportunity in a narrowboat.