Tuesday 1st October
Today we did indeed get up at stupid o’clock. We were up at 6 am, away just after 7 am and by 8-15 am had done sanitary station and 5 locks and were on the River Severn. These 5 locks were the last I will have to operate myself for about 6 months. From now on the locks on the Severn are manned as are the bridges on the G and S. I won’t know what to do with myself.
We have travelled 23 miles and 8 locks (3 manned on the Severn) from Stourport to Upton upon Severn. We got the last space on the inside of the pontoon moorings. There were 3 other boats here when we arrived, all unoccupied. One has gear box trouble according to a note in the window, one is a charity boat and the other is a liveaboard with no one living on board (at least not at the moment). This evening a hire boat arrived and breasted up to the charity boat as there was no room on the pontoon and it was starting to get dark.
After mooring up we went off to The Olde Anchor for a pint and were perturbed to find they only had Doombar or Tribute on. Doombar is rubbish and Tribute is ok but not one of our favourites so we decided to have a look at one of the many other pubs in Upton. First stop – The Star Hotel who were doing Hobgoblin for £1-99 a pint. A chap was outside smoking when we went in (this turned out to be the bar man) and the pub was empty. The only real ale they did was Hobgoblin and Ken didn’t think it was a good sign that they had one real ale and it was so cheap so he decided not to stop. Next stop – The Swan Hotel where we looked through the window and spotted Boondoggle which we had liked when we had it at The Green Man in Swindon. However this pint of Boondoggle bore no relation to that one. It was very dodgy so we quickly finished it and went. By this time it was raining and we had no coats with us!
Next stop – The Talbot which had no real ale at all and a bar man who looked like a half side of a house, with cut off trousers, no hair and he was also smoking outside. Things were getting desperate now as we approached the Little Upton Muggery to find her on the verge of closing at 3pm. Back up the street we had a look at the King’s Head – it was also shut! So we went full circle back to The Anchor which is actually the best pub in Upton and had the Tribute which was ok. We should have stopped there in the first place!
Incidentally today’s photos are a lot more interesting than this blog, which is not saying much!
Tomorrow we are going to Gloucester.
