Day Twenty - Stourport on Severn to Worcester

We had a great day. The first half was on the canal boat and the last half was seeing the sights of Worcester. We left just after seven thirty to give us enough time in the afternoon to see Worcester. We firstly had to fill up with water at the Stourport Basin. It then took us four locks within the Basin to leave Stourport on Severn and to get onto the Severn River. One of the locks was so narrow Henk had trouble getting the boat into the lock.
The River Severn was wide and very calm and this gave Lyn her first opportunity of steering. With very little traffic and the wide river it allowed us to make good time. We went through three large double river locks which were all automatic and operated by British Waterways. It was good to sit on the boat and watch the proceedings. The locks continued to take us down the Severn.
On approaching Worcester the large cathedral stood out on the horizon and there were many swans along the river. Because of the sharp turn into the Diglis Canal Locks entering Worcester we were advised to go past them, turn around on the river and then reapproach the lock. We were now going up the locks again and the two we needed to go through were very slow in filling. One of the paddles I had was so stiff I couldn’t budge it and Bill had to use his strength to open it.
We were going to moor at the Commandery which was a building used by Charles II as his headquarters during the Civil War Battle of Worcester in 1651. After coming through the two locks we decided to moor at Diglis Canal Locks and not risk proceeding to the Commandery where it would be very popular. Where we moored was only about four hundred metres away and it’s close to the city centre. We had a quick lunch and headed out to see Worcester.
We firstly visited the Royal Worcester porcelain which was established in 1751. We were keen to see this again and show Bill and Lyn. Unfortunately, the factory was closed two years ago and we were greeted with a sign which said, “Royal Worcester would like to thank all its customers for their support over the last 258 years. Thank you for your custom.” An excellent museum now exists and we spent quite some time with our audio guides admiring the exquisite porcelain from the 1700’s to the present day.
We moved onto the Worcester Cathedral and then onto the long high street. Lyn and I broke away from Henk and Bill and did some window shopping.There are many shops and mostly seem to be clothing shops. It was very tempting!
We had dinner at “The King’s Head” near the Commandery and it was excellent. The Eton’s Mess for dessert was well liked.
Tomorrow is our last full day with Lyn and Bill before we take the boat back to Stoke Prior on Saturday morning. We have about twenty locks to go through tomorrow.
Photos: Lyn steering the boat with Henk alongside; Bollards reflected in the Severn River on a very calm morning; Swans on the Severn River at Worcester; Bill attempting to open up a very stiff lock paddle.