Are we supposed to be moored here?

Monday 10th July; Elsie and Hiram Billington lock to Luddington

It was much cooler today and very cloudy to start with.  We were tempted to stay as it’s such a lovely mooring, even though the uneven edge meant we needed an extra fender.  This one was picked up on the prop of a hirer we met at Worcester and we took it off his hands rather then let him chuck it in the rubbish (and thank goodness he had the sense not to throw it back in the water!)  You can only see the top next to our gunwale, but it is a heavy duty rubber one and was perfect for the job even if the rope is rather short.

Dave leaves our mooring as I open the bottom gate.

One of the locks was well cared for with baskets of plants on the footbridge.  I think this one was Pilgrim lock (Barton lock) but I may be wrong.  When the gates have to be left open when you leave, it makes life much easier for the next boat – provided they are travelling in the opposite direction to the boat that has just left.

There are some fabulous houses along the river; this is the moneyed end of Welford.  This all seems to be one property though they are not making full use of their boathouse!

Some of the Avon locks are very deep.  This I think is WA Cadbury lock (aka Welford lock).  There was a long wait until it was safe to raise the gate paddles fully.

The moorings above this lock are lovely and we were tempted to stop but it was still early so we went on, past Binton Bridges.  Most of the arches on this long long bridge are not navigable.

Just one arch in fact for us.

We moored at Luddington in time for lunch.  We went up the lock and could see someone moored on the mooring with the blue poles of the Avon Navigation Trust.  But the wharf area had masses of space, and as it was a flat calm we were able to moor neatly between two cruisers.

If it had been windy we would have needed to use the pontoon opposite, which was made of a wide metal mesh – very dog-unfriendly, at least for one with small paws.  I did a bit of washing which soon dried in the wind and the sun which had come out after a cool morning.

It was quite late when we had the thought that perhaps we weren’t supposed to moor there at all.  But there was loads of space and no-one came to tell us off so we stayed.  And there was one short blue-painted pole in the corner anyway.

5½  miles, 4 locks