Friday morning, and we wandered down to see Nic and check it was all OK to head on up to Worcester, usually a two day exercise… she asked where we were planning on mooring en-route, and we said “Upton on Severn”.

“Ah…” she said, “I spoke to Upper Lode earlier, and they say the level is coming up and they might need to close later today; Diglis at Worcester are also taking a hard look, and reckon they might need to close tonight”. So we’d get to Upton OK, but maybe no further onSaturday. Calling the Diglis lockkeeper for an update at about 11:00, he said “The river’s coming up faster than we expected: Upper Lode have just closed, and we’ll close just as soon as two narrowboats heading this way get here. We don’t expect to reopen until Monday at the earliest.”

Time for Plan B.

We really didn’t want to go all the way back up the Avon to Stratford (and couldn’t manage it before Essex girl needed to depart), so thought we’d see if we could get a mooring at Pershore or Evesham marinas on the Avon. Both were a day or so upstream, and both had railway stations. We could then come back when herself returned and the Severn had settled down to resume our journey to Stourport,

On returning to Nic with the new plan, she said “Ah… Evesham have just gone on Red Boards, and Pershore will very shortly – there been lots of rain in Rugby and it’s working it’s way down to here…”

Time for Plan C.

After consultation with the Captain, and Nic, it was decided to leave Song & Dance on flood safe moorings near the lock under Nic’s watchful eye, while we all went home for a week. This meant the cook could go to Essex and back from winter quarters, and easier exercise. And so the transport manager was despatched by taxi to Pershore to get a train home – don’t let anyone kid you there’s a useable train service at “Ashchurch For Tewkesbury”. Returning with suitable ground transport, the skipper, the contents of the fridge and freezer, and mounds of dirty washing were stuffed in the car, and on Saturday morning we all headed darn sarf for a week or so. We’ll be back!