Paddling down the River Severn

A few years ago we went on holiday to the Dordogne in France and whilst there we tried our hand at canoeing, in open Canadian canoes. We had a great time and this prompted us to buy our own. We have used it most years during the summer months and it has come on holiday with us to Ireland and France too.
We have done a lot of paddling down parts of the River Wye but not so much on the River Severn.
On Saturday we woke up to lovely weather. Good job as this was the day we were going paddling.We set off for Welshpool about 45 minutes drive from us. Just north of Welshpool is a small village called Pool Quay.This is where we were launching from.

Our route - from Pool Quay (bottom left) to The Royal Hill Inn (top right)

This part of the river is narrow and meandering. Not many villages lie close to the river bank so it is a great place to see wildlife and animals.
Our plan was to paddle down river to meet hubby's daughter, her partner and grand daughter (E&N)for a picnic lunch.  Although by road the distance wasn't far, by river it would be about 15miles.

Getting ready to launch from Pool Quay.

The first few miles were narrow and meandering. In some places the canoe could just about fit through between fallen trees. In past months and years the river has flooded and it was easy to see how high up the water level had gone. This had caused such obstructions to impose themselves on the river. Often we had to bend forward to avoid low hanging branches. The river was followed by the Severn Way - part of the path following Offas Dyke.

As we paddled, Maisie sat in the middle of the canoe, enjoying the views as they passed by. We thought that on such a lovely day we would perhaps see other canoeists, fishermen or walkers but the only other person we saw was a lady walker, who had stopped for a break to read a book on the left bank. She looked rather amused as we came floating past with a dog in a lifejacket.
As the river twists and turns we kept coming round a bend and seeing the imposing view of Breidden Hill in front of us. "There's that hill again!" At the top of this is an obelisk or pillar. Apparently it is called Rodneys pillar, a monument named after an Admiral Rodney. As we snaked our way along the river, our view of Rodneys pillar and the hill changed. It became apparent that half the hill is now being used as a quarry. Huge steps have been carved into the hillside, such a shame. As we continued Breidden forest came into view on the hillside.

We saw a beautiful heron on several occasions who would fly off ahead of us down the river, as if acting as a look out, telling the river inhabitants of our imminent arrival. We also passed several groups of swans who seemed quite taken aback by this strange watercraft.

Round one bend we came across some unusual bathers-

As well as bathing cows we also passed sheep with their young ewes, sat on the river bank.
After two hours of paddling we had covered about six miles and we stopped for a quick break, bums and knees were getting numb and Maisie fancied a quick run around and a swim.

We started off again and as we approached the first of only two bridges on our journey we encountered a small shallow patch which creates a riffle, almost a rapid type effect. It is best to kneel down as you go through these and keep paddling as the water is flowing much quicker here and you speed through, trying not to get too wet! Although when you see it, it can give you a dull ache in the pit of your stomach with dread and anticipation, once you have gone through it, you feel wonderful and almost wish you could go back and do it again.

Lower down the river we felt the effects of the wind much more. As the river widened, the wind was sometimes blowing against us. If we stopped paddling we found we were actually going backwards. This was more hard work now and we realised that we weren't going to get to our rendez vous point by 1pm as originally planned. Luckily we had intermittent mobile signal so phoned ahead to let E&N know we would be late.

After 12 miles we passed the River Vyrnwy tributary. You can actually paddle up there if you are feeling fit. This is where we passed back into England from Wales. From this point of the river the border between England and Wales actually runs down the middle of the river. We passed under the second bridge at Crew Green. Its an interesting looking bridge as it is an iron bridge, once a locomotive bridge,and was converted to a single track road bridge in 1962.

Finally after 4 1/2 hours in the canoe we arrived at our final meeting point, the Royal Hill Inn near Edgerley. It has a beautiful outlook onto the river and also boasts a small campsite. We dragged our canoe out of the water and fell into a heap on the picnic blanket to refuel and catch up with the family.

We had a brilliant day, saw all sorts of wildlife that you would never see if you were driving along a road. Life from the river is worth looking at from time to time.

Useful links:

Click here for a canoeing guide to the River Severn.

Click here to visit the website of the Royal Hill Inn and campsite.

Where does the time go?

Can't believe I've been home a week already and so much has happened!

I got off the ship and came home via my parents house to pick up hubby and Maisie the dog. I had ordered my groceries online to be delivered between 8pm and 10pm. We arrived home at 5 minutes to 8pm and the delivery lorry must have followed us down the street because he drew up a minute or so after!
Next day I started back at work doing feet at 9am. Both Thursday and Friday were quite busy, catching up with patients who needed their feet doing, answering questions about where I had been and telling the odd sea tale here and there. I've been thinking that I might print out a few of my favourite sea photos and take them round with me. I'm sure a lot of my patients would like to see them.

Saturday was a baking day in preparation for the event of the week taking place on Sunday. Our grand-daughters christening. Hubby's daughter had also asked me to be a godmother which I was very honoured to accept. So we had visitors staying with us on Saturday night ready for Sunday too.  We had a great evening catching up with each other and then on Sunday we all trooped off to the Christening.

The weather, thankfully, was lovely. It meant that after the church service we were able to go back to their house and eat outside in the garden. They had organised a neat sort of caterer in the shape of a lady with a trailer which had a log fired pizza oven on top of it. She made pizzas to order and they were delicious.
Afterwards we laid out the desserts. I had made a trifle, mini tiramisu cakes and scones with clotted cream and homemade jam. Along with several other desserts, there was plenty for everyone!
It was a lovely day. I had been quite nervous actually as hubby's ex-wife was also there and I didn't want to upset her in any way which would spoil the day. But happily it all went well and there was no bad feeling.

I've been back to my groups this week, knitting yesterday and Applestroodle tonight, It has been lovely catching up with my friends again and also a few people have said how much they have enjoyed reading my blog. That has made me happier, knowing people are actually reading this and enjoying it too!!

So a week has flown by and what will this next week bring...................Jubilee event planning....that's what!

1949

Today is hubby's birthday. Luckily although we won't be able to celebrate today due to being on different ships either side of the North Sea, I was able to speak to him just after midnight. He had just finished loading his cargo about 8 miles east of us.

Anyway we'll be home on Wednesday so plenty of time celebrate then.

So he was born in 1949, what else was going on then?

- Siam renamed itself Thailand

- Los Angeles, California received its first recorded snowfall

- rationing of clothes ended in Britain

- Eire left the British Commonwealth and became the Republic of Ireland.

- George Orwells book 1984 was published


The average price of a house in 1949 was £1911

Other famous people born in 1949 include

Dennis Taylor ( snooker player)

Niki Lauder ( racing driver)

Billy Joel ( singer)

Meryl Streep ( actress)

Twiggy ( model )

Bruce Springsteen ( singer)

Arsene Wenger ( football manager)


Happy Birthday!!

Anchor watch

This morning was interesting! The day started at 3.30 for me, I was on watch at 4am. Its only when I'm at sea that I appreciate just how early it gets light! It was already getting light by 4.30am. We were anchored in Great Yarmouth Roads about 3/4 mile of the beach and about a mile inland from a large sandbank area and a wind farm. One thing I have noticed this trip away to sea is the amount of sea wind farms that are popping up everywhere it would seem.
Anway i got some lovely photos as the sun was rising,.

Windfarm at dawn

 It only takes a few minutes for the sun to rise and its so beautiful.

Its a Sunday here so there was quite a lot of activity on the beach, its a sunny day after all. At about 10am I heard a couple of the lifeboats calling in on the VHF radio to say they were going out on an exercise. Probably to have a spin along the beach and practice.
They were from the Great Yarmouth and Gorleston Lifebaot Station.

They came across to near our ship and did a circle round us,

Click here to see details of this Lifeboat Station

Wow I thought how good was that, being an RNLI committee member I was pleased to see them and glad to get some photos too.

At the same time there was a ship sailing out of port behind and also a little sailing boat. It was sailing to the east of us, between us and the sandbanks, heading north towards the wind farm.

A little time later, after the lifeboat had gone back into the port, I heard a yacht calling Yarmouth Radio on the VHF. When  I looked out the window behind me i could see the little yacht again but this time it had its sails up but was getting quite close to the sandbanks and because of the tide etc there were quite a few waves breaking near it.

I didn't catch what exactly was wrong, perhaps the engine had given up because the man on the yacht was explaining that they were drifting onto the sandbanks and couldn't seem to get off.  Sadly the wind was westerley so he was being blown further out onto the sandbanks.

Great Yarmouth radio explained they were launching the lifeboat and asked the man to drop his anchor in an attempt to stop him actually going aground.

In a few minutes the lifeboat was back in sight, zooming along towards the yacht. However once he got nearer it became clear that the water was too shallow for the lifeboat to get close enough to get a tow rope to the yacht. So the inshore lifeboat was called to assist too,

At the same time another ship at anchor volunteered its fast rescue craft to assist. Their offer of help was accepted and soon there was two small fast craft and the larger lifeboat all on scene.

Luckily they got a tow line to the yacht and managed to get him clear of the sand banks.

Well done to the crews who helped rescue him.

This is one of the reasons I support the RNLI - no matter what the situation they will come to your rescue at sea and they are all volunteers!

It does highlight though that if you are a small craft owner it pays to carefully plan your voyage and  clearly know what direction wind and tide are going and what effect this is likely to have on your vessel. Also make sure your equipment works and your engine is in good working order.

Below is a video I have put together of photos and video footage of the rescue  - make sure you have the volume on!

 

Brugge to Tees

We arrived in Brugge on Sunday. It is approached from the sea through the port of Zeebrugge and then down a canal where we berth just before the city of Brugge. It's about a 30minute walk from the ship into the centre.
The Captain went up into Brugge to have a look round. It's a lovely city, hubby and I have visited once. More recently I have seen it as the star of the film 'In Brugges' starring Colin Farrell, an actor who is very easy on the eye! I have seen this film a few times now, which as a non film person is quite an achievement.
Captain came back very happy. He'd taken a few photos of the lovely buildings and then had come across a big group of people gathered in the square. On closer inspection he found that the subject of the attention was a group of British 1970's cars, Capris, Cortinas, escorts. More photos were taken of these.

Discharging ashore

We commenced discharging our cargo at 5am on Monday morning, just as it was getting light.

Prior to discharge



The bucket wheel in the middle of the photo turns and discharges
the cargo onto the discharge conveyor belts.



Looking down the canal to Brugge.

Cargo discharge took about 5 hours and then we set off back down the canal again. We stopped at a berth in Zeebrugge to load fresh water, we were getting low and we don't go to many berths where you can easily take fresh water. This done we set off back upto a dredge area near the Humber Estuary. We washed and cleaned out our hold because the next cargo was a sand cargo to Tees.

Sand cargoes don't usually take very long to load so in no time at all we were on our way north. It was lovely clear night on the passage up the coast. When I came on watch at 4am it was already beginning to get light.

We passed Flamborough Head, Filey Brigg, Whitby and I took some lovely early morning photos of the sun shining on the land but with the moon faintly visible. As if it didn't quite want to go to bed yet!

Good morning



We  anchored for a few hours before the pilot came aboard and we sailed up the river to our berth and we discharged our cargo of sand.


Its just a song

Isn't it strange how hearing a song can take you back in time so quickly. Whilst on watch to day I managed to tune into a great radio station, the music was such a varied mix, I found myself transported back to many different events in my life. Clicking on each title should take you to a Youtube version of this song.

 1) Love Shack by the B52s

This song took me back to 1989 when I was just 15/16 years old. I was going out with my first boyfriend Mark. I used to follow him and his mate around whilst they did their paper rounds! I'm still friends with Mark actually, he is in the army now and married with a family living in Germany. Very strangely he has the same birthday as my hubby. Hearing it took my back to happy carefree times with the whole future ahead of me.

2)Take it Easy by The Eagles

In the late 1990's my brother spent several summers on the Greek island of Zakynthos. He and his mate Mark (another Mark!) played guitars and sang and formed a band called Bomba Blue. They played in different bars around the island. I went out to visit several times and this song is one of the numbers they did. The reason I remember it so well is that it is one of the few songs that my brother actually sang himself. He has a great voice but never sang that many songs. So this always reminds me of him and hot weather and sunny skies!

3) Mr Blue Sky by ELO

This is definitely a 'going on holiday in the car' song. When my grandparents lived down in Cornwall we would make the 4-5 hours journey down there to visit several times a year and of course we had lots of music cassettes in the car to listen to. As children of course we were ruled by our parents choice of music so ELO, Bread, Roy Orbison and Richard Clayderman were all part of the 'car music system'.
Hearing this song took me instantly back to a motorway journey on the M5 south passing certain landmarks along the way and knowing we hadn't got long to wait til we were there! My dad always had his seat right back so woe betide the child who sat behind him and accidentally kneed him in the back. Watch out the arm to come sweeping round to move your legs out the way!

4) Hungry Eyes from Dirty Dancing

When I heard this song I had very mixed emotions.
Little did I know back in 1987/88 when my mum brought home a video called Dirty Dancing how much effect this film would have on my life. I can't be the only person who saw it and instantly fell in love with Patrick Swayze. I lost count of how many times I watched that film and I so wanted to be Baby's character and have a chance to dance with him. Of course I always believed that he was beckoning to me  -

Both Mum and I swooned over Patrick for years. We even went down to London to see him when he was in Guys and Dolls. It was brilliant and I remember how excited I was to be so close to him and my mum will be forever sad that the time of the last train home meant we couldn't wait to see him at the stage door.

This song made me think back to that day and also to the film but also it made me sad. We were both so sad to hear Patrick was ill with pancreatic cancer and we would check news about him regularly to see how he was doing.

I remember waking up to the news he had died and shedding a few tears and then having to phone my mum to tell her because I knew she wouldn't have heard the news.

Patrick you were a Star!

5) Thriller by Michael Jackson

I have never been a big Michael Jackson fan but when I heard this song it took me right back to primary school. My best friend Sarah had an older brother (his name was Mark too) and he and his friends were big Jackson fans. They had managed to get a copy of the Thriller video and we all packed into their living room to watch this video of Thriller. I remember being a little scared but also thinking what a great video and song it was. Watching it again in researching this blog I can't believe I wasn't more scared and also just how young does Michael look!! Amazing!

So what songs take you back and where do they take you to?

Yummy tea

Just had to post a photo of what I just had for tea.
Normally going away to sea would be a good way of loosing weight, only normally having 2 meals a day because of our watch system. Plus some cooks food is best avoided. Every now and again though a good cook comes along. Ken is not the regular cook on here, but since he's been on board he's turned out some delicious food. Last night I had the tastiest braised beef I have EVER had. So tender and well I ate it all!
Tonight he did a lovely chicken curry with rice and poppadums followed by the Strawberry cream puffs.
Most delicious.
At this rate I'll go home just as big as I was when I joined if not bigger!!

Work at last.

Well after over a week at sea we have finally loaded our first dredged cargo.
We left Purfleet and went up to load on a dredge area up near Great Yarmouth.
We can't just load anywhere. There are special areas which have been surveyed and then a licence is issued for that area. We have to dredge within these areas and the ships position is constantly monitored and fed back via computer. Huge fines can be delivered if you are found to have loaded outside the area.
Dredging is done for aggregate rather than clearance purposes so we load sand/gravel which is then landed ashore and processed into concrete, cement, road surfacing.
Dredging is done by lowering a large suction pipe with, what looks like the head of a vacuum on,over the side, this connects to a valve in the ships side which opens and once the high powered impeller pump is started this sucks up material from the seabed,

The pipe is lowered over on the port side. It is held by
three wires.

Material is sucked up through the pipes and over 2
screened towers which help grade the cargo.

This shows us the angle of the pipe when it is underwater.

The ship moves along very slowly whilst dredging - about 0.5knots. The cargo took 9 hours to load.

We have come back down to anchor off Southend until Friday morning when we shall sail up the Thames to Denton, near Gravesend to discharge our cargo.

If you would like to see a video of dredging in action click on the following link. It was filmed on my husbands ship by a trainee onboard. Its really good and really shows what happens.

Click on this link to see dredging in action.

This afternoon we had our Fire drill. The fire alarm was sounded and all the crew (12 of us) mustered at our muster station up near the bridge. Our scenario today was a fire in the paint locker.  It is fitted with a sprinkler so we did  a walk through drill where all the crew learn about every aspect of what to do if you discover a fire and how you would tackle one in the paint locker, This included the location of fire fighting equipment and the sprinkler system for the locker plus starting the emergency fire pump.

This week I have also started my study for the Open University course which I have signed up to do.

Its on the subject of diabetes which quite a few of my foot patients suffer from and I decided it would be good to extend my knowledge further on this subject as Diabetes seems to becoming evermore prevalent in our population.

Finally I really appreciate all the page views I have had to my blog, thank you for reading. I would love to read any comments you have about my posts and also any questions you may have. To make this easier I have now changed my settings on the comment box which hopefully means you don't have to sign in/up to be able to leave a comment.

Finally don't forget that if you would like to see where my ship is at any time you can click on the marine traffic link to right of my page and type in my vessels name. Its really quick and easy to use. I know my mum has been looking up where both me and hubby are and in fact when i spoke to her earlier she told me where I was!!  however beware!! Mum has got so addicted to looking at it that she managed to burn a pan of peas dry the other day so if you are going to use it make sure you're not cooking at the same time!!

Working with the stars!

Its official - I'm working on and with TV stars.

Until last August this ship had been 'laid up' for a couple of years. The reason was that there were not enough cargoes to justify running so many ships so the company decided to lay up the Arco Beck. All the crew were moved to other ships except for the Bosun and Chief Engineer(Mr C/E) who were kept to look after the ship. They worked on the ship during the day and being fairly local they were able to lock her up every night and go home for the night.
They kept her in good shape because last year she came back into service again.

Anyway whilst alongside they were invaded for a few days by a production company filming the ITV drama Vera.  The ship was featured both outside, as a car chase led the police to the ship as a criminal had apparently escaped onboard the ship which was about to sail.  It' s engine room was also featured as the criminal tried to make his escape!
I remember being told ages ago that the ship had been featured and exclaiming surprise as I watched the episode in question and realised how much of the ship was featured, I didn't realise though, as the action was going so quickly that both the Bosun and Mr C/E had both landed roles as 'ships crew'.
Apparently they had  a good laugh filming it too.

I've tried to find a link for this episode but just can't find it anywhere. Maybe now the second series is out now there may be some way of viewing it in the future. Who'd have thought a rusty sand and gravel dredger could play such a glamourous role as a getaway vehicle!