Bidford on Avon

A dragonfly landed on the boat last night

A similar cruise to yesterday. Weather very hot and the river very tranquil with dragon flies flitting, a few birds and little sign of habitation or other people except for the anglers who were out in force today. We often wave or give a "hello" to anglers we pass. On the canals they are friendly but we got little response from the Avon ones.

Evesham Lock

We left Evesham at 9am and passed through Evesham lock with its unusual lock keeper's cottage. This took us to the Upper Avon which was formerly managed by a separate Trust, but the two have now merged. The river is noticably narrower and more shallow. The larger cruisers common on the lower Avon cannot travel this far and so there was little traffic even with today being a Sunday.

Bidford on Avon - only the rightmost arch is passable

We arrived at Bidford on Avon at 3pm having had an hours stop for lunch but unfortunately all the moorings were taken so we had to carry on. Half a mile further we were able to find a pleasant spot to moor out in the countryside near a lock.

Bidford bridge is of note as it was built in 1482. Unlike the Severn, the Avon could be bridged in medieval times and so many of the bridges are very old. Eckington Bridge, where we moored a few days ago, dates from the 16th Century. The bridges were of course not designed for modern boat traffic and so do limit the size of craft that can use the river.