I've seriously gone off the Severn. The day started well with the campsite owner refusing to take payment for camping, stating the fact that I'd spent enough in the pub already... not sure whether he was implying I have some form of drink problem, but I was very grateful.
The rest of the day was spent eddy hopping upstream into a thumping headwind. I don't think I've ever worked so hard in a boat. I'd planned to clear the Severn today, but I had to admit defeat at 7 o'clock this evening after getting on the water at 9am.
The locks are more difficult than I'd anticipated. There are no clear exit ramps, just ladders up vertical walls, which I have no chance of lifting a loaded exped boat up. I was about to climb a grassy bank on one lock, when a passing boat very kindly negotiated with the lock keeper to let me go in. It was so much easier than what I had planned.
Allthough its been really pretty, I'll be glad to get off the Severn, its cost me my phone, (broken screen), and almost my sanity. I've decided I don't like paddling uphill....
Still having technical problems, hence the lack of pictures. Imagine a tropical paradise... it's almost like that, but with shopping trollies. One today, Tesco's.
About 5 miles left on the Severn in the morning, then on towards Wolverhampton.
Been paddling for 30 years mostly as a surf and whitewater boater. Living on the N coast of Devon and growing upon Anglesey has meant that the sea has never been more than a couple of miles away.
