It was an early start for us on the Monday that we left Tewkesbury. The lock isn’t open until eight and we wanted to fill the water tank before we dropped down on to the Severn.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been trying to make our minds up as to whether we should head south on the Severn to Gloucester and then on to Sharpness on the G&S canal. We had weighed up the pros and cons but now we had to make a decision – at one point it looked like it could be down to the toss of a coin.

After filling the tank, we were joined by another narrowboat, the name of which escapes me and after they breasted up and started filling their own water tank, we chatted with them about the Gloucester and Sharpness option. They moor their boat at Sharpness and are very familiar with the route. Despite their positive view of the route, their recommendation actually pushed us in the opposite direction, literally!

At eight o’clock and with both water tanks filled to the brim, we brought both narrowboats into the lock. After saying goodbye to the friendly lock keeper, we followed the channel to where the Avon meets the Severn, turned right, headed north and hoped that we would find a mooring at Upton-upon-Severn.