Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal, June 2024

Wednesday 12th June 2024:

This week I packed the Brompton into the car and drove to Chepstow, where I jumped on a train to Gloucester – just a 30 minute journey, and I’m happy to say that the trains there and back were both bang on time – so well done to Cross Country and Transport for Wales respectively!

I wanted to take a look at Gloucester Lock, as I’d not ventured to that side of the dock before, but also I was curious to see what had been done to restore the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal.

I’d heard of the great work being done by the Herefordshire And Gloucestershire Canal Trust, and my Nicholson Guide suggested that a short section of the canal was now navigable.

I was lucky with the weather and had a very enjoyable time – the Lock was very impressive, and the canal was great too – though I was surprised that more people weren’t taking advantage of the towpath for a walk – it was really pretty and loads of birds were singing.

I hope to check out the Hereford end of the restoration soon and think it would be fabulous if the whole length of the navigation is reopened one day – I know the Trust is working very hard to that end.

Hope you enjoy watching the video!

Cheers,

Jeff

By the way, if you do enjoy the video, then please consider subscribing – it really helps me to grow the channel!

You can see more of my videos, including my journeys along the canals, and of my Brompton bike at:

https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCpU5ERG8MwVJN7vRLVvrHMg/content/playlists

[Music] what am I doing next week wow next week I’m going up to Liverpool that’s a pretty substant more in ring gosh it is beautiful here that’s it here I am across the docks once again with the bromton this time can just see the cathedral in the distance over there and this time I’ve come to look at something a little bit different and uh I have to head over that way and my first portol will be cluster [Music] lock that’s quite a crane isn’t that 1944 rodley leads so we are glost the lock lights are flashing green which means conditions are normal and you can go through here between 8:00 in the morning and 6 in the evening uh I believe the lock Keepers office is up there at the other end of the lock we go take a look at that it’s quite a wide one pretty substantial Gates that’s a pretty substantial Mor in ring wow powerless yes it’s very wide and uh and pretty long too then uh quite low here at that that bridge actually lifts that’s electrically powered so uh I imagine they imagine they have to lift that for almost all boats going through here here’s the mechanism see where the pivots are and I guess it’s all controlled from the lock keeper cabin over there look at the length of those beams um incredible long ago I imagine that would have been the lockkeeper’s cottage where they’d have lived and now I think it’s all controlled from uh from that which I guess gives them a much better uh Vantage Point yeah this lock is really quite impressive it’s very large and uh yeah but it’s not the main reason I’ve come to gler today main reason I’ve come to gler today is to visit a canal I’ve not been to before and uh in fact it’s a little known Canal it’s the Harry foer and gler Canal and the Harry foer and gler Canal it’s about a mile up from here I believe uh on that side I’m going to have to ride up this road a little way to find it and it’s uh it’s under restoration at the moment it’s a it’s a great project underway to try and restore a whole thing from glester to Harford can take some time I think and uh a lot of money but I know they’re trying very hard and uh I’ll put a link to their website uh on the screen for you I’m going to try and find where the har foer and cerer emerges here at Gloucester according to my Nicholson guide it looks like there might be um a short distance of of canal just where my finger is so I’m going to see if I can find out now well I’m crossing the river again and uh I think that agrees with the map in my Nicholson guide so I think we might be getting quite close now to the arure and clure Canal and here we are it didn’t take me very long to find it it’s just just outside of uh the city short ride and this is the Basin the end at the moment at least of the harer Ander Canal there a few boats tied up here they look like work boats there a tag over there all all been done very nice another boat just up by here so I’m going to test out the toe path in a moment and see how good it is and see how far we can get there’s a sign there from the Canal Trust this is the remains of a lock called overlock and this is how boats used to connect through the lock to the river 7 very uh pretty and picturesque around here some lovely houses Gardens and they’ve got this beautiful Canal Basin in front of them and as soon as I start to say that somebody starts using uh a power tool but it can’t detract from how pretty this is beautiful this looks like quite an old tug look at the way it’s riveted together that’s made of iron I think this is actually called over Basin reopened by prella scales and Timothy West well-known Canal levers and actors of course 2024 years ago wow nice little boat called Mr Maisy uh looks like it’s might two trips not doing any today but uh I think that’s what it’s destined to do interestingly it’s got a steering wheel uh rather than a conventional tiller [Applause] says this is a pump in station and it’s going to enable them to pump water into the Basin the canal behind me from the river Leen at this point the leen’s water is waste and is about to go into to S it’s a 30ft deep shaft wow the shaft is linked to the river by pipes it’s the most reliable source of water at this side of ladbury so they will pump water from here up the canal so the water there is 30 foot deep I can see why they’ve got a metal grid over it so there’s a nice straight uh yeah the canal looks pretty intact isn’t it fairly wide I’m not sure how deep it is lots and lots of weed around though I am surprised that I haven’t met anybody walking this is such a nice walk I expected uh to see quite a few people around you know walking their dogs Etc and uh I guess this is it this is the end there’s uh a winding hole here this is uh the end of the line so far I’ll just walk around [Music] [Music] [Music] so there’s a little entry in my Nicholson guide um about the Harry fer and gler Canal and uh apparently it was started in 1792 and completed in 1845 and linked the two cities uh 34 miles and it went via newent dear and ladbury of course ladbury is one of the places I often catch a train when I’m going up towards bming way it required three tunnels and 22 locks and it was closed in 1881 to allow part of its bed to be used as a railway that’s a shame and then of course Dr beaching came along in the 60s and closed the railway yeah so there is a a restoration project firmly underway and and uh I’ll put a link to them uh on here for you I guess my next thing will be to go and find the other end of the canal uh in Harford and see how things look there so uh that’s for another day obviously uh I’m not quite sure when I’ll be able to do that but I hope I will and uh I’ll keep monitoring the progress on this and um look forward to the day when uh maybe it’s completed yeah you know it’s it’s lovely just to sit here and uh and listen to the birds um there’s not much else to hear at all actually so really peaceful here and uh as usual uh I’m I’m hot now I think I’m going to take this off uh it was really cold when I left home this morning about 10° I think I don’t know what it is now but I’ve been getting very hot so I’m going to take this one off stuff it in my rock sack and you can be absolutely sure within about 10 minutes I’ll be cold again because that’s how it always goes isn’t it never mind gosh it is beautiful here I can see a dragonfly just over there but uh the GoPro is just is never going to pick it up I’m afraid so you’ll have to take my word that it’s a fabulous thing yeah so this is the end this is the end I guess they have to get for that start to go any further so it’s a nice little stretch uh very very very pretty lots of wildlife around here and I should think it would be very popular and well used if it was able to be completed all the way to Harry foot I hope one day they’ll manage that I really do that’ll be fantastic but um you know I wonder how many people who live in glester actually know about this place there there’s nobody walking along here which is very surprising it’s very pleasant you can just hear the birds everywhere I haven’t got any swans for you but there are a couple of lambs over there with there mom come down for a little drink I suppose so there you are that’s the uh har fer and glosser Canal and uh hope you enjoyed seeing that probably come as a surprise to a lot of people that there is a hairy foot on gr the sh canal and uh yeah I hope one day it’ll be it’ll be restored completely uh that’ll be great so hope you’ve enjoyed this let a look at Gloucester uh and also this lovely Canal unfortunately there’s a guy who’s been um using a brush cutout ever since I got here so I hope that noise isn’t going to um interfere too much but if you liked it uh please give it a like on YouTube leave a comment think about subscribing um over 700 subscribers now uh which is really great uh so if you haven’t subscribed but you do watch the videos um then why not it won’t cost you anything um no obligations at all other than that I uh what am I doing next week well next week I’m going up to Liverpool and uh on Wednesday I think Wednesday the 19th and I I’m go want to see what uh what progress they’ve made on Gladis and arabo and hopefully have a chat to them about uh when I can expect to uh actually get her on the water my hope is that it will be uh the middle to the end of August that that would be uh that would be ideal for me but uh yeah so I’ll let you know in the next video what I find out and uh take some some more footage of Gladis I’m really Keen to see that sign right in first hand because it looks brilliant on the photographs I’ve had so that’s for next time thanks for watching this time uh until then take care and it’s uh bye for now