'S.B Gladys of Harwich' nearing Splatt Bridge

I did drive to the Gloucester to Sharpness canal to see the sailing barge S. B Gladys begin its journey back to the sea. I tried to follow it using a vessel tracking app which registered the boat had moved but wouldn’t actually update its location. By the time I got to where I thought it would be after an hour of its journey, I approached Sellars Swing Bridge, which is one of the few crossing points for vehicles over the canal between the east and west banks. I ended up in a short queue to get across the bridge, but unfortunately the queue was formed to await the passage of a boat, Gladys! I watched the top of its mast passing behind the Pilot Inn on the bank of the canal and realised I'd have to go much further downstream.

I drove quite quickly, avoiding Parkend Bridge, scene of yesterday’s blip, which was the next crossing point, and drove on to Saul Junction, where the Stroudwater canal originally joined the Gloucester to Sharpness canal. I went there yesterday and spoke to the bridge keeper, who spotted me again today. He told me I had twenty minutes to wait which was perfect. I got my camera gear ready for a telephoto shot down the canal to see Gladys appear round the distant bend, expecting to then swap to a wider angle lens for when it came through the Saul Junction bridges.

Unfortunately before fifteen minutes were up, the sky increasingly darkened, thunder clapped and 'a hard rain began to fall'. By the time Gladys arrived it was torrential and I was sheltering under a few small trees. My telephoto got some quite good torrential rain scenes of Gladys approaching. When I changed the lens ready to also change position, my camera wouldn’t work, coming up with an error message. I assumed rain had got into the lens mount and was shorting the contacts, as I’d not been able to keep it totally dry.

I then rushed off to my car parked a short distance away where I had another camera, and drove off down the towpath to catch up with the barge. Then as luck would have it the next bridge wouldn’t open as the thunder had interfered with the electronic automatic controls, and the bridge keeper I’d met earlier had to dash down and manually open the swing bridge for cars. That gave me time to sort the camera and then grab a few extra pictures of it relatively close up to the bank. It was still pouring with rain so my lens became wet and blurry. I gave up.

Back in the car I thought I’d go down to Splatt Bridge at the far end of  Frampton on Severn village, which was a drive of about three miles. I arrived just in time to see Gladys appearing at the end of this long stretch of the canal. The rain had nearly ceased but I didn’t manage to clean the lens very well so this picture is still slightly soft and thus has the residue of some flare. It is the best I can offer. 

I’m going to go to Sharpness Dock in the morning to watch it sail out into the Bristol Channel. Earlier I'd shouted out to the people on the boat asking when it would be leaving the dock and was told they thought it might be about 0930 tomorrow morning.  I’ll give it a go, although it is quite hard to get a camera position on the banks of the Severn Estuary, with a good viewpoint of the exit of the dock. Wish me luck again.