Jane’s Walk 2024 – Day 9
We are joined today by our host from two nights ago, whom we picked up from his home.
It is overcast and with what the Scots would call a fine mizzle. We walk down the road and get a strong whiff of sewage from the river. We have been told that the Severn becomes tidal in this area, and sure enough, the moment we arrive by the river, we experience the change when the tide starts to come in.
On a high tide, this creates the Severn Bore, a large wave, sometimes 20ft high, moving up the estuary through the narrow stretch of the river at this point, and it is a favourite pastime of people surfing along this wave. Today’s tide is not like that, but I do see a small wave arriving, and suddenly, the river is running fast upstream, bringing with it logs and other debris. Quite exciting to see.
We meet a chap working on his digger, moving stones. He tells us he has lived around here all his life, and he and his mates used to ride the Severn Bore long before it became a popular pastime. He also confirmed, when we mentioned the smell of sewage, that the water board in Gloucester was continuously pumping sewage into the river, especially at times of heavy rain, and he would certainly never swim in it now.
Today is a very pleasant walk beside the river with an easy path along the top of the bank, built because of flooding. This is much more impressive farming country, with healthy crops of maize, harvested cereals and dairy cows. Richard has spoken to a farmer and learnt that his dairy farm has a self-milking parlour with all the cows wearing special collars, allowing them to get milked when it suits them and their individual yields monitored electronically. Apparently their yield is higher this way.
The river levels have risen noticeably with the incoming tide.
We come across a tiny, boarded-up cottage with a flat piece of ground in front of it. An old wooden notice on the house says, “This is private property. Anyone playing cricket or football will be prosecuted by order of the Ham Committee.” This is miles from any village. I wonder who the Ham committee was, what they did, and why they were so anti-ball games.
Gradually, the tide was turning, and the river was flowing south again. The river is now far wider as it becomes the Severn Estuary, covered with sand banks in the low tide, which is teaming with birds, mainly Black Backed Gulls. We stop in a very rural pub on the river, mostly frequented by the local farming community.
After lunch, we have a very pleasant walk along the raised bank beside the river. Past a number of small holdings, with ponies, donkeys and small spotted sheep all divided from each other in small fields with our access over well-built stiles. The weather has lifted, and the light over the estuary is stunning. Our walk ends at Upper Framilode.
