From Stourport down the river is controlled by locks - - no more rapids, but frequent barge traffic.
Three locks today.
At Lincomb lock, a barge, whose driver I'd chatted to the night before, was just entering, so I tucked in behind that.
At Holt lock, I unloaded my cargo, to enable me to carry the kayak round the lock, but on investigation found it was going to be a very long portage. Just then two barges arrived, again with pilots I'd met the night before, and again I was allowed to use the lock. This time it was a tight fit, and when it came time to leave, I had some worrying moments caught between their prop wash and the lock sill, but avoided being swamped.
These two barges were roped side by side, larger pulling the smaller with a broken drive train, so their speed was not much greater than mine. I met up with them again at Bevere lock and we went through together again.
Arriving in Worcester, I had to contend with many racing scullers practising up and down the river, none of them looking where they were going.
In between it was quite relaxing.
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