The Severn Bore at Minsterworth, Gloucestershire

The alarm woke me as planned at 6-30 and we were on our way by 7-15am to view the Severn Bore again.  I was delighted to see the nearly cloudless sky with dew lying on the cold surfaces as a result of the still air.  We reached Gloucester in good time on empty roads it felt good to be going off on another jaunt.  At Gloucester we could drive across the River Severn to head down its west bank towards Chepstow following the line of foothills of the Forest of Dean.

The Severn Bore is a fairly unique phenomenon, and is thought to be the second largest one in the world.  It forms when the pressure of the volume of the incoming sea in the Severn Estuary forces the tide up and over the outgoing flow of the river, which sends a tidal wave up the river valley for countless miles.  There are many bores each year but the 5* bores happen only occasionally and today's was thought to be one of the best of the year.

My trip yesterday took me to the east bank where I decided that the west bank would probably be the easiest to get to.  The tiny lanes on the east side of the river would be difficult to navigate with few parking places.  As it turns out I think I was wrong as there weren't many people on that side, whilst on the west side Helena and I both got annoyed but too may people some of whom stood in the way of cameras without much regard for others.

The estimated time of arrival of the bore came and went and then suddenly we could see it as it followed around a big bend in the river.  After the bend the channel was straighter having been artificially  embanked to prevent flooding of the surrounding land.  

My picture is the first one I took because it shows the power of the white water as the wave is breaking.  Usually surfers try to ride the wave, and once someone rode the Bore for more than fifteen miles inland.  Today there were no successful surfers and to be honest the height was lower than I had expected.  By the time it turned the bend the crest had dissipated and the breaking waves were restricted to where they ran along the banks of the river.

It was still good to see and we both just liked be standing beside the river, watching the light, the landscape, hearing the sound of varied birds in the distance and breathing in the early morning air.  Once the wave passed the level of the river rises by the height of the wave which I estimate at about twelve feet and there is a rapid influx of water probably at the speed of the wave.

By the time we returned to Gloucester, we noticed that there were crowds there looking down from the bridges and banks as the Bore hadn't yet reached there.  It carries on for a long way upstream even beyond the areas that are normally tidal.  We headed into the city for a coffee and breakfast near to the docks which we walked through.  They looked lovely in the bright light and I must go back there again as when it is empty of people there is a different quality to these old industrial spaces.

If you have a look at the map you can see the scale of the whole thing, showing the distance of Gloucester from the sea.  We are going back to the sea tomorrow when we join Mary and her friends for her birthday walk and picnic at Clevedon in Somerset, just to the west of Bristol.

If you fancy it, you can take this 20 minute ride on the Bore with a surf boarder using a GoPro camera.  He manages to ride it till the wave runs out of steam and he ends up all alone in the mists of November 2012 early morning.