The Severn Bore at Minsterworth

We were lucky to have an opportunity to see a 4* Severn Bore yesterday! Some of our footage can be seen here: http://youtu.be/NmmbHikqpXk

The Severn Bore is one of Britain’s truly spectacular natural phenomena. It is a large surge wave that can be seen in the estuary of the River Severn, where the tidal range is the second highest in the world.

The shape of the Severn estuary is such that the water is funnelled into an increasingly narrow channel as the tide rises, thus forming the large wave. The river’s course takes it past Avonmouth where it is approximately 5 miles wide, then past Beachley and Aust, then Lydney and Sharpness where it is approximately 1 mile wide, and soon the river is down to a width of a few hundred yards. By the time the river reaches Minsterworth it is less than a hundred yards across, maintaining this width all the way to Gloucester (see http://www.severn-bore.co.uk/).