Hafren river cruise boat

What's up, folks? As any long-term reader will know, I absolutely love quirky stuff, and I like shipwrecks too. You may remember I swam out to a capsised cruise ship off the coast of Greece. And much to my delight, Shropshire has something of an equivalent! Obviously it's not as big, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in cuteness (to quote my old dating profile). This is the Hafren, and it was to Ironbridge what the Sabrina boat is to Shrewsbury. And that's quite fitting really, because in Welsh folklore, Hafren and Sabrina were the same person.

And that brings us down the long-winded legend route, so to break up the wall of text, here's a photo of Hafren back when it was still operational. 

(Photo credit: Bill Cox)

According to folklore, Hafren was the illegitimate daughter of Locrin and his secret lover, Estrildis, who he found on a Germanic ship after a botched invasion. But Locrin was forced into a diplomatic marriage with Gwendolen, the princess of Cornwall. But when Gwendolen's father died, Locrin suddenly had no reason to suck up to some foreign monarch anymore and promptly divorced Gwendolen and married Estrildis. Gwendolen was miffed, and did the popular thing in circa 1100BC, which was raise an army and kill the lot of them. Hafren and her mother were drowned in the River Severn near Dolforwyn Castle, Dolforwyn literally translating to Maidens Meadow.

 

(Photo not mine. Credit unknown)

 

Gwendolen named the river after Hafren. "Severn" seems to be a distorted version of the name. Remember, "F" makes a "V" sound in Welsh, and the whole thing was further murkied up by the Romans, who renamed Hafren "Sabrina." They also seem to have added a plot twist that Locrin, or Locrinus, is the grandson of the Goddess Venus, giving the family tree that divinity that presumably causes Hafren/Sabrina to be referred to as a river goddess. 

Some legends say that Hafren still haunts the river, and can be seen on foggy nights. And technically, if we consider the boat, a Hafren does still haunt the Severn, tragically following its namesakes footsteps.

 

Anyway, it goes without saying that I boarded the Hafren. How could I not? It just wouldn't be an adventure if I didn't perch precariously on something unstable and wave at canoeists while wearing a pirate hat.

 

The Hafren sure is dirty, but once I was actually on it, I noticed a few details shining through the filth. It has the faint vestiges of its former paint job and there's still a telephone number here.

Across the river, there's a deer! It came down for a drink but took off when it realised it had my attention. I'm afraid there's no way to scramble across a diagonally slanted shipwreck in a subtle or graceful way.

From what I have read from old articles, the Hafren first set sail on the Severn in Easter 2010, and was the first river cruise boat in Ironbridge in half a decade, it's predecessor being sunk by vandals. What Hafren was doing prior to river cruises in Ironbridge, I don't know, but I think it was actually purchased from America.

 

It did regular cruises along the river for £3 per person, lasting 45 minutes, seven days a week, although subject to cancellations if weather conditions were shite. The Shropshire Star did report in 2012 that the cruises might be forced to stop due to the water level dropping. Certainly an alien concept in the 2020s where the British seasons go Winter, Spring, Winter, Spring, Winter, Spring, Summer, Winter, Autumn, Winter, all in the space of a week. 

But the Hafren was popular. It had very positive reviews, mentioning very knowledgeable staff and a great vantage point for spotting wildlife. 

It also had a sister boat, called Bumblebee, whose chain snapped in 2013, sending it free-floating all the way to Bridgnorth. I guess we should refer to it in the past tense as Bumblebeen.

 

It's still possible to peek through the windows and take a look at the Hafren's interior.

 

 

This appears to be a desk or something. There's a chunk of wet mud there too, indicative that the water level has dropped a bit. 

 

 

And here we have the fold-down seats. 

 

I'm not sure when the boat sank, but I think it was around 2017-ish. The owners were clearly quite passionate about what they did, having had numerous boats on the Severn over the years, and while the Hafren did get a bit damaged, they apparently did have the means to repair it. But from what I can tell, they live elsewhere and relied on someone else to keep them updated, and this person neglected to inform them that their beloved boat had started sinking. By the time they found out, it was too late to do anything. Hafren could have been saved if the communication had been there.

 

But as I looked down through the windows at the rows of seats, I realised that it simply wasn't enough to sit on the Hafren and peer in. I decided that these seats would look so much better from the opposite angle. So I slipped inside.

Now, to clarify, these antics are the product of my own crazy quest for dopamine, and I don't condone this at all. The boat was stirring under me. It's embedded in silt, and not exactly stable. The diagonal angle of the boat didn't make it tricky to walk through because the interior was also full of silt. But if something was to go wrong, I wouldn't be able to get out of here quickly if every footstep sinks me halfway up my shins. 

So yeah... don't do this. I'm a terrible role model.

Here we are at the desk we saw earlier.

And here are all the fold-down seats. Only a few years ago, people would be sat on these, checking out the wildlife mooching about around the river. It would have been quite pleasant.

But alas, the Hafren will likely never sail again. It has truly followed in the path of its namesake, the young girl Hafren of Welsh folklore who met her end in the river. And with recent rainfall I'd be very surprised if it hasn't deteriorated further. But that's part of what made this adventure special. There will come a time when it will be impossible to wade through the Hafren and sit on its roof, and appreciate the service that the owners once provided with it.

 

And that's all I've got for today. Wasn't this cool? As far as abandoned things go, it's definitely different, and it gave me a bit of a challenge, which I love. I don't think there are many who would actually go into it. The average human, after all, has a survival instinct. But I like shipwrecks for some reason, so it won me over. As far as trips to Ironbridge go, I'm satisfied. 

I'm satisfyonbridge.

 

My next blog will be more boats! Less awful puns! Exciting times!

 

And to make sure you don't miss any blog updates, follow my social media! I'm active on the algorithmic shit shows that are Instagram, Facebook, and Threads, as well as Twitter for some reason. And I also dabble in any attempt to come up with superior alternatives, and this has led me to Vero and Bluesky, which I use with shocking regularity. 

 

Thanks for reading!