Sunday 11th October; Commandery to Perdiswell Park, bridge 17
By the time we were awake the Cathedral clock was striking 8, so it was a slow start to the day. When Jess and I walked down to the garage to buy the Sunday paper I noticed that Sidbury lock was full, ready for our descent later. But by the time we were ready to leave, a hire boat had gone by on its way down to the river so I would need to fill it again before we could leave. We had made up our minds last night to retrace our route back to the marina rather than go round the Droitwich ring. As we made ready to leave at 10 o’clock, the Cathedral bells had started ringing for morning service. Cathedral bands are very skilled and it was wonderful to hear – 14 bells I thought, though it’s difficult to tell when there are more than 8 or 10.
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| Sidbury lock, the first and second of the day. |
We made our way along the few hundred yards to Diglis basin to wind. NB The Boat was making ready to leave, which was a bit of a drag as they would have the benefit of the empty lock. Diglis basin is often a tricky place to turn round as the wind can be very troublesome – either funnelling down from the north between tall buildings and a high wall, blowing up from the river to the south or just being a nuisance from the other directions as it blows through gaps between buildings. But today was calm and it was a very easy turn. The Boat was just leaving Sidbury lock so I closed up for them. They were booked in at Lowesmoor Basin for some work later in the week so would be mooring above the next lock. It was ages before we got though the next lock, as both Sidbury and Blockhouse are 9’6” deep.
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| Jess was fully occupied at Blockhouse lock with a log |
It was a beautiful sunny day as we pottered along, passing The Boat soon afterwards. They warned us of some fishermen beyond the next bridge – it was a match, of course. The sun was so bright that it was difficult to take a photo but this one has some interesting effects caused by the glare – I had to wait until we were under the bridge to take it.
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| The halo effect |
The walker does indeed have blue hair, and her clothes seem to match the cladding on the building. The water is full of coloured shiny sparkles and the fisherman on the right appears to be using a light sabre as part of his rod! We stopped briefly by the park at bridge 11 for lunch and to give Jess some playtime before we moved on.
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| The artwork at bridge 11 used to be of animals, elephants, lions and so on |
After yesterday’s empty pound we were slightly concerned about water levels as we came up the two Gregory’s Mill locks, but everything was fine. We had been told that there were more fishermen ‘further along the other side of the bridge’ but they weren’t anywhere to be seen. They must be above Bilford top lock, as there isn’t much room along the towpath here, but maybe yesterday’s empty pound would have caused problems too. There were a few chaps there above the lock, but would there be more, even as far as our planned mooring at Perdiswell Park? It’s hard to see as there is a lot of reed growth along the towpath, which also restricts the places to fish. We have woken up in the past to find fishermen setting up at both our bow and stern so were prepared to stop temporarily through the bridge and then pull back – but they had gone, if they had ever been there. Once moored I got the shears and trimmed the nettles and brambles on the edge so Dave could paint this side below the gunwale, then I took Jess to the park where we had a good long walk and she spent a lot of time barking up trees at squirrels.
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| Dave had started on the rust on the sliding hatch |
At least the rust spots have been dealt with. Later on we lit the first fire of the autumn.
3 ¼ miles, 7 locks
