Some heavy work

Saturday 15^th April: Vines Park to Hawford Top Lock

We were up in good time on a bright but chilly morning.  I whizzed over to Waitrose for a few bits and pieces and when I got back Dave had readied the boat for cruising.  I quickly phoned the lockie at Holt lock to find out the situation – the locks will stay open and the levels are amber, falling.  The forecast is ok, so we carried on down the Droitwich Barge canal, leaving at 9.30.  If we make Hawford locks in good enough time we will go up the river today.  As it’s the weekend the dredging equipment was still and quiet, though with an interesting range of items displayed by the digger bucket!

Dredgings

It’s a surprisingly long way down to the top Ladywood lock.  We are always taken by surprise at how long it takes to get there.  We passed a private mooring with some marsh marigolds, aka kingcups.

Kingcups

Some foaming blackthorn bushes

And some wonderful wild cherries.

Hung with snow

The Ladywood locks are all doubles, and sadly there was no-one to share these very heavy locks with.  But the weather was sunny and not particularly cold, so we worked steadily and at lock 4 we found two boats coming in at the bottom gates.  They had been up to Kinver and were returning to Droitwich marina, and came down the river yesterday – rather quickly!  Half an hour from Holt lock to the junction, which is about 3 miles – they would probably have been quicker, but it was quite a job turning to get off the river at Hawford Junction!  We’ll see how long it takes us going upstream.  The third boat of the group was somewhere behind them, and they phoned to get him to leave the top gates open at the last lock, lock 5.  To access this lock from the upstream towpath, you either remember your BW key to open a gate and walk alongside the cottage garden or you have to go past the cottage, along to the road and over the bridge to the bottom gates.  I opened the gate and there was a pair of swans on the path.  As I had Meg with me I reversed smartly and we went the long way round.

Taken from the lock - that's the gate beyond the lock landing

They stayed where they were and we were soon down the lock.  The next lock, Mildenham Mill, was the last one for the day – we may not have enough time to get up to Stourport in one go and don’t want to stay on a pub or lock mooring while the river is on amber.  Like many of the gates on the Ladywood flight, these bottom gates had an extension to make them a little easier to move – and some, like this, have had weight added to try and balance them better.

We moored above Hawford top lock and had lunch.  I called the lockie to say we wouldn’t be coming up the river this afternoon.  Instead we walked down to Bevere lock where the footpath goes quite close to the fish pass.  Unlike the one at Diglis, which is a deep slot pass, this one is a long sloping ramp with concrete blocks cast into the surface.  This creates the equivalent of a series of shoals in a natural river.

We didn’t see any fish though.  We walked on a bit, past this modern house which is still under construction.

To keep the living quarters away from flood water the house is built on a brick column – possibly with steps up to the house itself - with metal stilts around the edge rather like the mooring poles that floating pontoons are moored to.  When we got back to the boat Dave cleaned and polished the starboard side of the boat, before we got the anchor out from its home under the bed.  Dave noticed a slightly damp patch - definitely not from the poo tank! which will need investigating, but it looks as though it is coming from the bathroom, maybe a faulty seal around the basin.  We’ll look at that when we get to Stourport.

5½ miles, 6 double locks