Short cruise in the rain, and back to Perdiswell Park

Wednesday 27^th March; Perdiswell Park to Lowesmoor winding hole and back again

After last night’s rain it was good to see the sunshine this morning, though the wind had got up considerably.  The water level had recovered and we set off soon after 9.  The forecast was for a wet and windy day today, and worse tomorrow – did we really want to go all the way into Worcester and turn in the basin where it is so tricky in the wind, or should we use one of the earlier winding holes?  We made the decision as the rain fell on Bilford Top lock.  Using the first winding hole between the Bilford locks would be rather a cop-out, and we wanted to charge our electronics so a bit more engine time was called for.  At the second Bilford lock a canoeist had just portaged past the lock.  He was doing the Worcester Ring Challenge, which is to get round the Worcester/Droitwich ring in your unpowered craft or paddle-board within one day. So he was on a bit of a mission and didn’t want to hang around and tell me how he planned to tackle the river.

The canoe looked rather heavy

He hadn’t picked a very nice day to do it, but I suppose he was unlikely to overheat!  I hope he was OK on the river, which I think was on amber at the time.  Jess and I walked on to Gregory’s Mill top lock, which is where a boat sank late yesterday.  A local cyclist said he had been caught up on a sunken motorbike frame, or at least that’s what the local paper had surmised.  But then, below Gregory's Mill bottom lock we spotted fuel boat Roach and stopped to get some coal.  Rich indicated the boat moored in front of him – that was the one that had come to grief.  The owner had stripped out the inside to do a complete refit so not much had been lost there as he had only replaced the insulation, though obviously the engine might be another matter.  He said that the boat had been overplated, and the chine now projected from the baseplate by about 2” on either side, so it was now wider than a standard 6’10” narrowboat.  As Gregory’s Mill top lock is the narrowest on the Worcester and Birmingham  it was unsurprising that he got stuck!  As it was already late jn the afternoon, CRT couldn’t do much till the morning so he went home to sleep.  But as Rich explained, the canal ‘weirs through’ these locks (ie there is no bywash) and the stern of the boat acted as a gate – until the water rose above the stern deck and flowed into the boat.

Refloated

We carried on to wind outside Lowesmoor Basin, coming back to the little park for a lunch stop in the sunshine.  We didn’t stay for very long as more rain is forecast. We saw a swan dozing on her nest, the second we have seen this year - the first is a regular at Droitwich Spa marina who is known to be sitting on 7 eggs - she nests on a little island at the end of a pontoon, right alongside a resident boater.

As we approached Gregory's Mill bottom lock for the second time, we spotted the owner of the recovered boat down his engine hole, assessing the damage and hoping he could coax it into life.  We wished him luck. 

At Gregory’s Mill top lock Dave said there seemed to be a bulge in one wall just inside the bottom gates, maybe that is where the boat had jammed. There was damage below the gate, which may have happened during the recovery yesterday.   

Once more Jess and I walked between the 4 locks, and at Bilford top she crossed her first top lock footboard.  We went back through the park with the ball we had earlier fished out of the cut. 

Glimpse of the canal from the park

We arrived at the mooring to help Dave moor up just as the first drops of rain were falling.  After a very heavy shower Jess got another walk in the park and I got to go to Sainsbury’s to replenish the store-cupboards. 

The rain started again before 9.  Tomorrow’s forecast is pretty poor. 

8 locks, 3½ miles.