A short visit

Wednesday 22^nd January; Droitwich Spa marina

We are only here for a couple of days, to check that all’s well and to replace the leisure batteries, one of which failed on our last trip of 2024.   The plan was to come up before Christmas, but it wasn’t to be - a combination of wet weather, a family visit, appointments and then the snow and ice … not the weather for travelling or working down an engine-hole, certainly when you still haven’t got around to getting a pram cover made! 

Anyway, when we arrived the batteries were fully charged, the solar having kept them topped up as there was nothing switched on to use the power, so could switch on the Eberspacher to take the chill off the icy-cold boat.  With time getting on and rain likely this afternoon Dave decided to leave the batteries till tomorrow and do a few other little jobs.  Jess and I had a walk down to Vines Park to play with her frisbee. The park has information boards about the history of the town and its association with the salt industry from the Iron Age (300 BC).   See this link for more information.

Does that look salty?

The brine (at 25% it is saltier than the Dead Sea) comes to the surface along the Salwarpe valley.  The Salwarpe is the little river flowing by in the photo.  At lock 7 the Salwarpe joins the navigation for a few hundred yards as far as Barge Lock, where it goes off again and forms the northern boundary of Vines Park, where I stood to take this photo.  The Droitwich Barge canal leads from Barge lock through the Park, behind where I was standing, to the Netherwich Basin moorings at the far end of the park, before making its way down to the Severn at Hawford junction, 5 miles away.  The  canal was opened in 1771 to transport salt, and when the railways came the Droitwich Junction canal was built to connect Droitwich to the Worcester and Birmingham at Hanbury Junction, opening in 1854.

Barge Lock in 1906

In 1916 the last salt barge, a Severn Trow, carried its last load at the Severn end of the canal, though it was carrying two hayricks to Cardiff rather than salt.  The last narrowboat journey was in 1928.  It was taken by the Canal Manager with a load of stolen bricks from Hanbury, but it only got as far as Droitwich where he was arrested.  The canals were officially abandoned in 1939 and then became a handy place for disposal of local sewage.  Lovely.

Barge Lock today, named for the initiator of the restoration effort

All could have been lost but for Max Sinclair of the IWA, who in 1959 started the campaign which resulted in the full restoration of the Droitwich Junction and Barge canals.  There is an excellent potted history here https://waterways.org.uk/waterways/discover-the-waterways/droitwich-canals where I got most of this information.

A poetic interpretation

When I got back, Dave had installed better lighting (more LEDs) above the dinette, which has made reading the paper in the evenings a great deal easier.  With the fire lit, and multiple hot-water bottles to air the bed, we could relax.