Leaving the Staffs and Worcester for the Stourbridge

Saturday 26^th April; Wolverley to above Stourton locks

The early grey chill was wearing off a bit as we cast off at 9, only to notice Soudley, an ex-Ownerships boat, coming round the bend above the lock, so we waited for them to go past.  It wasn’t far to Debdale lock, winding our way round the steep sandstone cliffs.

Luckily no-one was coming the other way, it's a bit tight here for passing another boat

We knew that the approach to Cookley tunnel was dodgy to say the least, so we were pleased to be warned by a walker of a 'bit of a problem' before we got too close.  Soudley had met another boat as they emerged on the other side, and had obviously warned them we were probably close behind.  So we waited for them to appear before rounding the bend to the tunnel, and had no problem at all.  We needed a couple of things in the shop so moored briefly beyond the tunnel and I popped up to the village perched high above the tunnel.

Yes, the path up to the village is very steep.  You would have no idea from the road that the back gardens are so dramatic

There is a Tesco Express, a pub, chippy and Indian take-away, so a useful village.  We went on to Whittington, one of the very pretty spots along here.

Whittington lock and cottage

The bywash runs beneath the lock cottage.  A boater I met later at Kinver once asked the owner how he got insurance.  Apparently the bywash widens out under the cottage and there is some arrangement so that if branches etc are washed in there should be no risk of a complete blockage.  We caught up with Soudley at Kinver, where they had moored below the lock.  Having set off at 6 this morning, they were treating themselves to lunch at the Vine, a restaurant at the lock.  Once up the lock, we pottered on to the facilities block where we took on water and disposed of rubbish and recycling.

Our first sighting of a food waste bin.  It contained 3 mouldy fairy cakes and a banana skin.

A single-hander went by as we were there, and very kindly said we could go ahead at Hyde lock if we wanted – but I helped him through, as we would soon be turning off the Staffs and Worcester and he wasn't.  While we were creeping past the long-term moorings I started making the sandwiches for lunch, and while Dave was waiting for the lock he finished them, so rather than moor on the extremely tempting stretch above Hyde lock we ate on the move. 

The garden gate of Hyde lock cottage is a miniature set of lock gates

For various reasons we have less time for this trip than we would like, so on we went.

Like Cookley, Dunsley tunnel is cut through the red sandstone

Once through Stewponey lock it wasn’t long before we reached Stourton Junction, where we turned right up the four Stourton locks.

The bottom pound has a lot of duckweed as well as a sunken boat

I put some rubbish from the top lock in the bow to dispose of later, and we cruised on for a bit to find a quiet mooring for the night.

The traffic cone had been left on the lockside, and I hooked the green thing out of the water with my windlass.  I wonder what it is, it looked like a dog toy when I spotted it as only the handle was visible.  (The hose reel is ours).

Tomorrow we have the 16 locks of the Stourbridge flight, so we won’t go that far today.

7½ miles, 9 locks, Cookley and Dunsley tunnels

A somewhat gentler day

Friday 25^th April; Stourport to Wolverley

It’s a good spot here for doing work on the boat, with a wide enough grass verge to put the engine board where passers-by won’t trip over it.  So Dave decided to change the engine oil and the air filter too, and I took Jess along the old railway line from the Old Railway bridge opposite the Railway Basin.  We’ve never moored here before so it was a good opportunity to explore.  It’s very much like other railway lines that have been converted to walking and cycling trails – a good surface and lots of trees grown up where they no longer need to be removed to stop them catching fire from sparks. 

The river Stour crossing

The line crosses the river where it winds across its flood plain on its way to the Severn.  There is a main road too, and the sides are steep where the river has cut through the sandstone.  Like the canal, the railway line is along alternating embankments and cuttings, with the few road bridges often high above.

Road bridge above the cliff

The skylarks were singing above the fields alongside, and at one point I heard a whitethroat.  We followed the line for about a mile and a half before returning, just as Dave was finishing the engine work.  We set off eventually at 11.45 – too early for lunch, so we thought we’d get an hour or so’s cruising done.  Moored not far along was a boat we had seen before, I can’t remember the name though it did have Woof painted on the stern.

I think we can assume this boat contains at least one dog!  I was initially slightly alarmed by its staring red eye, but I guess its starboard eye is green!

The sun was shining and Jess was enjoying a zizz after her walk this morning, though still keeping a little control on the revs.

A while later she decided that wasn’t so comfortable.

This'll do

The initial idea had been to go up Kidderminster lock and do our shopping in Sainsbury’s after lunch.  But it was taking us longer to get there than we thought it would, even though the two locks before the town were easy little ones.

Caldwall lock

I wonder why two footbridges were thought to be necessary?

So as the Tesco mooring before Kidderminster lock was free, we tied up and had lunch before doing our shopping.  There is a pub garden opposite the mooring, raised up above a retaining wall, and there seemed to be a leaving do going on.  The lively chatter was loud and getting oppressive so we left as soon as we could to go up Kidderminster lock, which is deep and very noisy from the busy road, but with the view at the top as compensation.

One of the obligatory snaps wouldn’t you say?  Especially with the bright colours of the new leaves and the masses of daisies.

The Sainsbury’s moorings were empty, with no noisy pub opposite, and another time I would put up with the growling stomach and moor here.  We tootled along through the outskirts of the town as the surroundings gradually got more peaceful.

It's the only one I've seen so far

We went up the next two locks, and moored for the night round the bend from Wolverley lock.  Later another boat stopped some way behind us, and much later – around 8pm - two Starline hire boats, all the way from Stourport, waved merrily as they passed.  They were only out for the weekend, I wonder how far they would get?

5 miles, 5 locks

 

A bit more than we had bargained fo

Thursday 24^th April; Salwarpe to Bird in Hand, Stourport

Salwarpe is a lovely little mooring spot.  When I took Jess out first thing, I could hear a cuckoo in the distance – but only just, because a busy road was in the distance too.   It was a good day for birding today.   We set off about 9, knowing we had a long day ahead of us and glad we had come the extra two miles from Droitwich last night.  We were soon at Ladywood Top lock, where a boat was just rising up after a much earlier start than ours!  The couple living in the top lock cottage are boaters, whose boat is currently moored at Tixall Wide while they popped home for 2 weeks.  I wonder how many of the locked-up boats you see around are the same, the owners going home for 2 weeks before moving again?

Ladywood locks are hard work – they are doubles with heavy gates, and the paddle gear on the bottom gates is very stiff.  It’s also placed higher up than I find comfortable.  But the locks don’t leak much, and the rest in the flight were nearly full.  At the second I was joined by a walker, another boater from Droitwich, who walks this way every day to exercise his new knee, so he helped with the lock before retracing his steps.  He was using the Merlin app and said there were Cetti’s warblers along the canal – and at the next lock we heard them.

Ladywood Bottom lock

I didn’t have to close this lock, as a boat was arriving to come up.  We moored above the Hawford locks for half an hour, as we needed to get the anchor out from under the bed and secured at the bow, and make some lunch to eat on the river.  A boat came up the top Hawford lock as we prepared to set off again, and as Bonjour sat in the bottom lock we put our lifejackets on and got the dog on board before I emptied the lock.  We had been warned one of the gates was very difficult to close – it was the gate we were using and I only just got it moving as Dave was tying up ready to come and help.

Hawford bottom lock, showing the height of the gate paddle gear.  You can see that the lock beams are muddy and there is a cracked layer of dried mud on the gates, which is from the last time the Severn was in flood.

By now the weather was glorious, with long spells of sunshine.  The flow on the Severn was so gentle that we cruised pretty much on tickover for a while, admiring the scenery.

One of the pretty houses on the way to Holt

We had lunch as we cruised, spotting one of the only landmarks behind the trees – Holt Castle, a large turreted house.  Then at last we arrived at Holt Bridge and the first river lock was in sight.

Holt Bridge is one of the few road crossings on the navigable Severn

The lights were flashing red, meaning that the lockie knew we were there, then quickly changed to green and in we went.  I was delighted to see sand martins flying around the block of nest boxes that were installed a few years ago, and the lockie said 40 chicks had fledged last year.  I was at the bow, ready with the rope, and I had left my camera at the stern, so once again I have failed to take a picture.  After Holt lock it’s a long way to Lincomb, the last lock on the Severn.  We upped the revs a bit, as although the river is beautiful, especially in the sunshine, it does get very samey after an hour or two!

Beautiful but it gets just a tad tedious

Don’t look at us like that!

Approaching Lincomb lock

Eventually we arrived at Lincomb lock, knowing it wasn’t far now to the Stourport river moorings for our overnight stop. 
But oh no!  the visitor moorings were rammed!  And where was the entrance to the narrow locks up to the basin?  And where was the lock mooring?

Behind the Edward Elgar trip boat, that’s where!

Nowhere to get off to access the lock except for the ladder under the bridge….

A bit of a stretch, but Dave got the bow close enough for me to safely get back on land.  I took the photo from the bridge above.

I had asked the guys on the trip boat whether they had broken down, politely and not at all pointedly I thought, and the skipper was very snippy.  But he immediately rushed round to help with the lock and apologised profusely, explaining about his bad day.  They have a dedicated mooring at the far end of the pontoons but the signage still has not been put up and narrowboats had filled the space. 

Stourport locks, bottom of the first staircase, access a little tricky if the lock mooring is occupied!

From the top of the second staircase locks, you turn right through the Clock Basin, then turn left opposite the facilities block for York lock.  That was another tricky lock – the staircases are delightfully easy, the paddles can be wound up with one hand, but York bottom gates have angled beams because of the road bridge and one was a right bugger to close.  The top gate was even worse and Dave had to help me open it.  A gongoozler had recommended the Bird in Hand moorings on the edge of town so we made our way there, arriving at 5.30.  We thought we’d award ourselves a pie and a pint after such a long day, but although food was advertised outside, they ‘don’t really do food at the moment’.  There was no bitter on draught either, but the golden ale was most acceptable.

The little patch of white above the sign is the back of the female brooding her eggs.  I should have included the male, who was standing aggressively on the towpath staring at the drinkers in the pub garden.  I suspect he has experience of dodgy drinkers.

13 miles; 3½ miles broad, 8½ river, just under 1 mile narrow canal.

15 locks; 8 broad, 2 large, 5 narrow including 2 staircases.

It took us 7½ hours, almost twice our usual cruising time.

Internet access has been a bit dodgy so I am getting rather behind with the blog.

‘Escape’ from Droitwich

Wednesday 23^rd April; Droitwich Spa marina to Salwarpe, bridge 7

Lovely though it is round here, we really want to be cruising in the Midlands this summer!

After an easy journey we were at the marina around 12.30, and by 2.30 we had unpacked, topped up the water and fuel tanks, had a pump-out and settled our outstanding bills at the Marina.  With the top lock at Tardebigge out of action for the summer, and the Avon Ring closed till June with a stoppage on the South Stratford, there is only one route to get to the rest of the network.  (I don’t count the route via the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal and the K&A, which involves the Bristol Channel crossing).  So we turned towards Droitwich and the Severn, in warm sunshine.  The first lock was the top of the staircase, and it was against us, as were all the other locks today.  But a boat arrived behind us accompanied by one of the Hanbury lockies who helped us too.

The staircase was the first work today

The Body Brook joins the canal below the next lock.  It has been responsible for closing the canal in very wet spells with its extra flow, as the water level rises too high to permit passage under the M5 bridge.

Normally this paddle is locked off, to restrict the flow through the M5 tunnel.  But with the other paddle broken and chained up they have had to unlock it.

 

 

 

 

The water level was a little high after the recent rain and we clobbered the profile indicator for the M5 tunnel.  The full water tank (combined of course with great care) meant we had just enough clearance to get through the tunnel. 

There are three swing bridges crossing the canal in Droitwich.  The first crosses the wide Barge lock and must be swung before the boat can come into the lock.  I had help here from a delightful teenager who is about to start his GCSE exams.  You have to use a Watermate key to unlock the padlocks on these bridges, which is usually difficult because the bridges all try to swing open, which jams the padlock against the vertical post it locks to.   So someone has to lean against the bridge and hold it closed so the padlock can be opened and the bridge released.  And then it’s the same again to close it.  Luckily there were plenty of passers-by to help.  We usually moor in Vines Park or on one of the finger pontoons in Netherwich Basin, but it was very crowded, and as we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow we thought we’d try our luck a couple of miles further on at Salwarpe.

This road bridge is circular in profile.  You think you are well away from the walls, but they curve round under the water and you can’t avoid nudging them.

The mooring just before bridge 7 was empty and we moored on pins with no trouble - rather relieved, as we really didn’t want to go down another 5 locks before it would be possible to moor!  Jess and I went exploring, as it’s the first time we have stopped here, while Dave checked the bow thruster batteries.  Salwarpe is a very small village and the footpath up from the canal passes through a churchyard, over a lane to a footpath which passes across the front garden of (though still 30 or 40 yards away from) Salwarpe Court, rather a grand house.  The land behind the house runs along the canal opposite the boat, and a splendid cockerel was loudly announcing his presence.  I hope he doesn’t get up too early.

Bonjour from bridge 7

We were joined later by a hire boat, which had probably come up from Worcester today.

3 miles, 4 locks (including the staircase), 3 swing bridges

Perfect cruising weather back to the marina

Monday 31^st March; Oddingley to the marina

There was a sharp frost when I took the dog out first thing, but it disappeared as the sun rose higher.  The air was chilly to start with, but with hardly any wind it was a beautiful day for cruising.

Blackthorn blossom

Trinity Boats, a small hire company at Dunhampstead, has moved now to the old Anglo-Welsh base at Tardebigge Old Wharf, which is between Tardebigge and Shortwood tunnels.  The Tardebigge lock closure happened just after they started the move, which will have meant it would have taken longer to move the boats, but their old home looks empty now.

Trinity’s old home.  With two more hire boats coming on stream there wouldn't be enough room here

On the way to Hanbury Junction there is a large house with a very long garden and canal frontage, and for years there has been a decrepit boathouse with a tatty looking cruiser inside, reeds growing across the front.  It has all been renovated now.

A bit smarter now

It’s less than two miles to Hanbury Locks from Oddingley.  We haven’t seen the volunteers yet this year, and these locks empty themselves so even though a boat had just left the top lock I had to top that one up and then turn the second and third.  These locks have working side ponds which are a water-saving device as long as they get used!  The procedure is the same whether you are going up or down.  First you open the side pond paddles, so if you are emptying the lock, as we were, you will fill the empty side pond from the lock.

Empty

If you are coming up and need to fill the lock, there should be water waiting in the side pond for you to start the process.

But we were going down, so half our lockful went in here.

When the levels have equalised (the flow in or out of the side pond stops) you close those paddles then open the ground or gate paddles as appropriate.

All ready for the next boat

 We've had such a dry winter and spring so far I wonder whether CRT might consider bring other side ponds back into use, such as on the Stoke Bruerne and Atherstone flights?

Today's weather was perfect for marina mooring – not a breath of wind – and we slid into our berth very easily.  As well as the normal packing up, there were the toilets to be sorted out.  Plural, because the Porta-Potti was deployed yesterday evening.  There isn’t a problem with the macerator, but it was being descaled.  We had never thought about it until Dave was doing research on macerator pump-outs soon after we got the boat.  It’s like descaling a kettle really, you buy the stuff and follow the instructions.  Various sources said it needed to ‘soak’ from a few hours to 72.  So we started it yesterday evening and  finished the job in the marina, then of course the cassette needed to be emptied too.  I have never seen descaling mentioned on blogs or websites, so I wonder if most people don't do it?

We had a list of jobs that need doing, and most didn’t get done, but the biggest – get the batteries changed – and the most annoying - descale the macerator - are out of the way at last. 

We still haven’t finalised our cruising plans for the year.  There are three ways to the main canal network; the first, via the Worcester and Birmingham, is out for months because of the stoppage at Tardebigge top lock.  The second, down the Severn to Tewkesbury for the Avon Ring, which we would have liked as our 'escape' cruise, is also out till the end of May as there is a stoppage on the Wilmcote flight.  So that leaves the Severn to Stourport, to join the Staffs and Worcester.  As we spent time further north last year, and with the recent breach on the Macc, we will be in the Midlands and south this year, but still have to decide on our first destination.

Further news on the Tardebigge work click HERE.

Today's stats; 3 locks, 3 miles

Trip stats; 17 miles narrow canals, 30 narrow locks, Dunhampstead tunnel (twice).  Waterways; Droitwich Junction canal, Worcester and Birmingham.