Back to Droitwich Spa marina, and an explanation

Wednesday 3^rd September

It rained a lot overnight and was still a bit drizzly first thing, but the sun came out by breakfast-time.  This mooring is rather shady and we’d rather have been in the sun, but as everything outside was soaking wet we did some packing before we set off to descend Hanbury locks.  The forecast for the afternoon is atrocious so we wanted to be packed up and ready to drive home before the weather arrived.

The start of the Droitwich Junction canal.  The boat roof shows the result of mooring close to trees at this time of year.  It's clean, but cluttered.

When I met yesterday’s lockies they told me the morning procedure if we went down before today's had arrived – check the two pounds between the locks, and if they are low don’t use the side ponds, just lock down as normal and you should have enough water in the lockful you take with you as you go down.  By the time we moved off this morning, the two on duty today had already checked water levels and were filling the top lock for us.  We were their first boat of the day.

The bottom gates on this flight have to be propped open to stop them swinging closed.  This year smartly painted new props have been made – by a volunteer, of course.

Apart from the brisk breeze, the weather was perfect – warm and sunny, although the lock beams remained wet and I quickly got a damp bum.

Nearly there - entering the bottom lock

Jess likes to be off the boat when we're locking, but she has to be on the lead here because Saltway, one of the main routes out of Droitwich, runs very close to the towpath.  Once the boat is in the bottom lock she goes back aboard for the short trip into the marina – it’s a very long way round on foot, which wouldn’t worry her in the least but is not practical for us.  We only had one lockie at this point so I stayed off to give him a hand.

The pound below didn’t need any extra water, so he opened the side paddles first.  This saved half our lock water in the side pond, ready for use the next time the lock is filled.  This will save depleting the pound above.

He had spied a boat on its way out of the marina, so we left the gates open and I got back aboard from the steps before we went into the marina to find our berth.  I had checked it out on foot yesterday and thought I knew which it was – there were only two empty berths along the whole pontoon, either side of a distinctive boat, it should have been easy!  I chose the wrong one.  So after executing a perfect entry Dave luckily spotted the (admittedly rather small) number … and had to reverse out again.  The wind was so strong that rather than shuffle around to get into the right place, he returned to the wharf area to turn and make a fresh attempt, again smooth and successful.  We have realised over the years that loading and unloading our boat is a great deal easier and quicker from the bow, so we rarely reverse in.  We left for home at 12.30, which was very good going I thought.   Apart from an hour or so's driving in torrential rain our journey home was easy.  Bonjour is now in her winter mooring, but we plan to be out again around the end of the month, depending on water levels of course. At least we should have more options than if we had stayed at Calcutt, where we would now be stuck until that stretch of the Grand Union opens again.

Now, you may remember we encountered a tug moored inconsiderately at Blower’s Green, on the day we went down the Stourbridge 16 (26^th August, posted 1^st September).  NB Rune had the same problem just the other day, 2 weeks later, so yesterday I wrote to the Dudley Canal Trust to ask for it to be moved, saying it was “an example of extremely bad mooring practice and is a great irritation” - polite I think, but clear. 

The offending tug

Within two hours Becky from the Trust had got back to me, promising that it would be moved today.  It is one of the historic boats owned by the Trust, and is normally moored in a short arm at the junction but this had been blocked by a fallen tree, hence the emergency mooring - though it should still have been at one end of the bollards!  It had been escorting the electric trip boat in case it ran aground and needed assistance in the low water conditions on the Wolverhampton level.  She emailed again this morning to say the trip boat was on its way to collect it, and by the time this is posted it should back at the other end of the Dudley tunnel.  OK the skipper should have known better, but what a swift response when it was brought to their attention!  Thanks and well done Becky.

Today’s stats; 3 locks, half a mile.

Trip stats

Thanks to canalplan.uk for the calculations.

95½ miles, made up of 20 miles 6½ furlongs broad canals, 61 miles 6¼ furlongs narrow canals and 12 miles 7¼ furlongs large rivers.

128 locks; 45 broad, 80 narrow, 3 large.

3 lift bridges – 28 and 26, both manual and Shirley Drawbridge, which is electric, all on the North Stratford.

1 aqueduct large enough to be noticed, over the Avon on the Grand Union at Leamington Spa.

9 tunnels; Shrewley (9433 yds), Brandwood (353 yds), Edgbaston (105), Broad St aka Black Sabbath (83), Galton (122), Netherton (3027), Dunsley (25), Cookley (65) and Dunhampstead (230), a total of 2 miles 3¼ furlongs underground.  This figure does not include the Black Sabbath bridge in Birmingham, as it’s technically a road bridge with buildings along one side – at least canalplan.uk doesn’t think it should be included.

Waterways in order of passage; Grand Union, North Stratford, Worcester and Birmingham, BCN main line, Dudley numbers 1 and 2, Stourbridge, Staffs and Worcester, River Severn, Worcester and Birmingham again, Droitwich Junction.