Further than expected today – the Stourbridge 16

Tuesday 26^th August; Windmill End to above Stourton Top lock

The original plan was to have a leisurely start, stop at Merry Hill for shopping, then spend the night on the Stourbridge Extension canal along the Fens Branch.  We pushed across to the water-point and had breakfast while we waited for our rather depleted tank to fill, and left around 9.  There had been a heavy but short shower before we got up, but it was still warm enough to need shorts.  

At Blackbrook Junction on the Dudley No 2 there used to be a short-cut (with locks) to the Dudley No 1, avoiding Parkhead Junction.

We had a lot of recycling etc to dispose of and were aiming to do that at the Blower’s Green CRT services.  If we hadn’t filled our water tank earlier we would have needed to do that too.  The bollards for the facilities also serve as lock moorings for Blower’s Green lock (to take you south on the Dudley No 1) and the bottom Parkhead lock (to take you up to the south portal of the Dudley tunnel) and normally two boats are able to moor here.  But ….

Slap bang in the middle, no good for us.  Our stern would have been in the bridge hole.

This tug passed us yesterday at Windmill End, towing the Dudley Tunnel trip boat.  They must have been making the two-tunnel round trip, which is a 6-hour journey and they would have just come through Netherton tunnel.  The trip boat itself, being electric and having a very low profile, would have continued the journey on its own, up the Parkhead locks and through the tunnel (where internal combustion engines are not allowed) to finish at the Canal and Tunnel Trust base opposite the Black Country Living Museum.  Even breasting up alongside would have been tricky as the tug is much shorter than us.  Instead we tied up to some unsteady-looking posts between Parkhead bottom lock and an overflow above Blower’s Green lock.  It was a nuisance to have to make 2 trips across the lock to get to the bins which are by the bridge, at the furthest point from the boat as they could be.  All the food waste from our trip so far, including the messy bones from the roast chicken, was in bags stored in my trusty ice-cream tubs, because Blower’s Green was one place I knew there was a food waste bin (lots of places don’t have one yet).  As Pip on Oleanna pointed out recently, few people seem to be using the food waste bins and in our experience a lot treat the recycling bins as general waste bins anyway.  Why?  It’s not difficult to separate your recycling from general waste even if you stay in one place for three weeks, although that might make separating food waste difficult as so many service areas do not have a food waste bin.

Grumble over.

Down the lock we went, towards Merry Hill.  We didn't actually need to stop at the shops, so we carried on towards the Delph flight.

We weren’t the first, or even the second, at Delph top lock

The two hire boats ahead had been moored overnight at Merry Hill, so we expected to turn every lock.  Luckily for us there were some volunteers to keep everybody moving, although their shift finished when we were only half-way down.

I trust that will be true, even though they can’t spell, all right?

The original Delph flight had nine locks (the Nine Locks Bridge is at the top, and the pub at the bottom is called the Tenth Lock) but was badly affected by mining subsidence and had to be rebuilt as eight locks on a straighter course.  

The waterfall-style bywashes were all running – there seems to be plenty of water around

We were soon at the bottom lock.

Apart from the two in front of us there were no other boats going our way all day, and just one coming towards us.  And where did we meet this boat?  On a convex bend, our (and their) vision completely obscured by offside vegetation.

It didn’t help that he had been on the ‘wrong’ side of the canal.  By the time I took the photo our stern had swung across to the towpath.

At least we were going slowly and we both reacted quickly, so the boats didn’t touch, although we had to pass on the ‘wrong’ side.  Soon after, we pulled in on the rings just before Leys junction.  Decision time – should we spend a relaxing afternoon on the Stourbridge extension canal?  That might mean descending the Stourbridge 16 in the rain which is forecast for tomorrow.  Should we go down this afternoon and have a shorter day tomorrow so we can be moored before the rain comes?  Yes we should.  So after a lunch break (the chip shop nearby is not recommended) we started down the Sixteen.  We knew they would all have to be turned, as the two hire boats were ahead of us on their way back to base at Stourport.  The first four locks are too far apart for locking ahead, so they took us about an hour, but once I could lock ahead we made much faster progress.  Most of the paddle gear and gates were not particularly hard to work, there were just a lot of them!  The weather was sometimes sunny and not too hot, really very nice and we made steady progress.  Around the half-way mark there are two locks with a very short pound between them, so the lower one has to be ready and the top gate open before the boat can leave the upper lock.  At the lower lock a volunteer was busy painting and was astonished to see us.  I had to be very careful raising the paddles as he had just done the stands.

Paint it black

After a bit of a delay, as of course we had to have a bit of a chat as he described his working schedule, we carried on down the flight.  

The painter was about to paint the bottom paddle gear and said he would close the other bottom gate.

For a while, the pounds are plenty short enough for easy locking ahead, but the last five locks are further apart from each other, and locking ahead stopped.  With four left to go, and beginning to feel rather tired now, I was surprised to see Star Gazer, the boat ahead of us at Delph Locks, tied up on railings on the offside.  They were relaxing in the sun and had clearly had enough for one day!  But we are made of sterner stuff.  In the last pound I was intrigued to see a kingfisher sitting on the towpath edge.  A crow was keeping a beady eye on it, and every time the kingfisher moved along a bit the crow followed suit.  Eventually the kingfisher had had enough, and flew across the canal to perch on a nice thin twig where the crow could not follow.

Much magnified, so rather fuzzy

Wand’ring Bark was moored in one of the spots we had fancied, and the other places were also taken, so we carried on to a hundred yards or so above Stourton Top lock.  The sun was still shining but the clouds have started rolling in.

9 miles, 25 locks, 8 engine hours