Heavy locks on a quiet canal

Wednesday 9^th September; Mildenhall lock to Vines Park

A lovely sunny morning today, and as we weren’t intending to go far we did a few jobs before leaving.

Bonjour from the lock landing opposite, early morning

Among other things Dave finished scrubbing the algae off the port side of the cratch cover and I picked more blackberries to go with the cooking apples we’d brought from the garden.

We left at about 10.30 once the first boat of the day had come past – going downhill towards the river, so we knew the locks would all be empty for us.  The first lock was almost a mile from our mooring so I could finish my cuppa while it was hot. 

This pretty little fern is wall-rue, (Asplenium ruta-muraria), growing out of the mortar on bridge 5 at the bottom lock.

To get to the bottom lock from below, the crew must cross the little road bridge and go through a gate on the offside, easy enough.  The upper landing is back on the towpath side, and you squeeze past the garden hedge (needs cutting) and through a small gate to get to it.  If you are walking to the next lock, which isn’t far, you go through another gate (BW key, Yale lock) to regain the towpath.  The last time we used this lock the swans were occupying the top landing, so I had to cross back over the bridge, past the cottage, and down the access track to return to the towpath.  At least they weren’t there today so Jess and I blithely went through the gate to discover this fellow lying in wait!  He objected, hissing furiously.

Jess has a healthy respect for swans and twinkled nervously round behind me to get past.  The other four Ladywood locks were no problem, as they were all empty and apart from the heavy gates taking a while to get moving we were soon through them all.  There was a fishing match going on so Jess was on the lead for a while.  There was the long drag into Droitwich after that, with reedy bends and some bridges, but apart from the tight bend under bridge 7 at Salwarpe, followed by an attractive little rough mooring, there is not much to say about it until you get to this bridge, which I think must be the railway bridge.

The graffiti (just scrawly tags) on the towpath side has kept itself to the edge of the mural

Apart from the hire boat before we started out, we hadn’t seen another moving boat all morning, in fact no other boats at all until we reached Netherwich basin in Droitwich.  We are not a fan of mooring here – yes it is secure, and if you get the spot the mooring side of the water point pontoon (already taken) it is easy and convenient, but all the other pontoons are short, so boats of our length must use their centre line and tying up is awkward.  There are a couple of spots along the park – the better one was taken but we did manage to moor on the other, though the edge isn’t very straight and fenders need to be strategically placed to avoid banging about.  We had hoped to eat at the Gardener’s Arms, where we have had several good meals in the past, but it is now closed and the owner has applied for planning permission to build 2 houses.  So we walked down the High Street to the Talbot, one of seven in the area owned by the Craddock’s brewery in Stourbridge.  I had a pint of Crazy Sheep and Dave had Saxon Gold, and jolly nice they were.  It was a bit crowded so we went back to the boat to eat.

St Augustine’s church at sunset

5½ miles, 5 heavy locks

 

 

 

Back to the Droitwich canals

Tuesday 8^th September; above Stourport to Mildenhall Lock, Droitwich Barge canal

Last night we had just turned the light out when the dog set up a furious barking.  There was a bright light on the towpath – a walker had stopped just outside.  He had a head-torch and was doing something on his phone as he wandered off, just someone going home from the pub we supposed.  It rained again overnight but it had dried up by breakfast. 

There is a large berry crop round here

With the anchor firmly attached and the lifejackets ready we set off around 9.30 with the sky still overcast, and made our way to York lock above Stourport Basins.  It’s a very deep lock – 12’ – and you need to cross the busy road and then use a BW key to get past a padlocked gate to the lock landing below.  A boat was just entering at the bottom so it was a long time before we were finally down.  Dave pulled in on the chandlery wharf for some diesel – 127p base price.  He always calculates how much fuel he thinks will be needed, based on engine hours – he reckoned it would be 93 litres.  It took 95.  While he was doing that I went up to town to look for a paper, unsuccessfully – I would have had to walk back to the Lidl or an Esso garage back near bridge 5a, so we did without.  Then we went over to the services to dispose of recycling and food waste.

Knitted bunting and a closed toilet

There was more bunting adorning the railings along the two staircases at the far end of the basins.

Someone’s not impressed.

It’s sensible to wait in the bottom lock of the first staircase for the top lock of the bottom staircase to be fully prepared before you start crossing the pound.  Then you can take the boat straight in, well not straight exactly as the locks are not in a straight line!  However calm the wind, the currents caused from a strong outflow not far away will move the boat unpredictably, and it’s really not wise to try and wait in the pound.

Dave negotiates the tricky crossing

Life jackets on now, and Jess on the lead as I closed up at the bottom, and Dave picked us up from the pontoon on the river below.  We were soon passing the last of the red cliffs for this trip on the way to the first lock, Lincomb.

Although there has been a reasonable amount of rain and a big downpour a couple of days ago in the catchment of the Severn, the lockie said the river had only risen about 2”.  There is still about an 8’ drop to the locks but we couldn’t see the weirs.

Attached

It was lunchtime when we left the lock, so I went below to put the kettle on and make the sandwiches, and we ate on the move.  It’s 4 or 5 miles to Holt lock.  Jess isn’t a big fan of the Severn – she spends the whole time hooked up to one of the stern doors.  It’s either that or be shut inside, which is much worse. 

At least she can sit on the locker and see where we’re going

So far we had seen just one narrowboat on its way upstream, and as we got closer to Holt Fleet there was a rowing eight coming our way.  They were coxed, so we didn’t need to toot them.

Grey cox and crew, pulling strongly

There had been very little bird life either - a few cormorants, the odd heron or mallard, a single buzzard and no egrets.  After Holt lock we did see a few sand martins.

Sand martins at the lock nest site have done well this year – 160 young were fledged

Eventually we reached Hawford junction, to find a boat on the landing stage below it. 

Bless her, the crew went back to open the gates for us – they are really heavy and I certainly appreciated it!

Ollie Owl sets off for Stourport

As we rose up the second lock we could see that there was a boat right in the middle of the moorings above.  There was room for us, just, but as it was only about 3 o’clock, the nearby A-road was very noisy and the sun was shining too, we decided to go a little further.  There isn’t much mooring on the Droitwich canals, but Waterway Routes shows a few ‘small m’ not-very-good moorings, so we expected to use pins.  The reeds had encroached on the first and the remaining bit of bank was far too short for us.  There is more marked past the next lock, Mildenhall.  We went up to discover a new mooring above the lock, right opposite the lock landing.  The perfect size for us and with Armco and nice short grass to boot.  Just as we went inside a walker with windlass arrived – they had heard about this mooring by word of mouth - but were 5 minutes too late!  At least we could tell them there was room further down.  We can still hear the busy road, but it is much quieter here.

11¼ miles, 10 locks (the 2 on the Severn with lockies); Staffs and Worcester canal, River Severn, Droitwich Barge canal; A449 tunnel.

All set for the river tomorrow

Monday 7^th September; Wolverley to nearly Stourport

Overnight I had noticed the water pump cutting in now and then, when normally it may only be once, if that.  At breakfast Dave realised it was every 30 seconds!  So before we did anything else I emptied the cupboards under the sink so that he could start crawling around checking for leaks.  Nothing at all, nor in the bathroom or under the calorifier.  Before starting on the radiators he gave the inlet valve on the calorifier a wiggle just to check there wasn’t a tiny leak.  There wasn’t, but by the time he had checked the cabin bilge and put the steps and the covers back in place the noise had stopped.  In the end it was 10 o’clock before we moved off.  A boat was coming up Wolverley lock – this is very deep and getting across the lock when the bottom gates are open involves climbing a stile into the pub entrance, walking along the pavement by a busy road, and climbing over railings to avoid a longer walk.  It is not far to Wolverley Court lock, which is quieter but has its own peculiarity. 

The gear for opening the gate paddles is short and there isn’t enough space to stand to open them in the normal way, at least not for a short person.  I found it easiest to sit on the beam to open them safely.

There is a wide grassy area between the canal and the river and it wasn’t just people and dogs striding out.

We moored above Kidderminster lock for a trip to Sainsbury’s and Halfords, and Dave bought a new pair of trainers in Mountain Warehouse which was conveniently close too.  It was approaching 12 as we set off again – the church above the lock, St Mary and All Saints, has a carillon which plays a tune just before midday and possibly other hours too.  The lock is another very deep one and horrendously noisy with the ring road crossing just yards away.  A hire boat was waiting below and we were soon on our way away from the traffic.   There were two more locks to be done, neither of which is very deep.  Caldwall was full and Falling Sands nearly so, and we were soon through.

The red sandstone overhangs the approach to Caldwall lock

We stopped for lunch once we found a stretch of Armco, then moved on to moor in our usual spot between Oldington and Bullock Lane bridges – close enough to Stourport but still in the countryside and nice and open for the solar.  Dave carried on with the varnishing and I dismantled the roast chicken and boiled up the bones.  Plenty of left-overs!  Before we went to bed we hauled out the anchor from its hidey-hole under the bed as we’ll be on the river tomorrow.  The lifejackets live with the waterproofs so they are easily accessible in the morning.

4½ miles, 5 locks.

 

Dodging the showers

Sunday 6^th September; below Greensforge to Wolverley

It rained overnight, but it had stopped by 7 am so we had a dry start, although there were a few showers during the day.  We were away by 9, passing first Ashwood marina and then the lovely John’s Garden which is often open to the public but we have always missed those days.

John’s garden

Our first lock was Rocky lock, with on the offside our first sight of the red sandstone cliffs which are a feature of this part of the canal.

Rocky lock, gates not in the best of condition

Gothersley lock followed soon after, and those gates were in a state too.

Shortly before Stourton junction the canal crosses the river Stour on an aqueduct.  The Smestow brook, which has been running close to the canal for miles, joins the Stour nearby.

The Stour is quite small at this point

At Stourton junction the Stourbridge canal heads off to Birmingham.  We have often been that way and could have done so today – but the Tardebigge flight, which we would need to use to get back to Droitwich, is only open on three days a week at the moment so we opted for the Severn instead.

That way to Birmingham

A hire boat was coming down Stourton locks and they caught us up at Stewponey lock.  We went through the short Dunsley tunnel, a mere 25 yards, and on past the lovely moorings on the way to Kinver.  No stopping today sadly, instead we descended Hyde lock and crept past the long stretch of moored boats to the Kinver facilities where we topped up the water tank and disposed of some recycling.

Clearly a local moorer is infuriated by someone who is not using the bins properly!

The canal was quite busy now and the hire boat went by as we filled, then we had to wait for another to pass before we could leave.  Of course, they both beat us to Kinver lock, and then it rained.  We had quite a wait as the offside ground paddle is inoperable.

Something missing there

We stopped a little way before Whittington lock for some lunch, and thought we’d move on as far as Clay House bridge near Austcliff where there is a nice mooring.

Whittington lock

The canal twists and turns to skirt the sandstone outcrops.  In years gone by an overhang at Austcliff had to be removed when it became unstable.

It is still tricky to get round some of the bends, especially if someone is coming the other way!  Not today though.

It wasn’t raining at this point, and the sun was out too so we decided to go a little further, through Cookley tunnel which passes underneath houses and the village street high above up the cliff, and down Debdale lock.  This is one of the few with no footbridge to cross at the bottom gates.  I suspect there used to be, but the footpath from the north of Cookley across the canal to the southern part is very well-used and there is now a wider and probably much safer bridge.  It starts in a field on the towpath side and crosses at a higher level.  It is quicker to cross the lock via the top gate than that footbridge.  We moored in a nice sunny spot between Wolverley Forge bridge and Wolverley lock.  The only drawback was the lack of signal from both the boat wi-fi and our phones.

9 miles, 7 locks, Stour aqueduct, Dunsley and Cookley tunnels.

 

A long day but a good one

Saturday 5^th September; between Mops Farm bridge and Dimmingsdale lock to below Greensforge lock

Today turned out to be rather longer than anticipated but it was fine.  We were moored alongside a large fishing lake marked as The Pool in both Nicholson’s and Waterway Routes.  You had to go through a gap in the hedge to get to the path running round it though.

The Pool

Last night Dave and Jess had quite a long walk along the path.  There were few fishermen about, and he had a good view of a large carp which breached as they passed.  We were away about 8.30 in bright sunshine making for Dimmingsdale lock, which was empty so took us a little while to get through as it’s a deep one.

Dimmingsdale, like many on this canal, has a good brick-built footbridge at the bottom gates

Jess and I walked to Ebstree, which wasn’t far, and opened the bottom gates for a single-hander who had just arrived.  Ebstree has a narrow metal footbridge rather than the brick one at Dimmingsdale, but it’s still very much worth having!

Ebstree has heritage steel ties on the offside lock wall and we are asked to keep to the towpath side. 

It wasn’t long before we were at the Bratch.  The moorings above the locks were almost empty, to my surprise, as there is a Historic Boat Gathering below the locks this weekend.  The lockie spotted us straight away and we were soon starting down, their first boat today and it was already 10 o’clock.  He said it has been fairly quiet recently – yesterday they had just 8 boats when 20 is typical.  The three Bratch locks aren’t a staircase, though to a cursory glance they seem like one.  But the two pounds between the locks are only a few feet long.  CRT of course were there, with a good pitch for becoming a Friend.

Crossing the first pound.  The stern is still coming through the bottom gates of the top lock.

The blue bits at the bottom right are the gear and paddle which must be opened before the red gate paddles on the lock above.  The locks were originally a staircase but altered to have very short pounds between the locks, connected via culverts under the towpath to side ponds, hence the need to use the blue paddle first to put water into the side pond.  At the bottom lock the lockies tell the crew to get back on board – a good idea when the flight is busy as the steerer doesn’t have to pause to pick up the crew and gets out of the way for the boat coming up. 

      A good opportunity for a photo.  Both the blue and red paddles are visible at either end of the second pound.

The banks on both sides below the locks were occupied of course, with the Staffs and Worcester Canal Society, a few trading boats and, as you would expect, some historic boats.  Two trading boats were still on their way apparently but the lockie said there weren’t as many boats as they had expected.  At least there were members of the public already strolling along. We cracked on to Wombourne bridge, where we stopped for a trip to the Sainsbury’s close by and had lunch.  There was a bit of a delay at Botterham staircase locks, where a boat was in front of us waiting for one to come up, and we wanted to get clear of the built-up areas so we went on through the next 4 locks and moored between Greensforge locks and Ashwood marina. 

It’s quite shady but the sunlight is filtering through the trees and it’s lovely and quiet.

6 miles, 13 locks

 

 

Cold but dry as we head south

Friday 4^th September; Moat House bridge to between Mops Farm bridge and Dimmingsdale

It rained overnight, but although overcast and chilly to start with it stayed dry today.  We were away before 9, with Dave walking Jess on the towpath – which was a pity for me because I was getting cold in the headwind!  We didn’t see a single boat on the move till we were nearly at Autherley junction, so we had no trouble getting through the Pendeford narrows.

The walls are closing in….

No-one behind us either

All quiet again once we had paused at the junction to dispose of rubbish.

That way to Chester

On we went towards Aldersley junction under the huge variety of bridges between the two junctions.

Five bridges here - 2 railway, 2 footpath and a pipe, and a pipe bridge behind my head

Wolverhampton bottom lock at Aldersley junction – those bottom gates may be open but the flight has been closed since July 20^th

We carried on past the watersports centre, all quiet now the schools are back, and towards Compton for a lunch stop.  Once moored up in Compton I made a quick trip to the Sainsbury’s local for some things for lunch, and then we carried on to get down the two Wightwick locks and back out in the countryside.  We enjoyed our visit to Wightwick Manor a few years ago but didn't want to stop again.

Wightwick Mill lock

We moored between Mops Farm bridge and Dimmingsdale bridge, finding a sheltered spot out of the strong wind.  The sky cleared for some late sunshine but it stayed quite cool.

10 miles, 3 locks

On the move again

Thursday 3^rd September; Penkridge to Moat House Bridge no 73

Apart from a small dog yapping until 11 pm it was very quiet where we were moored.  In the morning it was forecast to be dry all day so we though we’d make the most of it and by 9 we were up Penkridge lock, recycling and food waste dealt with, a couple of books left at the book swap at the corner shop and the water tank nearly full.  A boating couple with their little grandson had opened up for us, closed the top gate too and we arrived at Filance lock as they were opening the bottom gates.  We had passed their beautiful boat, Sarah Kaye, and thought it looked familiar – we had been moored next to her at Droitwich Spa for a couple of winters and remembered Jayne, the previous owner, very well.

Otherton lock

We met our first boat of the day at Otherton lock, which is quite deep and very noisy as it is close to the M6.  We were their first boat too.

Painted stone at Otherton

We met boats at every lock today and Rodbaston was no exception.  This was even noisier.

Another ropey balance beam.  You could easily get onto the M6 from here.

We started to move away from the motorway now, which was a relief.  At Bogg’s lock the remains of the old lock beam had been chain-sawed into chunks and left by the hedge.

The beam has been completely replaced by 5 long planks screwed together.  The towpath side bottom gate beam had been replaced in this way already.

Will it last as long as the solid ones?  Will they just replace a single plank if one is damaged?

There was another bit of painted rock here, this time with words – Norfolk Rocks (UK).  The hire boater taking the lock from us said it is quite a thing on the part of the south coast where they live – children paint stones from the beach and hide them around the place, and anyone finding one is supposed to hide it in a new place.  Norfolk Rocks is another such ‘community treasure hunt’.

Brick Kiln lock was next and the balance beam there is in a parlous state.  It’s hard to see in the photo, but there were several places where you could put your hand right through the metalwork from top to bottom.

A boat was just leaving Gailey lock as we approached and after that there was nothing on the move for a while.

The old lock cottage is now a private residence and the little shop on the ground floor seems to be closed.

We were soon at the Schenectady chemical works, still as dangerous and smelly as ever.

There is an emergency holding tank behind the fence

This section was the stinkiest

It was slow going past Hatherton marina, where the Truman Enterprise Narrowboat Trust trip boat was just reversing out to begin its excursion.  We moored in a sunny spot at lunchtime, just past Moat House bridge.  I cleaned the stove flue, which didn’t really need doing but better safe than sorry where fire is concerned.  Last time it was extremely difficult getting the baffle plate out and then back in, so Dave took an inch off the screw that holds it in place at the back of the fire, so although it is still a fiddly job it is much easier to get it out and put it back again.

We need a new one I think, this one has some pinholes 

Dave did some varnishing yesterday and would have continued, but as I was doing the cleaning I put off yesterday he took the dog out instead.  It’s a nice sunny mooring here, away from the busy roads.

Jess scrutinises the trees on the offside for squirrels

There was a damson tree too not far away, so I picked a few.

6½ miles, 7 locks