Droitwich lock in

Droitwich lock in

May 2018

It was only supposed to be a short trip, so not much chance of anything eventful happening.

With a lousy forecast for Wednesday morning and a fine afternoon we stayed put till noon and, with the rain clouds giving way to blue skies we wet off for Hanbury Junction. Then we turned west and saw the most enormous black cloud over Droitwich and heading our way. Oh er - better grab our waterproofs.

An unexpected mooring on the lock landing

The new water level boards at the top lock were showing green for the Severn and amber for the Salwarp. Boats were coming up so all was fine to proceed. The heavens opened as we descended and we squelched our way through the staircase pair only to find a CRT employee at the last lock before the M5 tunnel. We were told that the water levels of the Salwarp has risen sharply and were now into the red - which meant that the river section was impassable and had to be closed.

A locked canal and the Smestow in flood

Our options were to stop before the M5 tunnel (advised) or to continue through to the lock landing above the last narrow lock. A mooring beneath the M5 is very noisy so we decided to have a crack at the tunnel. We approached the gauging board and were about an inch too high, but these things are always a bit pessimistic. We therefore edged into the tunnel with a warning that it dips a "bit" in the middle. With just an inch of clearance above our cratch plate we were keen to understand what a "bit" entails. No clarification was forthcoming and I was told it was my call.  We went in very slowly and can report that the min clearance when the level board showed 1.8m was about one centimeter. Just enough if no one flushes a lock of water.

Flood waters at Vines Park Lock

And so we made it to the lock landing above the river section and instead of a trickling stream these was a seething torrent, sliding smoothly over what is usually a small waterfall. A cursory examination of the lower landing stage showed that the water had recently covered it, but oddly even with the barge canal locked, the river in spate and the gauge in the red, the depth reading at the top stayed firmly in the green.

Contradictory levels at the start of the Narrow Canal

An odd observation about dog ownership. As we sat on the lock landing a passing dog walker asked if we had a plastic bag. We supplied a bright orange Sainsbury bag which was duly used to pick up the poo deposited by his Staffie. Good on him we thought.

Locked in!

Later we walked into town and there at a towpath entrance was the said Sainsburys bag, complete with poo - discarded and abandoned. On our way back the bag was gone, presumably picked up by a civic minded resident. Sadly not, because on our passage down the next day there was the knotted bag hurled into the midst of a big bramble patch. Why, if you bother to pick up your dog poo, do you then leave it wrapped in polythene for all to enjoy!

After a night on the lock landing the water dropped into the amber and the padlock was removed letting us enter Vines Park and take up our position for trading over the weekend.

Worcester wanderers

Worcester wanderers

May 2018

One of the lovely things about our watery lifestyle is that we are rarely in a hurry to go anywhere. 

Blockhouse Lock Cottage in Worcester

When we arrived in Droitwich we knew we had five days spare and decided to pay Worcester a visit. Droitwich is great, but it does lack an Elsan facility. Not the most glamorous aspect of boating, but the need to find one every two or three days and is pretty much essential. What Droitwich lacks Worcester provides in Diglis Basin, well maintained and cared for on behalf of a large and vibrant live aboard community.

Then there is the Little Laundrette in Lowesmoor Street, whose modern and efficient washers and driers made short work of our laundry requirements. We do have a small twin tub in the butty which is very effective and cost efficient (washing and drying two loads at the laundrette cost £13) but the challenge is getting everything dry. In warm weather we rig up lines in the hold of the butty, but when its cold and wet this is not very practical. Hopefully the warm weather is on the horizon and DIY washing can resume.

Functional, if not beautiful ground paddle in Worcester

Worcester is a good place to stop, with the canal handy for all the shops and a bit of sightseeing. The towpath was quite busy and having left our sign boards out we made some sales, either to boaters or residents in the adjacent flats.

One particularly satisfying discovery was the St Richards Hospice store in St Swithin's Street. This is a charity shop but one which is a cut above the usual format of musty clothes, bric a brac and a few old DVD's. This store is modern and well laid out but its real hidden gem in in the first floor. Go up the winding staircase and you find yourself in a second hand bookshop, all professionally laid out and ordered. Add to that there is a high quality and reasonably priced cafe and you have a winning combination. We ended up buying lunch, six DVD's and a book or two - which should keep us entertained for a while.

A great spandrill in the railway bridge in Worcester

Tuesday dawned dry and relatively warm so we set off up the 14 locks to the Hanbury pound. We found ourselves tripping over the heels of a couple from Canada who were finding their feet on their first flight of locks, but hey - we were not in a hurry. We noted that the barn sandwiched between the top lock and the M5 is being developed into a huge dwelling (or maybe two). It will be impressive but the location is more deafening than loud - not a location I could come to terms with.

Today's mooring is just half a mile short of Hanbury Junction.

Down to Worcester

Down to Worcester

April 2018

Boaters have a rather intimate relationship with the weather and it therefore comes as no surprise that many blog posts start with a reference to the prevailing meteorological situation.

Well, that hot spring weather has well and truly passed and we woke at Hanbury Junction to a very chilly and wet scene. Not a sight which inspired us to proceed with plan a and descent down to Worcester via the canal. Instead, we hatched a plan b and made the relatively short hop down to Droitwich. 

The Penguin get it!

Before we turned off the Worcester Birmingham we tied the butty to come work boats at the junction and motored around to the boat yard where filled with fuel and picked up some more logs to stave off the forecast cold.

We arrived at the top locks just as the lock keepers arrived on duty and had a long chat with a new volunteer who was plodding around in a comedic manner. He must have selected some old shoes and both soles were flapping around. I do hope he enjoyed the experience and found some safer (and more comfortable) footwear before the day was out.

The rain had raised the level of the Salwarp and this in turn reduced the headroom under the motorway to little more than 180cm, enough for us to pass but much less clearance than we are used to. Few boats were moving on such a damp day and we cut a lonely passage through Vines Park to adjoining bays in the Netherwich Basin. Carole and Adrian (Harbourmasters) returned to their boat during the afternoon and it took surprisingly little persuasion to entice them into the warm of our boat and ply them with a tipple or two of Gin.

Thinking of Tipples, we met Towpath Tipples at Hanbury Junction who will be one of three trade boats at this years festival. This was a great bonus because I had only just been having a look at their web page and selecting which Perrys I wanted to try. It looks like the trade boat line up will be a select one comprising the Glass Barge, ourselves with the Jam Butty and Towpath Tipples occupying what has been the Homebrew's spot.

The forecast for the event is looking up with temperatures nearing 20, no rain and light southerly breezes so, if you have time, do drop down and take in what should be a great weekend.

Safely off the Severn

After a night in Droitwich we travelled down the Barge Canal, entering the Severn via a very muddy lock. The water levels have only recently dropped and even after a period of drier weather it was still hovering between green and amber. As usual, we breasted the boats up with the butty on the right and idled along with a strong current sweeping is down at about 4.5mph. With this amount of fresh on we were glad not to be pressing upstream against the flow. Fingers crossed that it has slackened a bit more before we go upstream to Stourport after the festival in 10 days time.

Foden Steam Tractor in Worcester

We made use of the services in Diglis Basin and moored just before the first lock, all set for a spot of laundry and shopping in Worcester.

To Tardebigge

To Tardebigge

April 2018

After our late night escapade we spent a few days in central Birmingham, socialising and attending to some housekeeping chores in equal measure.

Holiday let cottage at the bottom of the Tardebigge flight.

These chores took me around the centre of Birmingham and what a change is being made. The old Paradise Circus buildings are gone and the whole area is being opened up with great views left right and centre. I guess it will all be finished in time for the Commonwealth Games in four years, but I hole the Council House gets a lick of paint because, as a centrepiece building, its looking a bit shabby.

Our route out of town is on the Worcester Birmingham Canal, a waterway which is notable for its lack of services as it falls away to the Severn at Worcester.   We therefore took advantage of Sainsbury's delivery service and also paid a visit to Pablo's Laundry on King Edgwards Road. 

Sainsburys were punctual but otherwise unremarkable whereas Pablo's is worth commenting on. Its owner goes to great length to make his customers feel welcome, even supplying cake free of charge! Helen returned with a bag of clean laundry and explained that the laundry is used by many visiting artists, whose photo's adorn the walls. I was informed, on good authority, that my smalls have now been washed in the same machine as Beyonce's! The mind boggles.

Then it was on to meet some long established friends at the Gin Vault, which is in a subterranean room beneath Broad Street and next to the Tap and Spile. On Tuesdays they serve double measures for the price of singles and have an extensive range of over 200 gins. We samples a couple of Gins which went down well and in no time it was 9.30pm and time to head off for the boat.

Museum piece hydraulic paddle gear - not long for this world.

Wednesday took us out of Birmingham, past the University and Queen Elizabeth Hospital and finally out to the top of the Tardebigge flight. It drizzled all the way and we were very pleased to drop through the top lock and settle in for the night.

Thursday was forecast clear and dry so we decided to tackle the Tardebigge flight of locks, the longest continuous flight in the country. We didnt set off very early and we heard Hadar thump past us at about 8.30am. Nothing else came past for an hour or so and by the time we made a start a boat emerged from the first lock - and we then had two thirds of the flight in our favour. 

About half way down we met some volunteer lock keepers who assisted us the rest of the way. These volunteers were very amiable but explained that one of their number had given up before he had even started. Let me explain. They had just unlocked their station and were getting their coats on when two chaps on a boat arrived and harangued them for not working and "hiding away from your jobs", I think was the phrase. This tirade really upset then and one went home. I cant believe the rudeness of of some folk - these are individuals who help out from the goodness of their hearts and need thanks, not grief.

Converted pump house at top of Tardebigge flight.

In the end we made it down the flight to the Queens Head in three hours, which is pretty good going. The top section was aided and assisted by my trusty mountain bike, allowing me to ride two locks ahead and have the top gates open - maintaining movement at all times be it forward or downward. Sadly my museum piece bike (it still has caliper brakes) is getting a bit fragile and the handlebars have taken to rattling and the ball race cover split. However, in good make do and mend tradition I managed to tighten it all up and bodge the housing with gaffer tape! If it breaks loose I will have to resort to cable ties and a squirt of WD40!

Making a start

Making a start

April 2018

We have been out for a week now and the only blog posts I have published are out of sequence! Time to put that right.

We set off last Thursday in the midst of a mini heat wave, our arms and necks going a sensitive red under wall to wall sunshine. Whilst Longwood Boat Club offers a number of more direct cruising options, we elected to take the long way round via the Wyrley and Essington Canal.

Govenor on the Daw End Canal

As normal, we had the 25 miles of BCN backwater to ourselves, only encountering Govenor, a converted BCN icebreaker, as we left the moorings and were making very slow progress along the shallow Daw End Canal to Aldridge. After Govenor we were left to our own devices, mooring at Pelsall Common, a regular stopping place where the echoes of long dead industry mingle with wildlife and the distant A5.

Litter covering the Wyrley and Essington Canal at Harden

The Wyrley and Essington enters its "bad patch" through Bloxwich, Harden and Leamore. The housing crowds in on the canal which becomes strewn with litter, blown into huge rafts of floating debris which block bridge holes for up to one hundred yards. You try all the tricks in the book but inevitably you end up with a blade full from time to time. With all the floating debris you just know you will pick up something nasty, and this was no exception. You will remember that a month ago we had to cut a duvet off in freezing temperatures? Well this time it was a small tent, complete with poles. To be fair, the "dodgey" area around Coalpool is much improved with extensive new housing being built on brownfield sites and shiny new cars outside pristine townhouses replacing burnt out shells and boarded slums.

 Birchills Junction

I have a theory that nearly everything can be removed from  the prop fairly quickly if you select the right tools and use them effectively. In this instance the tools of choice were bolt cutters (small) for the poles and a serrated knife to slice the covering.This obstruction involved a 30 minute session in the weed hatch but the water was altogether more comfortable. 

Then we were on past Walsall and using the facilities at Sneyd Junction. I am pretty chilled about most things but I tend to take the view that if you get stuff on the prop it becomes yours to dispose of responsibly. However, not everyone thinks along the same lines because alongside the waterpoint was a big pile of prop debris, just dumped for "someone else to sort out". I therefore made two trips to the skip at the back of the building blessing the last water point user.

Firing up at Black Country Living Museum, Tipton

Then is was on through Wednesbury, site of the recent BCN clean up a couple of weeks ago. The surface rubbish was far better but it was annoying to find shiny new shopping trolleys in each bridge hole. 

Dudley Tunnel, Tipton end.

We spent the night at the BCLM creating a mooring for ourselves using the handily placed ring on the bridge wall to secure the butty. The BCLM mooring was as lovely as ever, and we woke late to the smell of the coal fires being lit ready for a new day at this popular attraction.

First lock of the trip at Brades.

With Factory Locks unusable due to ongoing channel work we dropped to the New Main Line via Brades, discovering that the addition of a new fender at the back of the butty and a new uncompacted front fender on the motor make us a tiny bit too long. With a bit of shoving and twisting we extracted the boats and made steady progress into the moorings at Symphony Court, ready for the wedding taxi service I have already reported on.