Back on the move, upwards and onwards.

Last night we walked back to the Gardener's Arms for a meal. Once again we were surprised when Sally turned up to 'do' a musical turn. We had a great night and a good chat with the locals too.

It is said that the Droitwich church is blackened by all the smoke over the ages from the fires that were  used to make the brine close by.

 We have enjoyed the Gardener's Arms during both our visits to the town.

 Coming into the main body of Vines Park with the church above.

I think the River Salwarpe would have to be well in flood to even think about not going up the lock. 

I keep thinking of taking photos of the blue engineering bricks that appear on old locks and see what I can find out about the brick works of old. I like this touch from the Droitwich Restoration team. I wonder if they were sponsored or something.

No trouble today ducking under the M5 motorway. In fact the headroom gauge is actually lower than the tunnel it's self. The north  bound motorway was going very slowly when we passed. I am thinking that the south bound will be chocker now as everybody heads south for the Bank Holiday.

We were soon up the staircase locks and then turned into the marina to fill up with diesel. Not as cheap as I would have liked  at 69p but needs must. We were in and out very quickly. I was told that they sold there last mooring 10 days ago so they are now officially full.

Helen working hard at the locks this morning.

 We have made it to the top of the Droitwich Junction Canal with these three last locks that have side pounds. The instructions aren't very clear and so there are voluntary keepers there to help.

Once we turned into the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Hanbury Junction the traffic didn't get any busier and we decided that the may blossom is more abundant that last year. 

There were a few trees with pink tinged blossoms with white on the same tree. We thought that it may be a different species. On checking it isn't the Midland Hawthorn but just a common that occasionally does have the pink tinge.

At Astwood Bottom Lock this footpath looked inviting, as it should as it leads to Hanbury Hall. That is for another day though. We soon passed up the flight and filled up with water at Stoke Works and then moved on to find a sunny mooring to dry the washing.

To us this looked like a shelduck but we thought they lived on the coast. Can any twitchers confirm it is a shelduck and if not what is it?

Once moored and fed we set about a few jobs. Helen set to baking and I cleaned up the bow to make room for Helen's chairs now the weather is getting warmer. I had collected a few bits of timber from the canal in locks etc. As they were now dry I decided to cut them up to the right length and then chop them for kindling next winter.