Slow going on the River.

Our first obstacle this morning was to reverse down the canal from the 48 hr moorings just before the 1st lock, through a bridge hole and past the water points etc and through moored boats on both sides. This was accomplished with not too much loss of dignity.

Once we got spun round we had to wait a while whilst two boats penned down and then the lockies filled the pound between the two broad locks. By then another boat joined us as can be seen just approaching in the picture above.

When we I started to get ready for the off this morning I found a box of chocolates on the bow. Our pixies were the guys who we helped tow in to the basin here with the broken gearbox. They also volunteered to lock us down to the river too. It was good to meet Chris and Chris and I'm sure we will bump into them again.

We were soon out on the river and despite it being overcast there was no wind and no rain so two out of three can't be bad. We passed under the shadow of Worcester Cathedral. Or it would have been a shadow if the sun had been out that it.

Through the road bridge and heading up river. I noticed that all the moorings on the river are now £4 a night.

I quite liked this Victorian boathouse building but looked like it wasn't used for rowing now.

By the time we approached Bevere Lock we had caught up the pair that left ahead of us. There was therefore a delay as they were penned up and another was passed down. The guys with us in the lock was carrying on to Stourport so we said our adieus as the Droitwich Canal starting at Hawford Basin was really just past the weir.

I caught a glimpse of this cast iron bridge over the weir and it reminded me of a larger type of bridge that you get on the BCN.

The two hire boats that were ahead of us both looked to be going up the Droitwich Broad Canal.I was puzzled why they weren't sharing the lock. Anyway the second boat didn't want to share when they were going up as the first boat had told them they wouldn't fit. It was going to be a long day I thought. From then on we 'managed' to squeeze in to the locks together and things sped up. Especially as we managed to show them that you don't need to tie up with three ropes at each lock and that the 'driver' could actually tie the boat up and let it go again.

The Barge Canal is quite meandering and countryfied and a a pleasure to boat up. The locks are heavy through.

We would that the canal has been widened by cutting the reeds from both banks to more suitable amounts. Last year I don't think that there were that many places that you could have passed another boat.

Another of the navigational hazards is the tunnel/bridge at Salwarpe. It is on a sharp bend and you have to be careful to get round in one go. We found out later that our lock partners didn't and ended up with a roof of twigs and may blosoom.

Not everything has been restored on the Barge Canal as can be seen with this Salwarpe Swing Bridge.

We arrived at the basin and found that there were plenty of moorings on the pontoons. As there was no wind it was nice and easy to slot in stern first and wait for our lock partners to arrive and help them in for the night. I think that they were warn out with the lock day and the heavy locks they had been on. Still they said they had a sense of achievement just getting here.