Tackling Tardebigge.

Things didn't start well today as when we approached the very first lock at Stoke wharf the engine ground to a halt with something obviously stuck in the propeller and rudder. On inspection, or rather by feel, there was nothing round the propeller. Delving deeper I could feel something stuck between a blade and the rudder. I managed to turn the prop shaft by hand and had another feel. It felt like on of those solid rubber fenders that dangle over the side. Unfortunately it fell away and I couldn't recover it so I hope that somebody else doesn't find it today. We have those type of fenders but we only use them when mooring up. I don't understand why folk travel with any fenders down and in locks as you are bound to lose them at some stage.

Any way it was soon sorted and we penned up. There was a group with some heavy duty film gear. I thought it was something to do with the Black Prince hire base as there were cute kids and blonde Mum's and hirsute Dad's. I thought we were to star coming up the lock, but no, they weren't interested in the boat or lock. They weren't interested in the cute kids and definitely not in the hairy Dad's, just the blonde Mum's running down the tow path!

Th weather this morning was great for lock wheeling, not raining, overcast but warmish. The Stoke locks are in nice country and we only had to turn the first and last so we sped up.

Even Helen was starting to peel off a few layers as the temperature rose.

This is the post mill at Avoncroft Museum of Buildings that is near Stoke Prior. It was built in the early 19th century and was originally from Danzey Green in Warwickshire and was reconstructed in 1971.

Her we are at the bottom of the Tardebigge flight with 6 locks done and 30 still to do. The flight is quite good as the locks aren't too far apart so it easy to walk ahead and set one ready for entering when coming out of the last one.

I love the walls round the lock cottages on this flight. They don't make them like that any more.

The landmark of the reservoir looms ahead as Helen lines up for lock 49. Our method is that I open the top paddles to fill the lock and walk ahead to get the next lock ready. We have been lucky today as the majority have been our way. I then open the gates and walk back. Meanwhile once the lock is full Helen has dropped the offside paddle and opened the gate and set off to the next lock. I walk back and drop the tow path side paddle and shut the gate. By the time I get back to the next lock she is going in and I can close the gates after her and repeat the operation, 36 times!!!

The reservoir was actually built 50 feet lower than the summit pound so water needs to be pumped up to the top. The palce is popular with fishermen and walkers and there has been a steady stream of folk asking about boats etc, and one had just come from buying a share in a boat at Alvechurch Boats and were quite exited about it all.

Here we are at the top of the flight. The top lock is actually quite away further on but all the hard work has been done now and I got a ride to the next one.

There was a nice mooring with a good view and sun for the panels before the top lock so we decided that that was enough for the day and pulled in. This duck wasn't giving up his nice warm spot very easily and didn't want to move. I think I could have picked him up. He only begrudgingly vacated the spot when a dog came sniffing. So we were moored up before 1500. We had a 15 min break on the way up for a sandwich so all in all we did 35 locks today in a very creditable exact 4 hrs 30 mins.

As I suggested yesterday I did keep my eye open for interesting marks on the engineer brick work copings and this was just one of those spotted. Coneygre meant rabbit warren and the Earl of Dudley had coalmines there, just east of Dudley Castle. There was also an iron foundry that continues to this day. One of the Coneygre pit shafts is actually the one that you can go down at the Black Country Living Museum, now named the Racecourse Colliery. They made these blue bricks and as the canal passed very close to the works they are found all over the area.

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.

Another good deed.

We they girls on the hire boat that we helped up to Droitwich soon recovered after a hot drink and some food and a bit of a kip. They were soon knocking on the roof to see if they could buy us a drink. Needing little excuse I soon finished the washing up and we joined Carol and Ellen at the Gardner's Arms just by Vines Park. They are very easy to chat to and by the time we knew it a bloke was coming round with a quiz, just for fun. I wondered why the little pub was so busy. Well that was us set until well after 2200. We didn't do too badly but didn't panic the local teams.

This morning Ellen and Carol were in much better humour, and warmer. I think most folk don't realise how much cooler being on a river is to being on a canal. I'm sure that it is due to the wind blowing along the river valley and making it feel chillier.

When they were ready we filled them up with water and then helped them through the two swing bridges and into the broad lock down on to the River Salwarpe. They were a bit worried by going on to a river but when the gates opened they were relieved. 

Vine Park is a lovely amenity for Droitwich with the canal and river running side by side. This is the second bridge. There is a third between the two but that one seems to be left open. The round white low wall marks one of the middle ages brine wells that provided the wealth of the town right through to the inter war years as it grew as a spa town. You can see the white salt that has precipitated out of the brine with evaporation.

Non of the gates on this broad lock open fully so we assumed that it was to prevent a wide boat managing to pen out into the river as from here on up it is a only a narrow gauge canal. This is Ellen pushing the beam. I think they will be glad to get back onto the narrow locks.

I was expecting a letter Poste Restante to the Droitwich PO so we wandered up to the town after waving good bye to the girls. The letter hadn't arrived but their delivery doesn't get in until 1200/1300 so we bought some milk and Helen saw some shoes that she had been looking for in a very busy local shoe shop so she came home with a prize. I saw this chimney on the Priory House. This is a  mid 17th century house that was tacked on to a 1500 one. It has recently been restored. It would have been one of the rich salt merchant's houses.

Last time we were here the Raven Hotel had a planning application for change of use to flats. It seemed that it was a bit controversial in the town at the time. Today the place seems to be shut up and nothing seems to have been done.

We went back into town at about 1600 and the letter had arrived. This was actually the first time we have used the Poste Restante service so were relieved it works okay but I am aware it isn't everywhere that does it. This sculpture is in the shopping precinct. On the other side are the wife and daughter of the salt wroker. I didn't put them on the blog as the wife is bare chested and it is before 2100. The whole family helped and as the process was largely boiling large pans of water to get the salt everybody would have been stripped to the waist due to the heat. The worker above is using a special tool to drag the salt out of the brine pan and putting it in a wooden box/mould to dry and then the salt block is easily transported.

We walked back through Vine Park and as this was there we wandered over to see what it was. As you can see St. Richard was born in the town and became Bishop of Chichester. He was canonized for the miracle of getting the brine wells to start running again in 1250. You can see the last barge lock in the background.

As I am feeling in such a good mood I suggested that we should eat out tonight. Helen didn't disagree! We are going to revisit the scene of the crime last night for a meal. We like Droitwich as it is a little peculiar with a bit of everything here, but despite having the railway run close by there is a feeling of tranquility on the moorings and at Vine Park and the town.

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.

Good deeds for the day.

This picture of the pepperpot is really to show you the height of the floods of 2007. If you look near the windscreen of the lorry you can see the writing it was painted by the boat 'Ruth Louise' in 2007.

We had just left the pontoon at Upton on the way to Worcester.

 The pleasure cruiser 'Conway Castle' just left the jetty at Upton as we peeled off, but pulling right over to st'bd there was plenty of room for her to pass.

The river meanders from one cliff to another which give scale to everything.

We had thought that the Conway Castle was going to Worcester but it seems that she was just going so far and turned round and came back. She had a good load of people aboard.

Looking back to the south there was a great view of the Malvern's and in the sun it looked close enough to touch.

I think that is the first view of my 'beardless' face. I feel better with out for sure.

We had been told by a boat travelling south that there was one needing a tow as his gearbox had blown. We came across him at the Severn Yacht Club where he was moored up alongside a cruiser. We tied up and were soon underway to Diglis River Lock. Here we were just arriving there.

We moored up on the pontoon outside Diglis Lock and were soon bending the pair round the corner into the lock.

Here we are in the first of the pair with our rescued pair, Chris and Chris. We soon had them up through the second lock but as we were approaching the water points a wide beam was blowing across the canal. There was a bloke waving and in the end we realised that he wanted us to help push him alongside. It seems that a hireboat had gone past at speed and dragged her off. As we were doing this a women was shouting from the shore saying that 'that is my boat!'. I think she thought we were pinching it. We were soon taking water and then moved up to the 48 hr moorings.

We were soon walking into town and walked past the Royal Worcester Museum. I am therefore thinking that this may have been the factory! Anyway I like the building. 

 We walked into the Guild Hall TIC and they were very helpful. Outside there are these statues. This one of Charles I is holding the Cathedral in his hand.

Charles I just has his orb.

We walked back to the boat after a pint at the Fire Fly down New Street and Friar Street which is just full of pubs and eateries. I loved the tiles of this pub with the Tudor house next to it.

We have a pair of hotel boats behond us and they have been following us from Stratford upon Avon.