Droitwich Canals, we're going for it! - 9.10.13

The Driotwich Junction canal and the Droitwich Barge canal..... to the river Severn.

October 9th 2013

We're going for it but we can only just get under the low culvert under the M5

After a great walk with Jack over lovely mushroom meadows (we've collected some for our breakfast) we make our move. It's 9am and its windy and cold today.

We turn right and go under the bridge leading straight on to the Droitwich Junction Canal

Turning right under the bridge we head on to the Droitwich Junction canal. 

Here we go, it's now or never!

Leaving the Worcs & B'ham Canal behind, we've made the decision, we're going for it!

The first of three locks is soon upon us, very deep but narrow locks with side pounds that you have to fill first before you dump all the water into the pound between locks. 

The side pound paddles are stiff to operate, but Paul manages to sort it

The doors don't stay shut or open so Paul uses the boat pole to prop open the huge bottom gates to let me out. 

The boat pole comes in handy for many jobs, like holding the gates open so I can move the boat out!

He's got it sussed, they're stiff paddles but a bit of elbow grease and we're through the first three.

The wind is really getting up now, not really a pleasant day today.

The new marina at Droitwich Spa, looks bleak and cold on a grey and windy day

We go past the new Droitwich Marina, lots of narrow boats here! 

The brand new staircase locks, all concrete with no character! But they do the job!

Onwards a short way and we enter the first of the brand new narrow locks, it's a staircase lock, deep tall gates but they work well. 

Leaving the first of the staircase locks, and into the second as the gates shut behind me...

The water is let out of the second lock showing how deep it really is!

We soon get down and there's a short pound and a turning point and were into the last of the new narrow locks. 

.... as I said, not a lot of character, but it works well, the last of the brand new locks

There's a gauge here to warn you of the water level in the river below, the river that flows under the culvert of the M5 motorway. It all seems fine and we proceed with extra caution. 

The hazzard board ahead shows how much headroom you have, and we hit it! But we're going for it anyway!

The hazzard board hanging in the canal chanel warns you of headroom in the culvert ..... we go slowly under it and the bucket clashes on to the roof, the aeriel is bent double and we've only got an inch to spare above the solar panels ...... but slowly we proceed ... into the unknown .... under the motorway in the narrow very low culvert ....almost a drain chanel .....

We've got inches to spare as we enter the culvert under the motor way

Paul's at the front making sure I don't hit the sides .... I'm crouching down at the back, can't see where I'm going cos if I lift my head to have a look I'll crack it on the roof of the culvert.... I'm holding the tiller trying to 'guess' steer without being able to see anything ... 

... and even less as we go further into the tunnel

....we've got an inch to spare, the aerial is bent in two, the solar panels almost touch the roof at the other end .... but we've made it!!! 

Looking back at the culvert, how on earth did we get through that??!!

A huge wave of relief hits us and we whoop for with joy and relief! Ecstatic that's it's over and were through, it was a close call, but looking back now it seems impossible we got through that small hole!

Arrows indicate the lock, as if you didn't know where to go!

Straight after there's another narrow lock, and the canal winds its way through the town of Droitwich. 

The canal is narrow with concrete sides as it weaves through Droitwich Spa

Concrete banks and towpaths, twisty narrow bends, built up areas, people going about their daily business. At a sharp bend there's a warning sign that says 'Keep left, dangerous weir.' 

The sign that confused me|! I kept left, and then there was a corner with a swingbridge so I had to reverse to pull over!

What it should say is 'Pull over onto landing stage to operate swing bridge' so I kept to the left only to have to reverse back and land on the landing stage to drop Paul off to open the swingbridge! 

The first of the wide locks, this one is kept open, but you do have to open the footbridge to get through!

It was over the first of the wide locks, the start of the Droitwich Barge canal. The lock gates were open both top and bottom, but the bridge still had to be opened to get us through.

This opened up into Vines Park, a nice open parkland area with walkways around, and two more footpaths over the canal, both with swingbridges. 

The last of the footbridges over the canal in Vines Park

Just after the last of the swingbridges we turn a corner and the only mooring on the whole of the canal is at Netherwich Basin, a huge open bit sectioned off with finger pontoons. 

We were the first of many boats in the basin that day, the only place to moor on the whole of the canal!

It's really windy now, but I make a huge sweep in the basin and assisted by the wind we get beside a pontoon and tie the boat up. We've done it, this far anyway! It's a 48 hr mooring, were the only ones here! At the moment anyway. It's going to be a bit noisy here, there's a train line right near, busy roads and were quite near the town centre. We don't have any choice tho, it's the only place to stop on the whole of the canal, that's 7.5 miles and 16 locks! 

We go for a wander into town and stock up at Morrisons, a well needed supermarket stop. A BW key is needed to get in and out of the basin, so we know its going to be secure here. When we get back our next challenge is to find somewhere to take Jack. 

"I'm a bit confused with this, where's the trees and grass, I need a pee!"

We find a load of football pitches that he can run around on, he's not keen as we forgot to bring a ball with us. But needs must and we chuck conkers about and he loves chasing them! Not quite the rabbits and pheasants that he's used to!

Boats are still coming into the basin when we get back from our walk, it's filling up now

We're not the only ones here now! Safety in numbers they say!

When we get back to the boat the basin is filling up, there's about 6 boats all pulled in for the night and more are on their way! Everyone's chatting and it's all good. But it's really windy and cold so we all go in and light fires and keep warm.

We had a terrible night, the wind was banging us and everyone else about against the platforms, the train was really noisy, wind and rain were beating against the windows. the basin was wide open, not a sheltered spot about.

By 7am on Thursday we were wide awake and out walking Jack with the tennis ball over the playing fields. We had breakfast and by 9.30am, wrapped up well, we were ready to leave, the first ones to make the reverse manoeuvre out of the now extremely windy and very packed basin. 

The tunnel/bridge after the basin, we're now on our way to the river....

A gap in the reeds shows the football pitches that went on for at least a mile next to the canal

I did a huge reverse 'u' turn out of the basin, I went with the wind so it helped me, and away we went down the canal, leaving Droitwich town.

Tall reeds tower over the boat as we make our way down the Droitwich Barge canal 

Its pretty, but all you can see are the reeds and trees!

The canal was narrow and shallow, the banks very high with reeds towering over us blowing furiously in the strong winds. 

When the sun came out it looked amazing, such tall trees sheltered us from the manic winds

The wind caught us hard where there wasn't shelter from the trees, but we made our way to the first of our locks for the day, about 3 miles out of Droitwich. 

Leaving one of the newly restored locks and bridges

A group of enthusiasts helped us on our way through the lock

We had a group of 5 locks to do, all wide and in fact all in our favour. There was a work party of enthusiasts at one of the locks clearing up debris who gave us a jolly wave and helped us through. 

All the locks were full up for us, and as they were all recently restored, they didn't leek much water overnight. 

Approaching one of the locks, you need a BW Key to get to the lock from the towpath

Coming out of the lock, beautiful blue sky.... at the moment

Reeds still dominate the canal making it impossible to stop if you wanted to

We only passed two boats on the whole of the canal today, we passed none yesterday! It's a quiet time of the year, and the low bridge is enough to put any one off using this canal!

We got to the two wide locks at Hawford that led you on to the river Severn and stopped in the lock to make coffee and eat as there was nowhere else to stop!

The last lock on the Droitwich Barge, the first onto the River Severn.... see the huge flood poles on the river?

The sun even shines purple onto Happy Daze as we make our assent onto the same level of the river

Through the first lock, straight into the next, and then out on to the big huge wide open windy river Severn.

Looks calm enough for now.... but the huge rising landing stage and flood poles tell another story

The sharp right turn that takes you upstream towards Stouport and onto the Staffs &Worcs canal is where were heading next ......