Worcester to Hanbury Wharf

When cruising the River Severn at Worcester we went past some fabulous buildings - here are just a few

This golden building is the new library, called The Hive.

The entrance to Diglis Locks

Coming up into Diglis Basin

We left Diglis Basin on what turned out to be one of the hottest days we've had this year - well it certainly felt very hot as we progressed up 14 locks and covered 6 miles.  Our hearts sank as we reached the first lock, and realised we were we following 2 boats - a powered working boat and powered butty - full of scouts!

When reaching the lock, the butty has to be untied from the powered boat, then the powered boat taken up the lock, before the lock is then emptied ready for the butty, which then has to be hauled into the lock by hand.  Once the butty is  finally up the lock, the butty has to be retied to the powered craft to be towed to the next lock.  This process takes a long time, far longer than just following 2 regular narrowboats up a lock.  We were so relieved when they moored up after 3 locks.

Every now and again we come across something that makes us smile, and this mural was painted on a wall in a park that runs adjacent to the Worcs & Birmingham canal.  There was no graffiti on it.

G heading for one of the locks.

 To the right is an M5 motorway sign - so close to the canal.

Further along the canal, one might be mistaken for thinking we were cruising on the African Queen.

These reeds have established themselves over many years, and now there are places where it has become impossible to pass another boat.

The canal passes through some beautiful countryside and passed some lovely properties.

 At we progress up towards Hanbury Wharf and the junction of the Droitwich Canal, we passed through a short tunnel at Dunhampstead.

The wharf at Hanbury is marked by light house.

Drama on the River Seven

After cruising the River Trent earlier this year, the River Severn seems more like a canal than a river.  The upper part of the navigation from Stourport to Tewksbury is non-tidal and even when full with all the rain we've had, the flow is comparatively gentle.  The locks are operated by BW (or I should saw by CART - Canal & Rivers Trust, as they've now become).

Along the banks of the river, are many fields, but there are also some signs of civilisation,

Many of the properties are raised up as a precaution against flooding.

From Stourport to Worcester is approximately eleven miles, with three locks done by BW, and is normally a peaceful easy cruise.  And most of this trip was easy, until we reached the outskirts of Worcester and noticed steam coming from inside the engine room.  We didn't think this was a good sign.  By pure luck we were passing the moorings near the rowing club and for once there was a space big enough to take us.

Once tied up and the engine turned off, we investigated the damage.  Our engine has 2 fan belts (one had gone only 3 weeks earlier), and now the other one had gone.  This second belt was the one that drives the water pump (to cool the engine).  When it had gone, the engine had overheated and blown a hose off the oil cooler, thereby spraying the engine room with hot water.  Thankfully it was a simple thing to put right (or so we thought).  The hose went back on with no problem, and G started to put the spare fan belt on.  That was when the trouble started.  In the seven years of having Domino we had never realised that the 2 fan belts were different sizes.  Naturally the spare we had was the wrong one.  Finding someone who could either get the right belt or had one in stock proved to be a bit problematical.  The first 2 companies we tried couldn't get one, so eventually we decided to contact Beta Marine (the engine manufacturers) direct.  As luck would have it they had one in stock, the bad news is they were in Gloucester.  A train ride and taxi journey later, we had a new fan belt.  And yes it did fit.

Once fitted we came off the River and into Diglis Basin.

Exam and trip to the River Seven

From Autherley Junction we took a short trip towards Gailey, stopping at Calf Heath Marina in order to have our Boat Safety examination done.  Every four year a boat has an examination done by a registered examiner who primarily checks ventilation, fire safety equipment and gas installations.  Whilst most examiners will travel to the boat, with our flexibility we opted to travel to the examiner.  There was an added reason to this, the examiner was located at a small boatyard formed out of the now defunct Hatherton branch (see below).  I am pleased to say that Domino passed her test with a couple of recommendations.
 
 The Hatherton Branch
The canal once linked the Staffs & Worces canal to the Cannock Extension Canal, thereby making a connection into Birmingham.  The canal was used for coal traffic and was very profitable, and the canal remained in use until 1949. It was formally abandoned in 1955, after which the Churchbridge flight and much of the Extension Canal were destroyed by open cast mining.   The Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust was formed in 1989 with a view to restoring the canal.  Since then they have worked hard to protect and restore the canal, which was threatened by the route of the M6 Toll motorway. Negotiations eventually led to the provision of two culverts, one paid for by the Trust and the other by the road builders, which will be used in due course for the route of the re-aligned canal.  But for now, only the first lock off the Staffs & Worcs canal is operational, and we had the opportunity to do this little used lock.

At the end of the basin can just be seen the remains of the second lock, which is now used as a dry dock by the boatyard.

Unusually there is only one paddle for the bottom gates (most locks have at least 2).











 

One of 2 top ground paddles.  The mechanism for stopping the lock paddle dropping is to insert a thin piece of metal attached to the lock by a chain.

 What we hadn't appreciated was that we weren't going to be able to turn round in the basin, so Gordon had to reverse Domino back into the lock and go down backwards.  Notice the look of concentration on his face.

The Staffs & Worcs Canal
It runs for 46 miles from the River Severn at Stourport in Worcestershire to the Trent and Mersey Canal at Haywood Junction by Great Haywood, although we were only doing it from Calf Heath, passed Autherley Junction, and then down to Stourport.  One odd little feature of this canal are the faces in the trees.  Someone has gone to considerable time and effort to produce these.

Also the side weirs are a little different.

This canal also has quite picturesque locks (despite BW's attempts to deface the locks in the name of Health & Safety).

The Bratch Locks are a noted feature of this Canal, planned by James Brindley, and opened in 1772 as a three lock staircase. They were later re-engineered as three separate locks (there is now space between the locks of about 2 feet).

They are served by two bridges, a toll house,

 and a keeper's cottage.

The whole forms a well-preserved example of vernacular Georgian architecture and design, built of mellow local brick.  These days a lock keeper ensures the movement of boats letting 3 down then 3 up - but this does mean delays are possible here, especially if you are boat 4 (which we were).

A few miles on from Bratch is the village of Kinver, in south Staffordshire.  There are notable rock or cave houses on Kinver Edge, carved from the sandstone, some inhabited as late as the 1960s. Some of the rock houses have been restored to their former inhabited states.

The sandstone landscape is also evident at some of the locks.

These caves were used for sheltering horses overnight.

From Kinver the canal twists through the countryside and then goes through Kiddeminster.

And finally the canal reaches Stourport on Seven - which is a pleasant town, equipped with its own fun fair, as well as one of the best butchers we've ever been to, who stocks anything that walks, crawls, flies or swims.  Stourport also has 4 basins, dominated by a clock tower.

On the 6th August we went down the 2 sets of 2 lock staircases and onto the River Seven.

The trip on the River Seven, well you'll just have to read the next instalment for the tale of that drama!

Catching Up Part 4 - Our Home Waters

For us, we consider the stretch of the Trent & Mersey canal between Anderton and Middlewich, and the Shropshire Union canal (affectionately known as the "Shroppie") to be our home canals - that is they are the waters on which we tend to end up over winter.  Having arrived back in Anderton from Manchester it would have been very easy to just stay put, but after a few days at Anderton we set off towards Middlewich.  I wont bore you with our trip from Anderton to the Shroppie, I covered it in posts in March and April.

The Middlewich branch of the Shroppie comes to an end at a "T" junction, where it joins the main line of the Shroppie.  To the right the Shroppie heads to Chester and eventually to Ellesmere Port.  To the left (the way we went), the Shroppie goes to Nantwich, Audlum and on towards Birmingham.  Now if you are driving your car and you get to a "T" junction, you slow down right?  So what always amazes me is the number of boats (from experienced private boaters to inexperienced hire boaters) who, once on a boat, seem to have left their common sense at home and don't slow down when they reach this junction.  The speed some boats have collided with the wall has now damaged the concrete edging to such a degree that BW have now put a wooden buffer along the edge of the wall to protect the concrete.

My theory is that the boats are trying to take the shortest route possible to the Jolly Tar pub opposite!

Two of my favourite flights of locks are on the Shroppie - the 15 locks at Audlum and the 5 locks at Tyrley.   Adjacent to the 3'rd lock (going up the locks) is a tourist trap, the Shroppie Fly - a popular pub.  The centre piece of the pub is the bar which is incorporated in an original ‘Shroppie Fly’ boat salvaged from the Shropshire Union canal near Birmingham.

 The downside (I suppose you could call it) of having such a popular pub next to a lock is that our boat became a curiosity to those having a day out.  Sometimes we get offers of help, and this time was no exception - even a five year old girl had a go at pushing the gates.

Our time for going through Audlum couldn't have been much better.  The following weekend there was a boat rally there, and even when we went through seven days before the rally there were no mooring spaces to be had.

As I said above, my other favourite flight is Tyrley.  This flight starts off in a "tunnel" of rock and trees, but rises through 5 locks to open countryside and a couple of pretty cottages.

 At times meeting other boats in the middle of a flight requires the boat handler to think quickly and to know what he (or she) is doing.

For years there used to be a big notice on these cottages saying no to the European Union - its only recently disappeared.

Another well known feature of the Shroppie are the cuttings - Woodseaves and Grub Street.  Both are very narrow and we always dread meeting another boat coming towards us as passing places are very few.

Landslides do occur along this stretch and have been known to close this section of canal for days at a time whilst they are cleared.  However to date, we have never been stuck by a landslide along here.

The above bridge is one of the more unusual ones around.

In the space of six days we left Anderton and reached Autherley junction (where the Shroppie meets the Staffs & Worcs canal).  We had covered 60 miles and done 35 narrow locks and 1 broad lock, and 1 stop lock.   A stop lock is a shallow lock that adjusts the water level by a couple of inches.  Their main purpose was to stop the water which belonged to one canal company being pinched by another canal company. 

Under the bridge can be seen the Staffs & Worcs canal, but that is a tale best left to the next instalment.