The Droitwich Canal - a "new" canal

The Droitwich canal is actually 2 canals - the Droitwich Barge Canal and the Droitwich Junction Canal.  The Barge canal runs from the River Severn through to Droitwich with big wide locks capable of taking 2 boats through a lock at the same time - opened in 1771 linking Droitwich Spa to the River Severn at Hawford Mill, Claines.  The Droitwich Junction Canal is a narrow canal, opened in 1854, which linked Droitwich to the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Hanbury Wharf. Both were built to carry salt, and were abandoned in 1939. They have been the subject of a restoration plan since 1973, and the Barge Canal was officially opened in 2010, while the Junction Canal opened in July 2011.  The term "wich" in the town name of "Droitwich" refers to salt.  The Barge Canal and the Junction Canal have been connected together by canalising a 600-yard (550 m) stretch of the River Salwarpe through the centre of Droitwich. The course of the river has been made wider and deeper, and a weir has been constructed adjacent to the new lock 7, to maintain the water levels

We started our trip along the Droitwich canals going from Hanbury Wharf

Under the bridge is the start of the Droitwich Canals

Before we got far we reached 3 locks

Looking back up the locks towards Hanbury Wharf

At the bottom of these 3 locks is a brand new marina, where we spent a couple of nights, before Jacky joined us for a few days.

After we left the marina, we started down the locks,

 The first lock was actually 2 locks - a staircase.  Jacky looks happy to have set the first lock of the day.

View down to the next lock

The stretch from Hanbury Locks to where the canal goes under the M5 motorway had to be completely rebuilt.  An existing culvert for the Body Brook was used to allow the canal to pass under the motorway - however rather than spending more money and lowering the culvert further, the culvert that goes under the M5 has very little head room.

 A couple of unofficial warnings regarding the headroom at the M5 bridge.

To the left is the official sign warning of low headroom

Just how low the bridge is shown by the sign.














Inside the bridge under the M5 - G is having to kneel to steer Domino.

Once we had gone through the M5 bridge, we saw this sign warning those heading in the opposite direction to us of variable headroom - which is a result of using an existing culvert that is affected by rainfall.







After the excitement of this low bridge the Droitwich Junction canal joins the River Salwarpe.  Unlike other rivers we've done, this short river section doesn't appear substantially different from a canal, although there is a bit of a gentle flow.

We left the river section, with the river going off over to the right of the lock.  This is also the start of the Droitwich Broad Canal, with the first broad lock.

Jacky looking in charge of the lock.

There is also a swing bridge that goes over this lock.  It has to be opened before the boat can enter the lock.

The canal goes through Vines Park which is a very nice public park in the centre of Droitwich.  But in doing so, there are a few more swing bridges that have to be done before we could get to the town's moorings.

Standing on one of the swing bridges, that I've opened - looking at a row of pretty cottages.

We spent the night at the town's moorings, which were both secure and quiet.  We had a wonderful meal at pub close by - the Gardners Arms - gardeners arms website


Opposite the moorings someone has created a large mural.

Having had lovely warm sunshine to do the upper part of the Droitwich canals we were very disappointed to wake up to rain the following day.

As we left the town of Droitwich behind, we once again ventured into African Queen country - cruising slowly through the reeds.  Some of these reeds were planted especially to make up for those removed when the canal was restored.

One thing I'm glad they chose not to restore was this old swing bridge!

This is the first lock we reached - the yellow boat in the lock is a hire boat from Viking.  There were two (maybe more) families on board and the children lost interest in helping with the locks very quickly.  Some of the adults weren't much better.

This is the last of the Droitwich locks - where it joins the River Severn.

This lock reminded me a bit of the Blackburn flight on the Leeds Liverpool canal - but thankfully the towpath didn't get quite so flooded.

This is the same lock from the Droitwich to the River Severn seen the following day from the River Severn.