The Hawford visitor moorings were very pleasant, and we didn’t really hear the road until we were up. There seems to be a bit of a rivalry between two angling clubs here: Birmingham seems to have the rights for the River Salwarpe, but Mildenham make it clear the canal, is theirs.
This morning when I took Macc for his early walk we went past a field of young bullocks. They all stood staring at us and then all came to the fence. I picked Macc up so he could see them, and he was fascinated. When I put him back down he gave two little barks, then as we walked on he kept looking back and doing one little woof.
We set off a little after 9.15. The bridge carrying the A449 is very utilitarian. Apparently they drove in the big metal sheets at the sides and then poured concrete over.
Mildenham Mill Lock was the first of the day. As this is a barge canal, all the locks are wide.
There’s a bit of a gap before the other five locks, although the bottom one is called Porter’s Mill Lock. The lock landing appears, but you can’t see the lock from there because it’s round the corner slightly. It has a lovely bridge with stone detailing.
The remaining four locks are the Ladywood flight. We met two boats, separately; the second one was trying to catch up the first one so they could share locks, and us coming up probably didn’t help them at all. Before long we were at the top lock and onto the pound to Droitwich.
At Salwarpe you get a view of the church and some houses. Just after this there is a very sharp corner; fortunately, having done it before, I was prepared for it, and just needed a little blast of reverse to get round. The bridge which you immediately go under has a very high arch and some lovely brickwork. There’s also the remains of fittings which would have carried cables through.
The canal travels through the outskirts of Droitwich, past a nature reserve and playing fields. It’s quite twisty with a good few bridges. Then you get the double railway bridges, the second of which is more like a tunnel and is narrow, so widebeam boats can’t get through.
Just one more road bridge and then you arrive at Netherwich Basin in Droitwich. One of the boats we’d passed had said there was only one space when they’d left, but in fact we had a couple to choose from. There’s a water point on the very outside pontoon, so we took the next one in. While it means our stern is perhaps a little exposed to people getting it wrong on the approach for water (or the basin, for that matter) it means we have a clear outlook on one side, and we can top up the tank to our hearts content!
It had been rather cold and windy all the way here so we fancied soup for lunch. So I popped over to Waitrose to get some bread rolls and some fancy soup. After lunch we went and found the rubbish point and got rid of a load of recycling, and took Macc for a walk in the park. He was getting a bit overtired, so while I brought him back Adrian went to Morrison’s for a few other things on our list, as we were already halfway there.
We’ll be in Droitwich for a while now, because we’re booked in for the St Richard’s Festival over the weekend.
5 miles, 6 locks. (10 miles, 9 locks)