When we started living on board, the thought of spending a week anywhere seemed horrifying — the whole point is to keep moving. But we’ve been a whole week in Droitwich (although Adrian also went to Weymouth) and the time has passed really enjoyably and quickly. Having the Tidys with us and the festival to go to helped,mom course. But today was departure day, and shortly before 9 we reversed out of our berth in Netherwich Basin and headed through Vines Park.
Adrian walked ahead, and we’d also had a message from Helen to say they were ready to assist with the swing bridges. So by the time I got there, the first bridge was already open.
At the Barge Lock, the levels were the same at each end, so Adrian swung the bridge that goes over it, and opened the gates at both ends so I could go straight through. It still seems like a lot of work for no change in level — although when there’s been rain, the River Salwarpe is higher and paddles are needed.
This lock is where the Droitwich Barge Canal becomes the Droitwich Junction Canal, although the first part is actually the River Salwarpe. When there’s canal was restored, this bit had to be on a slightly different course because the original had been built over. There’s a concrete lock, then the M5 Tunnel. This is really little more than a culvert, but apparently when the motorway was built there was a canal enthusiast involved, who suggested making the culvert big enough for a boat, should the canal ever be brought back into use. We were a bit worried about our air draught; the tunnel has nominal headroom of 1.8 metres, and we’ve measured our boat at 1.75 metres so there’s not much room to spare. But the levels are low at the moment, so we had maybe five or six inches of room above us.
Once through the tunnel there’s a single lock, then a staircase pair.
As we rose in the top chamber of the staircase a hire boat arrived to go down so we could leave the gate. Just before the marina, there’s another odd bridge. This one has big fenders down each side to stop boats bashing their corners on the bridge.
When we got to the three Hanbury Locks we could see a lock keeper, but we could also see a boat going up. But with the volunteers setting the locks ahead we were up in no time. These locks have working side ponds to save water, so going up the first water enters the lock from the side. It means there’s a lot of bubbling water along the boat.
The three lockies were all very chatty. One was a skipper of the Pamela May 2 so had been doing some of the boat trips at the festival over the weekend, and another used to live in Portsmouth. Just above the locks is Hanbury Junction, where the Droitwich Canal joins the Worcester and Birmingham.
The whole journey had taken less than two hours, so while there was room to moor at the junction we decided to carry on a bit and find somewhere sunnier. We’ve stopped below the Astwood Locks before, so knew where to aim for. The first spot we tried was a bit shallow, so we went a bit closer to the lock and found a nice spot. Once moored up, I walked back to a work boat we’d just passed, which was only tied up at one end. Fortunately there was a long shaft on board so I could pole the bow in, and then I found a mooring stake dangling in the water. I put it in the piling in the hopes it would hold. Then I went down our weed hatch as the prop had been feeling decidedly juddery, and fished out a load of plastic. It was all wound up with fishing line, which always worries me in case there’s a hook in there somewhere.
This afternoon we walked across the fields to Hanbury Hall, the National Trust property. Macc enjoyed the buttercup field, but the oilseed rape put yellow pollen all over us.
We eventually found the smart new cafe, which wasn’t here last time we visited. We had tea and share a piece of cake, but options for Macc were rather limited. He ended up with a Calyppo which he wasn’t quite sure what to make of.
3 miles, 8 locks.