Celebration Cruise Week 7

 Monday 22nd August - The Bratch to Greensforge

Leaving the Bratch Locks, we started the locks just before 9am and made it down in good time.  A drop of 30ft in a very short space means that the locks gates from this angle are extremely impressive! 

The toll house spans the height of the top lock and used to house a little shop where you could buy maps and canal memorabilia. However ever since Canal and River Trust dispensed with permanent lock keepers, the shop has gone as well.  

However, we did have the helping hands of Volunteer Lock Keeper Mark who saw us through the locks safely.  So long as you remember to work blue paddles before red paddles you will be absolutely fine, and the side pounds keep the lock chambers topped up with water.  

A very pretty view back towards the locks, in my mind I think the Bratch Locks are some of the prettiest locks on the network.

Whilst we were waiting to use the next lock we met Harvey, he is 5 years old, can you tell which one is Toby?  Harvey comes from Bridgenorth whilst Toby comes from Whitchurch but the resemblance between them is remarkable!  

Toby after a warm shower, a much cleaner boy after rolling in numerous dusty footpaths for the last few weeks! 

3.75 miles, 9 locks, 3hrs 54mins

Tuesday 23rd August - Greensforge to Kinver.

We set off for a gentle cruise down to Kinver.  We have arranged to meet someone from Kinver Canopies to come and measure up for the replacement side.  This photo shows the beautiful rural aspect of this canal, so green and peaceful. 

This is the site of Gothersley Round House, built as part of the ironworks here and lived in until the 1930’s.  

As we are approaching the part of the canal known as Devil’s Den, the canal passes over the River Stour and I spotted a wooden door built into the rock face on the offside.  Most intriguing!  I wonder what that is all about and where does the door go? 

This is a part of the canal which broadens out into what appears to be space to moor a small boat, it’s on the offside and is hewn into the rock face, again what would the purpose of it be? 

This is Stourton Junction where we meet the Stourbridge Canal.  The Stourbridge Canal has a unique association with the glassmaking industry. There were once more than 20 glassworks in this area, which was world-famous for cameo glass and cut crystal.

The next lock was Stewponey Lock and once you have finished working the lock you have to walk through a bridge hole to get back to the boat, looks as though you are appearing out of nowhere! 

We then went through Dursley Tunnel, it was one of the earliest built on any British canal (about 1772). It is only 23 yards long and unusually for a tunnel of this age it has a towing path.  Part of the tunnel, is brick and part is rough rock, it is quite different to look at.  

We moored up for the evening and walked into Kinver, on the way we passed these lovely flower and herb beds, looked after by Canal and River Trust and we were invited to help ourselves to a selection of the herbs planted there.  We also had a representative from Kinver Canopies to come to the boat and measure up for the replacement side panel we lost at Fenny Compton in the high winds.  He seemed hopeful we shall have it tomorrow, very impressive!  

5 miles, 6 locks, 3hrs 18mins.

Wednesday 24th August - Kinver

Today we have had a lazy morning and then a walk along the canal and into Kinver and a drink at the pub beside the lock.  

Whilst we were there we recognised this boat as nbMoonbase V from Audlem.  When we first took our boat to Overwater Marina we moored on the same jetty as this boat and got to know Carol and Trevor quite well.  We haven’t seen them since we left Overwater and moved to Worcester, several years now. 

Later in the afternoon, Tom arrived from Kinver Canopies and fitted our replacement side window, we are now water tight once again!  Excellent service! 

Thursday 25th August - Kinver to Wolverley

We made another early start this morning, and passed this attractive house on the way out of Kinver.  A lovely garden with the most unusual things hiding in the bushes…

a family of monkeys…and a parrot!  

This is Whittington Bridge, another picturesque canalside village, you can cross over the bridge and walk up to the The Manor House of Whittington where we have met friends Anne and Steve on many of an occasion!  Unfortunately it started to rain, a very heavy downpour which continued on and off until we reached Wolverley.

At Debdale Lock the rock has been excavated to form a chamber, used as a stable during the canal age.  It is quite useful during rainy times and you are waiting for the lock to either fill or empty! 

We moored up at Wolverley and waited for the rain to stop before visiting the canalside cafe for a bacon and sausage butty, and most welcome it was too.  This photo shows part of the rock face that has collapsed into the canal taking the road wall with it.

Later that afternoon the rain stopped and it became a pleasant afternoon so we took a walk into Wolverley along the canal and across the fields.  This house is below the zigzag path going up to the church and the back wall of the house is the rock face. It must make the house very dark 

inside!

5 miles, 3 locks, 2hrs 24mins

Friday 26th August - Wolverley to Stourport

A lovely morning as we left Wolveley and headed for Stourport, we passed many boats we had been leap frogging moored up above Kidderminster and this is the lock which goes under the roads in the centre of Kidderminster.  A super shot of the boat with the impressive St Mary’s and All Saints church on an incline behind it.

This is the site of the now closed Debenhams store, it is on the site of  Slingfield Mill. Built  150 years ago this mill contributed to the fame of the Kidderminster carpet makers by spinning very fine thread.  The finest yarns for the carpet industry were spun on machinery driven by a steam engine powered from boilers in the nearby boilerhouse with its square chimney. In 1920 Lea Ltd became part of Carpet Trades who sold it to Brintons in 1948. By the late 1980's yarn spinning had ceased and in 2003 the Mill became a retail outlet.

Here we are approaching the railway bridge of the Severn Valley Railway and only minutes before this was taken a train in full steam chugged across the bridge!  Dave was in the bow on a video call to Annie and her girls and they were able to watch the train go over the bridge!  Looking on the website it could possibly had been the Purple Locomotive No.70 ‘Elizabeth II’! The line runs for 16 miles between Bridgenorth and Kidderminster.

We got as far as the moorings outside The Bird in Hand and decided to moor up rather than carrying on into Stourport and not being able to find a quiet mooring.  We walked into Stourport and quickly realised that we wouldn’t have found anywhere so are very happy we decided to stop when we did! 

5.5 miles, 5 locks, 3 hours 36 mins.

Saturday 27th August - Bird in Hand Moorings

Today we have had a rest day and a lovely walk in the afternoon.  This is the line of boats moored up alongside the pub and we are the one right at the back!  

Sunday 28th August - Bird in Hand to Diglis Basin Worcester

An early start this morning, we arrived at the first lock by 8.30, and dropped down into the Stourport Basins where we stopped in order to use the facilities.  We then cruised slowly to the the two sets of staircase locks.

This is taken from the top of the first set of locks and you can see the pound between the sets of locks.  Stourport-on-Severn is unique as a town that was only built as a result of the coming of the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal. It was nothing more than a rural village of around 200 people, until the canal made its mark on the place forever!

The pound between the two sets of locks provides a challenge as the exit and entrance are offset and it is difficult to line the boat up. From here I had to reverse and have another shot at turning the boat into the lock!  Fortunately it was still early and there was no one around to watch! 

A successful locking down on to the river and we turned left and headed down river to Worcester.  Moored on the river pontoon is nbGet Knotted, a hire boat belonging to Noel from Diglis Basin and we heard when we got back that they had left their mooring soon after we saw them and continued upstream to Bewdley!  Noel has a tracker on the boat and realised that they were heading in the wrong direction and was able to phone them and tell them to turn round!  The river beyond Stourport is not navigable for powered craft as plans to make the river navigable have always come up against opposition and no one has responsibility for keeping the channel free from silting up.

The route in to Worcester along the Severn has to be the most perfect, with a stunning view of the Cathedral towering over the river, and swans on the water and people enjoying the scenery.  We arrived at Diglis Locks, turned the boat and were met by Simon who helped Dave work the boat up into the Basin.  Many thanks to Simon for turning out to help us, much appreciated! Once safely back in our mooring we treated ourselves to bacon and sausage butties from Cafe Afloat, all very welcome indeed. 

Well, that is the end of our 7 week Celebration Cruise, and what a celebration it has been!  It has been a fantastic opportunity for Dave to continue his recovery and recuperation, and he has returned feeling so much fitter and stronger than 7 weeks ago.  It was the delayed start to celebrating our Ruby Wedding Anniversary and Dave’s 70th birthday, a year of celebrations that had been put on hold but now continue with lots of things being planned.  We celebrated the christening of grandchildren Alba and Nina, and the chance for the whole family to gather together and celebrate the fact that life goes on and we have 

One Life…Live It

14 miles, 10 locks, 5hrs 36mins

Celebration Cruise Summer 2022 - Week 6

 Monday 15th August - Tom o’ the Wood to Catherine de Barnes

We left our mooring at 8am with a view to mooring up before the weather closed in on us, rain was forecast for the afternoon and we really didn’t want to get wet!  This is the junction with the Stratford Canal that we came out of a few weeks back, we cruised passed this and we are now exploring parts of the canal we haven’t been on since 2017, all very exciting!  

Yes, we are heading into Birmingham along the Grand Union Canal. The last time we were on this stretch we were heading out of Birmingham so it will be different because we are going the other way!  

As we cruised past the Black Bouy moorings, this heron which had been flying ahead of us alighted on a boat roof and watched us go on our way.  We also saw nbGranny Buttons which we had been leapfrogging all the way from Cropredy, always find that quite amusing!  

There are 5 locks on this stretch of the canal, the Knowle Locks, all wide locks with large pounds beside each lock, they are high up and very exposed so therefore very windy with just enough space between each lock to blow you off course and make entering the lock an ‘hit or miss’ affair!  The wide locks were built alongside the original single locks to speed up traffic along the canal. The single locks are no longer in use, but you can still see the remains of the original locks along the canal.

Some delicate yellow water lilies in the pounds alongside the locks, the water levels in the pounds alongside the locks are quite low and in some almost non-existent!  

At the top of the flight is Stephen Goldsborough Boatbuilders at Knowle Hall Wharf, I have a feeling the company no longer exists, but the boat owners have gathered together to form a Stephen Goldsborough owners club! 

We moored up at Catherine de Barnes and had a walk into the village where we found The Boat and stopped for a drink and then had a walk along the canal.  We went back to The Boat for supper in the evening, it has had a huge refurbishment and attracts many posh and well dressed punters from the local area.  The food was very good too! 

7.5 miles, 5 locks, 4hrs 12mins

Tuesday 16th August - Catherine de Barnes to Birmingham Oozells Loop Visitor Moorings

We made an early start this morning as we have a long day ahead of us.  We waved goodbye to nbGranny Buttons and began the long 2 hour stretch to the first of the locks for the day.  Most of this part of the journey was in deep cuttings, so dark and dismal with lots of noise from places you couldn’t see.  I did find it quite unsettling!  

We arrived at the top of the Camp Hill Locks to discover that this boat had been waiting because the pounds between the locks had drained over night, so we helped them through the first lock and followed on behind.  It was the lady’s birthday, so we hope she had a good day!  

We are definitely into the outskirts of Birmingham here, gone are the pastoral vistas and we find ourselves travelling alongside busy fast roads.

The old warehouses of Fellows, Morton and Clayton undergoing restoration.

Having completed the Camp Hill Locks we then passed under the railway lines into Birmingham and began the Ashted Locks, another 6 in quick succession.  Dave had to wait in the dark to let a boat come down the first lock.

Lots of regeneration around the Birmingham university area, very busy and noisy, so not the bast place to stop even though there are some moorings at the top of this set of locks.  We decided to press on and make our way into the centre of Birmingham.

Once we got to the beginning of the Farmer’s Bridge Locks we had a solo boater ahead of us and a large working boat behind us.  This meant that we slowed down a little but it was all very interesting.  

A good shot of the BT tower as the canal passes underneath it.  The BT Tower Birmingham is a telecommunications tower and the structure is the tallest building in the city and well-known as a local landmark.

The building has been built over the canal with small passing places between each of the locks, it looks as though the boat is parked in an underground boat park, and there is more work going on at the same time.  At this stage we met a boat coming down the locks, and at the same time it began to rain heavily!  It was decided that the oncoming boat would need to pull over and let all the boats behind us pass as it wouldn’t have been possible to pass further down the flight!  

After 8 hours of cruising we managed to find a mooring on the Oozell Loop Visitor Moorings and stayed put for the rest of the day, we were both exhausted and well and truly wet!  However it was a brilliant achievement to get through all those locks and find a good mooring at the end of it.

11 miles, 25 locks, 8hrs 12mins.

Wednesday 17th August- Oozells Loop Visitor Moorings

We decided to give ourselves a days rest and started off with a late brunch in Brindley Place followed by a walk into Birmingham for a spot of retail therapy and finished off with an early supper at Mowgli’s in the train station! 

We stopped to look at the bull from the Commonwealth Games, it really is quite enormous.  Largely made of foam it was going to be dismantled after the games, but it has been decided to leave it in Centenary Square until the end of September and then to move it indoors after that.

We even spotted Claudia Winkleman in the station, not sure what was happening but the music was quite interesting!  

Thursday 18th August - Oozell’s Loop to Black Country Museum

We made an early start this morning as we wanted to make sure we got a mooring at the Black Country Museum.  We left our mooring and followed the loop all the way round to join the main canal heading towards Smethwick.  It is the first time we have done this, we usually back out of the mooring and head off towards Edgebaston.

On the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) Main Line the Smethwick Gauging Station near the Engine Arm Aqueduct was on an island, with a covered gantry in a centre channel where boats were loaded with weights, plated and calibrated. The channels either side allowed two-way traffic and possibly the collection of tolls. The buildings and equipment were demolished in the 1940s.  We came up the three locks at Smethwick and then turned left into the Engine Arm as we had it on good authority that there were excellent facilities at the end of the arm.  The Engine Arm was built as a feeder to carry water from Edgbaston Reservoir to the Smethwick summit. It also served as a navigable waterway for boats to supply coal to the Smethwick Engine.

Galton Valley Pumping Station first opened in 1892 with the purpose of pumping water from the lower Birmingham New Main Line to the high Old Main Line Canal. This was to replace the water lost from the higher level when boats went through the Smethwick locks. However the station only had a short working life, closing in the mid 1920s due to reduced traffic on the canals. Apart from a short period during the Second World War the building sat empty until it was restored and opened as part of the Galton Valley Canal Heritage Centre in the late 1980s.

This is the Sandwell Park Colliery wharf which connected to railway sidings and a coal wharf on the BCN Old Main Line canal. A billboard next to the canal marks the location of the concrete bunkers that were used to load narrowboats with coal. 

For the last part of our journey we were travelling underneath major roads, the noise was deafening and quite intimidating, very much the new above the old, but eventually we headed away from the traffic and continued on the way towards Dudley and the Black Country Living Museum. We were fortunate to get one of the last moorings available and tied up for the night in front of a rather noisy road bridge!  

8.5 miles, 3 locks, 4hrs 42mins

Friday 19th August - Black Country Museum to Compton

A lovely start to our cruise this morning, we waved goodbye to the Black Country Museum and headed for Wolverhampton and the 21 locks which take you down onto the Staffordshire and Worcester Canal.

The first lock of the day, we had to pull over to let a boat leave the lock and also to clear the weed hatch of all the weed we had picked up on our journey.  We decided to work the locks in multiples of 5, swapping after 5, 10,15 and the last set of 6 locks.

The first 16 locks are spaced close together and allowed for the person working the locks to walk between them, it meant that the person driving the boat had time to practise hovering skills in suitable places! 

We didn’t meet many boats, but here we had to pass a boat under a bridge, making sure they had enough room to pass safely.  It did mean that the locks from here on were set in our favour and made it much easier for the person working the locks.

Love it when this happens, a train going over the bridge as you are descending the lock, traaaaiiinnn!  At the bottom of the locks we turned left onto the Staffs and Worcester, down Compton Lock and moored up in the little town of Compton where we could stock up on supplies and treat ourselves to fish and chips! 

10.25 miles, 22 locks, 7hrs 12mins

Saturday 20th August - Compton to The Bratch Locks

We made a reasonably early start today as we are only going a short distance to the top of the Bratch Locks.  Dave worked the first two locks and Toby and I worked the next two.  Toby the lock dog is making sure all is going to plan, he has really enjoyed being back out in the open and being able to run along the towpath free as a bird!  

As you can see, this canal has no problem with lack of water, the by-waters are flowing freely which is good news for us.

All of the locks so far have been quite deep, around 9ft for each so the drop down to Stourport is quite a steep one.  We continued on to the top of the Bratch Locks and moored for the rest of the day.  We met up with friends Anne and Steve at Wombourne Railway Cafe and spent a lovely afternoon chatting and catching up with news.

4 miles, 5 locks, 2hrs 42mins

Sunday 21st August - The Bratch

At around 10am it was all go at the locks this morning.  The Volunteer Lock Keeper, Cherie,  was working non-stop and had been since 7am!  

Boats were queuing above and below the locks, and as these are narrow locks you need to wait until a boat has completed all three of the locks before you can use them.

The octagonal building used to have access doors from the top lock and the middle lock, it was a toll house and  became a chandlery and information point.  Today it appears to be used as a rest room for the volunteer lock keepers.  Whilst Dave was investigating the locks I rationalised the plants on the roof, getting rid of the ones past their best and cleaning down the roof on the towpath side. 

Later we went for a walk up the canal to Awbridge Lock, this curious carving in the shape of a French man o' war is said to date from the time when French prisoners were used on the canal following the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and it is reported that the bridge and lock are haunted!