Stoke Pound Saturday 2 September 2017

A much better night last night, but it did turn a bit chilly, dropped below 6° outside well it is September. In the end there were only 4 of us here overnight and we left in bright sunshine at quarter to ten this morning. This is the basin with all the pontoons.

There are 4 swing bridges in Droitwich, thankfully one is left open but all the rest have to be unlocked and opened, one of them is across the chamber of the Barge Lock.

When we got to the Barge Lock the water was level all the way through so I opened both sets of gates while Diana opened the swing bridge.

At some point there was a second set of gates at the river end to stop the canal draining if the river ran dry, the gates are long gone but the recesses and some of the iron work is still there.

When the new narrow locks were built they were constructed with no lead in at the mouth so these large arrows have been installed to show the edges.

The section above this lock, although its not part of the flowing River Salwarpe has its level effected by the river flow so at times its not possible to pass under the M5 motorway through the tunnel, today the levels were will down but its still a duck job for the steerer. There is a height gauge on the bridge before the tunnel and the pipe beyond it.

Above the tunnel is a lock and it has one paddle locked off, this is because if a boat was coming through the tunnel and someone raised both paddles on the lock above the level in the tunnel could rise several inches reducing the headroom.

It may not be the prettiest option in the world but it does stop boaters smashing their cabin tops into the bridge by being off the line. Maybe something similar is required on the Caldon Canal where the brickwork has been gouged away.

This brought us to the three Hanbury Locks with their side ponds and volunteer lock keepers. The side ponds can save half a lock full of water, When going up the water is draw from the side pond first. This is done by drawing the two paddles between the lock and the pond. There are two paddles side by side, the one on the left directs water to the lock so that it enters behind the bottom gates, in the days of working boats this would close the gates for him, the paddle on the right discharges into the middle of the lock chamber. When the pond is empty the lock is half full and its then topped up with water from the pound above in the normal manor. A boat going down would enter the lock, draw the paddles to the side pond and drain the first half of the lock into the side pond, ready for the next boat coming up.

At Hanbury Junction we turned left up the Birmingham and Worcester canal, Just after joining the canal we met a boat who was coming down, this meant if there was no one ahead of us Astwood Flight of 6 locks would be in our favour which they were. Just above Stoke bottom lock Black Prince had a lot of their fleet in for change over, there are so many that they moor them 5 deep in places. At least they weren't just in front of us.

We carried on up the Stoke flight of 6 locks to moor for the night opposite The Queens Head just before the Tardebigge Flight, that's tomorrows challenge. Diana went to the pub to try to book a table for later tonight, no chance. We can eat in the bar of garden if we can grab a table.

Today's Journey 6 Miles, 20 locks in 5 hours