In the Red

It’s Friday evening and we’re still in Droitwich Spa. Could be worse, as the little town really does appear to have scrubbed up well in recent times (and there’s a decent 3G signal too !).  It’s also encouraging to see how the restored canal has been embraced by the town as part of its heritage as well.

We’re moored on a free visitors’ pontoon which has secure access to the outside world by means of a lockable gate

The plan was to move on today, however the overnight rain put paid to that. The canal water level mostly stays the same, however the next bit of waterway we’re due to travel along is a short section of the River Salwarpe. Yesterday the water level was ‘in the green’, on the river above the next lock.

Normal river level

However when we took the dogs for a wander this morning, it was around 2ft higher, and running about as fast as our potential maximum speed, so we thought it prudent to heed the advice posted nearby, and take the time to look around Droitwich a bit more.

After the overnight rain

Flood warning notice – best not to argue really !

 

Another ‘Salt Town’

Having spent a bit of time on the River Severn, we’ve finally explored a bit of canal new to us.  The last time we were this way (around 10 years ago), the Droitwich Canals were un-navigable, having been officially abandoned in 1939. Built in 1771, a number of its original features remain, including this simple but elegant bridge.

Bridge 3 on the Droitwich Barge Canal

After much effort, largely from volunteers (with a sprinkling of £12.5m) both ends of the canal (the broad Barge Canal, and narrow Junction Canal), were restored and re-opened in 2010 and 2011 respectively.

We travelled up the Droitwich Barge Canal and stopped for the night in a very pleasant canal basin in Droitwich with secure 48 hr pontoon moorings, next to Vines Park. The Romans are said to have established a vinyard there. Droitwich has been the site of a settled community for at least 2000 years, largely as a result of its natural brine springs, which are apparently the strongest natural salt water sources known – some 10 times denser than seawater. Natural underground pressure forced the brine  to the surface, where it was collected and boiled to produce a high quality ‘edible’ salt, good for preserving meats etc.  Droitwich got its ‘Spa’ status following a realisation in 1823 that the brine had healing properties (including use as a treatment for Cholera !).

In the mid 1800’s because of the extent of extraction, the town centre high street subsided – the once level street has a large dip in it now, and odd angles of many of the buildings add to the bizarre appearance !

This is Droitwich High Street.

Not too level now !

The effect of subsidence is clear in these window frames (not sure about the upstairs sash mind you – perhaps it’s still subsiding !)

The ‘wedge-shaped’ infill is rather obvious !

We had a lovely coffee in here – examples of exposed ‘wattle and daub’ walls inside. Some of the high street buildings date from the 15th century.

Heavy rain and storms predicted tonight, so we’re battening down the hatches, and spending a second night here.  A little further along the canal it joins the River Salwarpe for bit. There are river level indicators after the next lock, so we’ll have a look in the morning to see if it’s safe to set off again.

River Severn

Today we’ve dropped down two pairs of staircase locks from the canal on to the River Severn, and turned downstream. Compared to canals which generally have still water, rivers obviously go somewhere and have a flow. The concern of course is that after rain in particular the river flows fast. Well we needn’t have worried about the Severn as the river level is pretty low. In fact it didn’t even reach up to the ‘safe’ green mark on the water level indicator :

River level indicator. Green is safe, amber means be cautious, whilst red indicates a high level and too dangerous to go on the river

We passed through two locks which are both manned, however my attempts to contact the lock keeper using my new VHF skills at each lock was somewhat  thwarted by the fact that neither answered.  We had to resort to boring mobile phones to let them know we were coming their way.

We’ve stopped for the night at near a place called Holt Fleet, just upstream from a very nice bridge.

Holt Fleet Bridge – River Severn. Designed by Thomas Telford and built from cast iron in 1828

 

Stourport-on-Sea ?

Here’s a sketch map of Stourport (courtesy of Canal & River Trust)

Stourport Basins

Here’s where we’re moored in Stourport at the end of the Stafford and Worcester Canal

We like Stourport, ever since we visited (by boat) some ten years ago.  It is a true ‘canal town’ having been established directly as a result of the decision by James Brindley (the Stafford and Worcester canal engineer) to join the River Severn at this spot.

There are a number of inter-connecting basins, some with locks between them, and both narrow and wide locks dropping the canal to the river. Goods could be transhipped between the river and the canal, and vice-versa, maybe stored in one of nine warehouses that were originally around the basins. Three of the warehouses still exist – the Clock Warehouse being one of them.

Stourport Upper Basin, with the Clock Warehouse (now a boat club)

Stourport does have a bit of an identity crisis however, not sure whether it is rich heritage of canal wharves, or perhaps a seaside town. There are herring gulls overhead making it sound like a Cornish fishing village, a funfair next to the basins complete with a helter-skelter, and an amusement arcade. Sometimes you have pinch yourself as a reminder that we’re in deepest Worcestershire !

A rather interesting juxtaposition of canal boat and ‘seaside’ funfair with a helter-skelter

The town’s heyday as a commercial canal centre is long gone, and although its original ‘raison-d’etre’ no longer really exists, there has been some considerable regeneration, particularly since we were here ten years ago. The Tontine Hotel has been sympathetically renovated, and is now town houses and apartments, and the old Lichfield Basin excavated and surrounded by smart new apartments.

Tontine Hotel. A stylish Geogian building, built overlooking the River Severn in 1773. It used to host sumptuous evenings for visiting gentry and merchants (apparently)

Lichfield Basin connects to Upper Basin, and was excavated in 2007, having been filled in back in 1950. New ‘waterside’ appartments have been built around it

Before being filled in and being used as a timber yard, Lichfield Basin had seen a final brief couple of decades of increased commercial activity as coal was brought down the canal from Cannock, and unloaded at the basin wharves for a coal fired power station, built in 1927.  The power station is long gone too now.

Colourful cottage gardens near the riverside

Whilst we were there the Stourport Rowing Regatta was being held on the river, and seemed to be receiving a lots of support (particularly in the evening !).

Stourport’s ‘River King’ trip boat, the town bridge across the River Severn, and a couple of coxed fours taking part in the weekend regatta

Lot’s of support at the rowing club

 

Kinver Rock Houses

On Friday we visited the Kinver Rock Houses – something we’d planned to do for some time. Kinver Edge is a sandstone ridge which was formed from a desert quite a few years ago !  The rock is stable but quite easy to work, and in one particular outcrop a number of houses were carved over several centuries. The first was probably a lone hermit, but by the mid 1800s there were 11 families living in the rock. The last family moved out in the 1960s, and the rock was acquired by the National Trust, and returned to how it might have been 100 years ago.

Lower level houses (they are on three levels)

 

The rooms are carved out of the rock, and apparently if they needed more space they simply carved out a bit more !

 

It’s said the temperature inside stays around the same all year.

Kinver itself is a historic village with a number of interesting buildings, some which date from the 1600s.

 

 

 

 

To Stourport

Having left Kinver on Saturday morning, we cruised to Tesco in Kidderminster for a major stock-up (including more gin !). On the way, we passed through Deb’s favourite lock on the Staffs and Worcs Canal, set in sandstone and complete with a carved out cave right on the lockside. We think it was for the navvies who built the canal, to rest in.

Debdale Lock

The approach to Kidderminster is rather picturesque, with the church in the background :

If you look the other way however…….

Kidderminster is famous for carpet making, however alas most of the industry has gone. At least some of the old carpet mill buildings survive, even if they have been put to alternative use.

 

Kinver Edge

After three nights at Kinver (most southerly village in Staffordshire, and devoid of a 3G internet connection), we’ve arrived at Stourport.

Kinver is a historic village dating from around AD 736, is set on the River Stour, and lies at the foot of a sandstone ridge called Kinver Edge. Friends Simon and Rachel (with Daisy and Chip) came over to visit us for the day, generously accompanied by bottles of wine ! After a very pleasant canal-side lunch, we ventured up onto the Edge with our two dogs as well for a gentle 5 mile walk. The views are rather spectacular considering the highest point is 164m.  To celebrate, we felt it was important to visit the Vine Inn on the way back to the boat – it’s the pub that Deb helped to save.

I’m looking pleased as I managed to get the camera self timer working !

We said our goodbyes later in the evening, and look forward to catching up with them soon.

 

 

Canalscapes #1

Today we took the girls (dogs) for 4 mile cross country walk, including a bit on the Stourton Canal tow path, before moving the boat on down the Staffs and Worcs Canal and stopping by the village of Kinver. We may stay here for two or three nights.  Friends Simon and Rachel plan to visit tomorrow, which we’re looking forward to, and there are apparently some great walks on Kinver Edge, and some cave houses lived in until the 1950s, which now belong to the National Trust, and have been renovated and open to the public.

On the way here we passed some interesting canalscapes so thought we’d share them :

Old wooden butty boat – left to rot on the Stourton Canal

Someone had tried to patch it up a little bit, but a lost cause really

The beautifully situated lock cottage by Hyde Lock

The tunnel from Stewpony Lock side to the lock tail (downstream end)

 

 

 

 

To be, or not to be …. a Staircase Lock

We have moved on down the Staffs and Worcs Canal, and have stopped for the night at a little place called Greensforge.

Earlier, looking across the tree-tops it appeared we’d somehow got across the Engish Channel – a very chateau-looking building appeared.

Have we been transported to France ?

Turns out it’s a Victorian pumping station, and we were still in the West Midlands, near a very photogenic set of three locks (my photography doesn’t do it justice at all !).  These are Bratch Locks (or ‘The Bratch’), and the three are built immediately one after the other. Only one boat can go up at a time, or only one down – we were going down.

Bratch middle lock

Looking back up the Bratch flight of three locks

Most locks are set at least a little distance apart, so that boats travelling in the opposite direction can pass each other between locks.  The space in between is called a pound. Very occasionally, at a steep hill, locks were built together, one leading directly into another. They are then called a staircase.  At the Bratch however, there is a short (8 ft) pound between each lock so whilst looking like a staircase, they’re not.   However there is a reason !  Until 1800 they WERE a staircase, but created too many delays, so they put an extra set of gates in between each lock, and built the ‘pound’ out to the side. With red paddles and blue paddles to open and close in the right order, it could get confusing, however there is a permanent lock keeper on hand to help !

A few miles further on there is a ‘proper’ staircase pair (Botherham Locks) which was a bit of a struggle to get through as paddles on both the top gate and bottom gate in the top lock weren’t working properly. The bottom lock is quite a structure – some 20 ft high.

Botherham staircase lock pair – bottom lock

A little further we passed through a village called Swindon (in Staffordshire, rather than the bigger Swindon in Wiltshire). For 200 years there was an Iron Works there, and although it’s now gone, rather than nature taking over as it so often does with old works, in this case there are manicured lawns !  :

Difficult to imagine an Iron Works was here for more than 200 years !

 

Posh Bridge

Tonight we’re moored on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal which rather unsurprisingly runs from one county to the other, but more about that in a while.

One of the bridges near the southern end of the Shropshire Union Canal (which we’ve just left), used to be called ‘Posh Bridge’ by the old boatmen as it had an ornate balustrade, when compared to many of the equally functional, but somewhat plainer ‘ordinary’ bridges.

Chillington ‘posh’ Bridge

When the canal was planned and an Act of Parliament obtained in order to build it, ‘ordinary’ bridges (called accommodation bridges) were required to enable a farmer, whose land had been cut in half, to get from one side to the other. Wealthier landowners held out for more elaborate affairs before they would give their consent for the canal to be built through their land – the owner of Chillington Hall was one such.

As mentioned above, we’ve turned right onto the Staffs and Worcs Canal and this afternoon moored near to a rather nice area of water called Dimmingsdale Reservoir.  It appears to be fishing lake, but attractive all the same.

Dimmingsdale Reservoir

The 46 mile Staffs and Worcs Canal was surveyed by James Brindley, and was authorised with an Act of Parliament in 1766. The Company of Proprietors were empowered to raise £70,000 for its construction (a little over £ 7 million today). It took 5 years to build by hand and created an important link between the River Severn, and the Trent and Mersey canal north of Stafford.

At some of the locks ‘overflow’ water passes down a circular gully which are peculiar to this canal.

A final picture for the day is one of Deb having skilfully steered the boat into Wightwill Lock.