gatekrash

Seems they've had a failed sluice on Bevere lock. We came through yesterday afternoon, and the notice came out about 2 hours later so we were lucky! Stoppage says it's a significant failure and they need to mobilise plant to undertake the repair. Going to be a lot of upset very large plastic cruiser owners, we went past several 50/60 footers who were heading down for the Upton festival, the lockie said he'd been busy all morning with downstream boats heading that way. At least we would have had the option of reversing our route and going back up the W&B, but they're stuck ..

Whereas we've been out from Droitwich down to Worcester, couple of days at Diglis, then back up the river and seen less than a handful of boats. Normally a Friday sat in Worcester we'd see quite a few ABC boats out of lowesmoor...we saw 2. It's definitely quiet at the moment here.

Today 2024. St Richards canal festival, Droitwich

Indeed there was, plenty. We were only going to stop for a look around, but since they've got decent beer from the Old Swan on, and the weather is absolutely lovely for a change we've decided there's no rush to get back to the marina so we're here for the night 👍

We'll be coming up through the Droitwich festival from the Severn direction on Saturday afternoon, if I can find a spot to stop for a beer I will, but suspect we'll be walking back down from the marina too !

I think the people who were running bridge 5 are the same couple who run bridge 35 down at Hanbury. The website setup was identical. There's been a lot of speculation down here about whether they were closing the Hanbury operation to move to Cheshire as they were rarely at the shop and they kept closing for meetings etc. Looks like it was the other way around and they were struggling to keep the Cheshire shop going. I hope they do well at bridge 35, as they seem to be a nice young couple trying to make a go off what must be quite a hard living. We try and sort them where we can.

You can also use the rugby club across the road, they're happy for berthers to use the bar. Their breakfasts are cheap! Plus they run an annual music festival in August and give people in the marina free entry. There's always bridge 35 at the top of Hanbury for diesel, or if you're coming the other way then Crafted also does diesel. Sometimes on a Saturday morning / Sunday afternoon Hanbury locks can have a bit of a queue with boats off the marina, we usually plan to leave Friday evening if we're off just for a weekend trip.

We were in Brum over the same period, and did a quick run around the Black Country ring over a few days before we went back down to Droitwich. Brum was quiet at both ends of the period we were out. Quiet at every mooring we stopped at, space on the VMs at all the 'honey spot ' locations. As others have said, Easter was early this year, the weather was a bit pants. Busiest day was coming down Tardebigge when all the ABC boats from Worcester were on the way up, but I reckon that only amounted to about 10-12 boats over 2 days. Most of the Black Prince boats were still in at Stoke Prior. I chatted to the staff whilst we were hovering waiting for the lock and they said they had very few boats out or booked so far this year.

Seconded. We bought ours direct from the workshop as they're just up the road, so we could go and see them first and they'll do custom flues for all sorts of stuff if you need.

Yeah, we made the pound below Tardebigge top lock by about 4 on Sunday, were settled in with the fire lit about half an hour before the torrential rain started, and had a nice dry and almost sunny run back to the marina on Monday.

Well that was interesting. Coming through by the holiday Inn or premier Inn or whatever it is, the wind blows you 90 degrees across the canal towards the hotel, then just as you correct it an almighty bounce back off the building sends you straight across towards the moored boats. Fortunately the guy off the fudge boat warned us as we passed so we were ready for it. And getting around salvage turn into the white horses was tricky too.

We came across her last year. She gave me a load of abuse for waiting above the next to bottom lock for a boat to come through, I was following the instruction that was stapled to the lock beam that said set 1 lock ahead or wait to avoid having to pass in the pound with a big shelf, this was the same advice the CRT bod had given us the last time. She started shouting that it was a load of rubbish and that they didn't know anything ! Clearly she hasn't mellowed!! We saw you had managed to get tucked away in the corner yesterday, looked like a sheltered spot. We're moving down towards Alvechurch today, assuming we can get the boat off the bank in the gale...

You did well to get down there already. Especially since you've had to go past the Blue Bell and the Boot Inn on the way 👍

Nah. It was me, just before you went past the giraffe. 👍

Severn back on reds again today, so Brum was definitely the right choice !

👍. Yeah, we'll probably be back on Saturday night if you're still hiding somewhere. Short day tomorrow, probably only going down to Coven, then a long run in to Tipton on Friday, off to Mad O'Rourkes for a faggot pie, then back to Brum Saturday. Mighty go via Titford if the weather's Ok. Yep you're right, forgot about that, I'd mentally logged it as being open after the winter stoppage and forgot they'd extended it.

We're at Penkridge on the way back home, probably going back via Tipton and the old main line. Top end of the Severn is on yellows, falling and although there's rain in the forecast it's not looking torrential, so I reckon you'll be ok. If you head down the S&W and it goes back on to reds you can always turn left up through Stourton and through Delph, the Stourbridge is a really nice canal anyway.

Unless you have several ancient tins (circa 1970's) which I found when we were clearing out my mum's house and which she used to use to polish her Victorian brass door step. It's the dogs danglies and probably contains loads of now banned chemicals which actually work. It's still got that smell I remember from my youth. Like a lot of products though I agree that modern brasso does indeed seem to suck.

Definitely not empty today, arrived at lunchtime and it's very busy !

Yesterday, 2024. M42 arm, just past Alvechurch. No space to moor anywhere near the Weighbridge or the Crown, and rain stopped play so we couldn't even get to the Hopwood, so it was wine on the boat instead.

The Body Brook and Salwarpe were fairly well up when we drove up to the boat today, Droitwich canal shut where it joins it and you'd not get through the M5 tunnel at the moment. We're going out and turning left tomorrow heading for Brum direction and not sure where afterwards, forecast for the next few days is ok then going downhill from Monday. Might pass you inbound 👍

And here is the reason he got hung up, from Rich on Roach who was moored below him.... Further info on the boat that sank in Gregory's top lock. He is now tied up below the lock and drying out. He had gutted the boat prior to a refit (so not much damage inside) but is now trying to get the engine working. A local said it had caught up on a sunken motorbike, but then we stopped to buy coal from Rich on fuel boat Roach who had been moored below when it happened. He said it had been overplated and the chine was now much wider than it should have been, so his boat was effectively over 7' wide. Gregory's top is apparently the narrowest lock on the W&B so he got stuck. He went home to sleep till CRT came back in the morning, but as Rich explained, the canal weirs through these locks (ie no bywash) so his boat was functioning as a gate ... till the water came over the stern and into the boat. He looked quite cheerful though down his engine hole!

Photo from earlier whilst they were trying to free it

One of the guys off our marina passed him earlier that afternoon before it happened and says he definitely didn't have his fenders down, he stopped to chat to him for a while. The fb posts from earlier on say they tried to flush out from the top.

Looking at this week's forecast I reckon it'll be back on reds by the end of the week. At least they've finished the dredging on the Droitwich now, so if the Severn is passable you've got a couple of options for the last bit.