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Stourport Locks
Posted on: Thursday October 29, 2020 at: 11:49 am
A few days ago we came up from the River Severn onto the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal at Stourport. A journey we have already done several times, in both directions. However, this time was a little different. There are two sets of locks. One is for narrowboats and consists of two staircase locks – 4 locks in total
Going up the lock
The other is for widebeams, as there is a basin at Stourport, where off loading would have taken place in bygone days, typically from narrowboats onto bigger boats that would then go down the river.
Nearing the top of the lock
However, the narrow locks are currently closed for repairs, which meant we had to use the wide (and deep) locks. Not something we have ever done here before and it is a good job there were volunteers on hand to help us through as the gates are very heavy.
Yes, that’s me modelling the hi-vis jacket.
We are now pretty much at the end of the season, and hours of access are reduced, so we had to time our trip right to avoid sitting around for a day or two, waiting for the locks to be open for use.
Ever wondered where we are?
Posted on: Monday October 26, 2020 at: 2:18 pm
This is a screenshot of the navigation map we use while cruising, showing a section of the West Midlands. The map has all the waterways of England and Wales and is full of very detailed information. Normally, the view I use would be zoomed in a lot closer than this image, but I wanted to show a more general picture of our travels. It also shows you just how many canals there are around Birmingham – more miles of canals than Venice.
Map around Birmingham
The red circle is us, and the red lines are where we have travelled in the last four days – apart from Saturday. The weather was going to be so bad on Saturday that we decided to stay put – and watch the Ireland v Italy Six nations match of course!
The lines indicate where we have travelled out and back along the arms, not least to add them to our list of places visited. The blue lines to the North are firstly a long tunnel (almost two miles) which will take us onto the Birmingham main line and then into the centre of Birmingham itself, via the Birmingham NIA and ICC. We may moor up overnight by the NIA as long as we can be sure of social distancing. Then down the Worcester and Birmingham canal and back to Droitwich where we are currently based.
One of the big advantages of being out at this time of year, is that there are very few boats on the move. That means no, or at least less, queuing at locks and no problems finding moorings.
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Maintenance
Posted on: Wednesday October 21, 2020 at: 3:40 pm
It is always necessary to keep on top of maintenance with a boat. Recently, the roof of the “dog box” was showing signs of age. The double glazed panels had moisture inside them and the paint was also starting to peel. It is only two years since I last touched up the paint, but as we were on the move all the time then, it only got a basic touch up, and it is subject to all the extremes of weather.
The term “dog box” may be a puzzling one. As far as I can discover, it refers to the fact that if it was a kennel, it would be big enough for a dog. I will leave it to your imagination what a pigeon box is, and I sure hope I never come across a horse box!
Back to the maintenance then. Having removed the complete wooden and glass top, which was very heavy and awkward to lift, we took it back to the house in Mumbles, where we have a garage I can work in. I dismantled it and sanded all the wood down, then gave it several good coats of “10 year” stain (deep mahogany). Then I fitted two new glass units.
Water pooled on the plastic
Meanwhile we had covered the hole with tough plastic, but it wouldn’t last forever, not least because it gathered the rain in a big pool. This is just one night’s rain as I emptied it out when we arrived the night before. So it was important to get the top refitted before winter.
New parts about to be fitted.
These are three of the four parts about to be put back in place. The fourth will be put on top once these three are fitted. It was a careful balancing act to piece together. As mentioned – they are heavy.
All back in place and shiny as new
And this is the complete top, all back in place and watertight. I took the opportunity to replace the seals, which are fitted to the main body, while I was at it.
As Brandy Pad is now four years old, it was also time to have our boat safety inspection. This is sort of like an MOT for cars, but is mainly about safety onboard. Is your gas system safe with no leaks, is there adequate ventilation inside the boat, are there enough fire extinguishers? Without a certificate we cannot license the boat or use it on the canals. I am pleased to say it passed without difficulty, although it turned out we did have one of our fire extinguishers in the wrong place.
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