Stourport Locks

• On the move

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.

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On the move again

• On our travels
• On the move

We have been in Trinity Marina at Hinckley for three weeks now. While we were here, we have endured gales, heavy rain and snow:

Snow on our neighbouring boats

We had intended to move off last Saturday, as previously mentioned, but a tree blown over during the storm last week was blocking the canal and we wouldn’t have been able to get very far. The Canal and River Trust have finally been able to get it cleared – flooded fields were making it difficult to get equipment to the canal – so today we were at last able to set off.

Remains of the fallen tree

The tree had come down next to some moored boats on the opposite bank. They were very lucky that it did not actually land on one. Along the way today, we came across some boaters in a hire boat that were having a spot of trouble with dead electrics in their boat, so we stopped to assist.

Assisting a fellow boater in trouble

All they really needed was to borrow a phone to call the hire company as they were unable to recharge their own. Kit had a quick look but wasn’t able to identify the problem. Probably a dead alternator or similar, but the hire company were not far away and were on their way to sort the problem out.

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Milestones

• On the move

Many canals have (or had) milestones along the way. I guess they would mark progress for the bargees making their way to a destination with their load of coal, iron, wheat or whatever.  In the case of the Trent and Mersey, it may even have been Wedgwood pottery.  Josiah Wedgwood (who, incidentally, was  Charles Darwin’s grandfather) invested in canals because he realised he could move his raw material and valuable but fragile products in bulk and safely on a canal.  Previously he relied on pack horses going overland, resulting in a lot of breakage and very much smaller loads.

Anyway, this is a picture of a typical milestone on the Leeds and Liverpool canal:

A milestone on the canal

This is one side of the milestone:

Liverpool distance

And this is the other:

Leeds distance

As you can see, we are roughly half way between Liverpool and Leeds.  But here’s the thing.  Whoever worked out the distance was obviously somewhat pedantic as they measured it to an accuracy of 1/4 mile. Having put it on the first milestone, they then had to have it on EVERY milestone as they are all 1 mile apart! I bet the mason who made the stones had a few choice words to say about that. 😉

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