Something’s missing! And not just the plastic

Thursday 22^nd October; Hawford mooring to Commandery

The sky was nearly clear when we got up and the sun soon showed itself.  There was considerable condensation on the windows this morning – it’s the first time it’s been cold enough for it, but we didn’t help matters by using the radiators to dry towels yesterday evening!  We weren’t late leaving, at about 9.15, but two hire boats had already come up.  At least one had moored last night at the pub upriver.  There was a CRT chap around this morning – it’s part of his beat, he had been checking the overflow weirs – and he gave us a hand down the first lock.  These locks are really heavy so we were glad of his help.  He has a beautiful saluki, but it’s very shy and wouldn’t say hello.  I didn’t think to take a photo, so here’s one of the notice at the bottom lock instead.

It’s been a while since boaters have needed to phone ahead to the river locks – they have CCTV now!  The bottom gates onto the river are unusual, in that the footboard is on the inner edge of the gates, so if you are going up you must take care not to get your tiller caught underneath as the water rises.  There’s a good reason for this – the extra few inches of width allow widebeam boats to use the lock as a refuge when the river is in flood.

It was a lovely morning for cruising, unfortunately with the sun in our eyes but we were glad to be out on such a beautiful day.  We only had to wait a moment for Bevere lock to open.  We were pretty sure it would be ready for us as a boat had just come through – they had missed the turning for the Droitwich canal, and had had to go through the lock, turn and come back again!  The entrance to the fish pass below is easy to see to the right, with the new wooden edge and fencing standing out.

With a hot drink in an insulated mug and lovely weather we thoroughly enjoyed our cruise down to Worcester.  The poor owner of this craft would be forgiven for being a bit cheesed off though – this little cruiser was afloat just a few weeks ago, though it shouldn’t have been tied up on that stretch.  Perhaps it had been abandoned.

We were looking forward to seeing – or not seeing – Sabrina footbridge, which should have been taken down for refurbishment the previous week.  However, there had been problems with removing part of the deck and it was abandoned for a few weeks.

                                                        Not exactly Avignon!

The strange pagoda-like structure below is the tall supporting bit on the bank, sheathed in scaffolding – I wonder if it has to be supported as there is nothing for it to brace against at the moment?

We hadn’t intended to stop where we usually do on the Riverside moorings, but it was just as well because our usual spot was occupied by a large pontoon affair as part of the bridgeworks.  We passed the swan sanctuary, where the steps were being cleaned, and pulled in on the pontoon ready to ascend Diglis locks to the canal.  As I came up the ramp, there were two lovely volunteers already prepping the lock for us.

So up we went, stopping on the water point first of all to fill up, and empty a cassette and get rid of the rubbish at the same time.  There was no-one else on the moorings, so we pulled up past the water point  for lunch.  The café boat Northern Lights, which was closed and up for sale the last time we were here, had happily opened under new ownership the previous day so we felt morally obliged to support them and had bacon butties (take-away, as the wind was too cold to consider sitting outside under their gazebo).  They were fairly busy, I am pleased to say.

After lunch I needed to go shopping, so took my trolley, and windlass, up to Sidbury lock at the Commandery to check out the moorings on my way.  They were free, so I rang Dave and opened the bottom gates for him while he brought Chuffed along.  I closed the gates, handed him my windlass and left him to it while I went up to town.  I had been doing some Googling and discovered a zero-waste shop, where you can buy all sorts of dry goods without packaging.  I’ve got a few old ice-cream containers and plastic boxes on the boat, which I keep so I can buy meat at the butcher’s without the single-use plastic bags, but so far I’ve not found a zero-waste shop on our travels.  But there is one in the Shambles in Worcester, in the old Market Hall (now known as the Gallery).  Pack it In  has got an excellent variety of pulses, rice, oats, pasta, spices, dried fruit etc and you can take an empty bottle and get a refill of washing-up liquid, laundry liquid etc as well.  I got some pearl barley and lentils, so we can have a stew later this week, and some ground cumin which has been unobtainable at home for a while.  I forgot to take a picture of the shop, but took one in Friar Street nearby instead.

It seemed a shame to be inside on such a sunny afternoon, so after a cup of tea I went for a walk with Meg down to the park behind Diglis Basin, which I discovered while waiting for the bacon butties this morning.

After a good game of ball, we came back via Fort Royal Park behind the Commandery, where I discovered a good recycling bin.  Dave was busy painting the spots on the roof he had treated for rust the other day, but it was cold by now so I went inside to light the fire without taking a photo.

4½ miles, 6 locks, no bridge, no single-use plastic!