Up the Junction (eventually)

Thursday and Friday 17^th/18^th September; Droitwich Spa marina to Hanbury Junction

We drove up to the boat on a glorious day, and it was an easy drive too, though it was a day later than planned.  After some heavy garden work the other day I had managed to strain some core muscles and I wasn’t in a fit state to sit in a car for 3 hours, let alone set a lock!  Although we had the whole afternoon to do jobs – rubbing down for painting mostly – sitting still in the car had made me unfit for anything but reading my book.  Very frustrating! But by evening I was recovered enough to remove and clean the cratch cover, with Dave’s help.  On our last trip it got caught against the curve of the lock wall on one of the South Stratford locks (where the single bottom gates weren’t opening fully because of silt build-up) and suffered a fatal rip.

After a decent night’s sleep (with the help of the prescribed codeine), on Friday I was fit to drive over to J&H Trimmings at Ashwood marina, where they would patch it ‘while I waited’  So Meg and I went along the lane to Greensforge Bridge, where we turned left and had a lovely walk along the Staffs and Worcester.  We passed the entrance to the marina, just before the lovely garden next to John’s Nursery.

We walked on past Rocky and Gothersley locks, before retracing our steps.  At Gothersley a volunteer was doing some painting.  He had a sign out which I’ve not seen before

He said they’ve been using these since lockdown eased.  The canal was very quiet – I’d seen only two boats, though there had been several cyclists going by.  This stream ran alonfside the towpath - I thought it would be the infant river Stour, before I looked at the map.

It’s actually Smestow Brook, which joins the Stour further downstream.  It runs alongside the canal at Compton too, further north.   I got back to J&H to find the repair finished, and it only cost me £10 - I had been expecting closer to £50!  It’s a neat job, and they patched the other side too which was only a little bit damaged. 

Cliff also told me that they don’t use the canopy guys with the bobbles on, rather they just tie a loop of shock cord.  I am finding that the bobble sort have been perishing very quickly, so I made a loop with the thicker shock cord I bought at Braunston last year.  The knot doesn’t project quite so far from the hull as the bobble, so maybe they will make the cratch cover less vulnerable to damage when I forget to take the lower bits inboard next time we are locking.  I've got one of each here so I can compare their performance.

I got back to the marina to find Dave at work on the mushroom vents.  The one above the dinette has started to leak, so he is taking them all off to reseal them. Once unscrewed, he rubbed down the surround – there was a fair bit of rust – and treated them with Vactan rust killer 

then it was on with some red-ox, and finally he refitted them with Marineflex sealant.

Three done today, two to go.  Meanwhile I cleaned off the spider-webs of the years from around the cratch board and replaced the cover.   Then it was time to go!  Not far though, just up Hanbury locks to the junction.  I worked the first lock, then Dave took over even though my muscles felt ok - I don’t want to overdo things.  It’s not often I get to take photos from the bottom of a lock, and Hanbury locks are deep.

I’ve also never been in an empty lock when the side paddles are open.  I always imagined the water must come in half-way along the locks, but it doesn’t.

The Hanbury locks are quite hard work, as Dave found out.  The ground paddles are so stiff you have to change your grip half-way round each turn.

We were at the junction at 5 o'clock, made the turn then reversed to tie up on the visitor moorings.  Lovely though our neighbours are in the marina, we’re glad to be out.  It’s a much better view tonight.

3 locks, half a mile.