2020 cruising has begun! 7-9th August 2020

Droitwich Spa Marina

We went over to the marina on Monday 3rd August to find we were 'Billy No Mates'. The boat on our starboard side was out for a summer cruise and our port side neighbour has gone for good - I gather someone will be moving in soon. A couple who live in our marina run a small business cleaning the outside of boats - a job we find increasingly difficult, so they arrived Tuesday morning and did a first class job. We can cruise with our heads held high!

On Monday we had laid new matting in the bow well and re-sited the anchor.  Its original home was in the bow locker where it hung up very neatly, but is getting rather heavy to lift in and out when we know there are rivers ahead.

The plan for Friday was to load the fresh food and head over to the office area for diesel, gas (very conveniently a canister ran out on Monday) and a couple of bags of coal - probably not necessary, however we are not sure how long we will be out for and they also add extra weight to the bow to help us get through low the M5 Culvert.  Whilst we were over there, Debby from nb Chuffed spotted us and popped over to say hello.  They were off shortly afterwards - I got Debby snapping us!

Saturday 7th August 2020                                                                                                               Droitwich Spa Marina to Netherwich Basin, Droitwich                                                                           1.5 miles, 5 locks, 3 swing bridges                                

A late start as our daughter, her husband and two boys were going to come and lend a hand. One of the boys had football in the morning, so they arrived soon after midday, we had lunch - them in the bow and us on the stern, so good social distancing!  It is only the second time we have seen them since March and they only live 10 minutes away from us.  I never thought the day would come when I would so value seeing people in '3D'.  I still find not being able to have a hug very hard.  Hey ho, we have been careful throughout, so there is no point in giving up now.

The journey is one we have done many times, but not in quite so much heat as we had today.  The boys spent a fair amount of time in the bow, but did

get out and lend a hand when required.

Their Dad had driven their car to Droitwich and walked back to join us en route.

Apart from a slight hiccup at the first two locks (a staircase) it was an uneventful journey.  There was a boat ahead of us at the locks and I am afraid the helmsman had failed to empty the bottom lock and when I politely pointed this out to him, he tried to assure me that that levels would equalize eventually.  It was not until I indicated that there were grids on the side of the bottom lock with water spilling over and off down the by-wash and that there was water on the towpath that did he agree to let us close the middle paddles and empty some out of the bottom lock.  Fortunately not too much water was lost.

We were very grateful for the family help and all too soon we were safely moored in the basin.  We did, however, have a problem.  The rudder had become un-shipped.  A phone call to RCR and a man was with us in less than 40 minutes and with the help of a strap wrench it was back in place.

Sunday 9th August 2020                                                                                                                       Netherwich Basin to Hawford

5.25 miles 6 locks

Before we had left the marina on Saturday we had discovered that our next door but one neighbours in the marina moorings were doing the same trip as us, so at 9am we were off closely followed by nb Doris.  

I have no idea when this appeared, but we are fairly certain we have not seen it before

The Barge canal is quite wide albeit reedy.

There were flowers to admire - are there more lovely gardens this year thanks to lock down?

Two boats in double locks are so much easier than one and, of course, it is good water management.  

Monty had a new friend - Shackleton who is two years old.  He is a really handsome young chap with a rather long breed name which we have both forgotten!  If the crew from Doris see this, perhaps they might to leave a comment with full details.

Thankfully it was not quite so hot this morning as there was good cloud cover, but Monty still needed to lie down on the job.

We were safely moored up at Hawford before the sun made an appearance.  It was a quiet afternoon for both boats.  Note how clean and shiny we are - for now! We are moored at the first possible moorings ; as you can see there was not very much space, but Doris and Tentatrice fitted in perfectly.  However there was a potential drawback.  Unfortunately, just a about two feet from the water's edge and about abeam with our bedroom porthole there was a wasps nest, possibly in an old hole made by a mooring pin.  We moored with great caution, prepared to move at a moments notice!   However, we didn't bother them and they didn't bother us.  All we can presume was that neither the boats or humans going past were directly in the way of their flight paths.