What a Day! 01 July 2021

Thursday 1st July 2021

Perdiswell to The Commandery, Worcester

2 miles, 5 locks

I was right yesterday about it being a good place to stop.  Chris took Monty over to the recreation ground yesterday afternoon and I went with Monty this morning - it is huge - a veritable dog paradise.

We walked back to the bridge and I took a photo of Tentatrice as we crossed the bridge

There is a useful plan as you get to the other side with many different options.  Alas we did not have time to explore much of it, but it is somewhere we might well come back to by car in the future.

By the time we got back we were nearly set to go

Our timing was perfect - a boat was just emerging from the first lock, so it would be ready for us.  

In not time at all we were down the lock and as I was heading to the next lock just a short distance away, I heard a cry from Chris.  We had something round the prop.  Off he went down the weed hatch. I took this photo at 10:04 about 10 minutes or so after he had gone down.

It became apparent that this was not going to be a quick fix, so I pulled us along and tied us up to the lock landing.  The VLK (John) that was on duty came to see if we needed any help.  He lent Chris a pruning knife to add to he other tools he already had, offered words of encouragement and also took away the bulk of what we think was a fleece hoodie.

This was just part of it.

I busied myself cleaning and tidying, making tea, I helped a couple of boats through the lock below us, I watched this man for hours just turning his sign around and around and I generally tried to be helpful.

I took this photo at 13:49 and poor Chris was still down the weed hatch

The boat was all set to go over 4 hours after we had ground to a halt

We were so close, yet so far.  

We eventually made it down the second lock of the day.

Only to find that the pound below it was so low we scraped along the bottom all the way to the next lock!  

This sign was on all the locks 

They did try to get through,

 but our swan and duck food kept them occupied long enough for us to get and shut the gate.

Time to count the cost of all Chris' hard work 3 lots of plasters

and lots of bruises

The sign for The Worcester Canal Festival we attended in 2015 is still in place

and it is good to see that the mural at Lowesmoor is still looking in good condition.

A mooring was spotted at the Commandery - we had had enough, so we took it.  I am sure it will not be the quietest of moorings and we made a right meal of tying up much to the amusement (I am sure) of the people on the hire boat behind us.  They had offered to help, but sometimes it is better to just get on with things even when you are both bone weary.  Tomorrow will be another day.  We will probably only go as far as the Racecourse on the River Severn, which had been our target for today. It should only take about 1.5 hours, but we need to use the services before we drop onto the river and Chris, understandably, wants to check down the weed hatch once more before we go.    I think we need time to recover and not add a 5 hour dash along the Severn with no guarantee of being able to moor on the river when we get to Stourport.   We know the narrow locks at Stourport are closed so we will be going up the broad locks.  VLKs are available from 8am to 6pm.

Monty and I went for a little wander which included a short trip up the main street just past the next lock.  It was rush hour and very busy which included a police car with blues and twos going.  Monty has never been a fan of lots of traffic and this was his first experience since lock down and he did not turn a hair.  When I mentioned this might not be the quietest mooring we were not expecting the noises that emanated from behind us.  First a lot of women cackling then a few words drifted across the cut 'When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightening or in rain'?

The poster on the railings of the Commandery enlightened us

Words and music drifted over through the evening.  It is something we would love to have gone to had we known it was on and if we had not been quite so tired.  It was very tempting to nip up the main street to get a takeaway, but our food was out of the freezer, so Chris broke out the BBQ and I made the salad.  I am sure it was a lot tastier and healthier than a takeaway.