Droitwich Spa

A gentle run down the 3 remaining Astwood locks on a cold grey day....but DRY!!!!

Protective Father

The first of the Droitwich Canal locks come just after the turn and we were fortunate to have no less than three volunteers to help us down the first 3........what an idle life for me on the tiller.

A pair and a single followed and then the dreaded low bridge under the M6

A steady stream of traffic above

Will we fit???

We touched the test bar!!!

But we fitted under!!

Two more locks and then we were at Vine park in the centre of Droitwich.  Barge Lock just before the centre is the first of the double locks.   It was a real pain as there is a swing bridge over it which has to be opened and neither of the gates would open fully so Geoff did a lot of walking from side to side and I squeezed in the middle.

We saw a lovely spot by the park just after the bridge so decided to moor there instead of going onto the pontoons in the central area.  There is a boat moored ahead of us and no signs to say we cannot moor here and it is much nicer for Barney.  Last time we were here and on the pontoons it took him quite a while to summon up the courage to come off the boat onto the unstable side.   It is also much closer for shopping.

So here we will stay for the weekend.  We have checked ahead and the Severn levels are OK.  Weather permitting we will do the run down to Worcester on Monday.

Total distance:3.27 miles 

Elapsed time:3h25m54s 

Locks:11

Bridges:14 
Average speed:0.95 mph (4.16 lock/mph)