The Droitwich canals connect the Worcester & Birmingham Canal with the River Severn but that is not by original design. The two waterways that connect today were built, more or less, at opposite ends of the canal building era.

The 'wich' in the name of Droitwich Spa indicates that it had always been a centre for salt production. To make it easier to get the product to market, a number of schemes to improve the Salwarpe River for navigation onto the Severn were proposed and failed in the seventeenth century and eighteenth centuries. Finally, the Droitwich Barge Canal was constructed, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, opening for business in seventeen seventy-one. It was wide enough to accommodate the Severn Trows that plied their trade on the Rivers Severn and Wye and was built as a contour canal, following, as far as possible, the lie of the land. However, there are eight locks coming up from the River Severn to Ladywood at the western end.

The Droitwich Junction Canal opened for business over eighty years later. New sources of brine were found at Stoke Prior, which is to the north-east and on the route of the later Worcester & Birmingham Canal. That competition, coupled with the introduction of the railways, began to reduce the reliance on salt coming overland by handcart from Droitwich. The Droitwich Junction Canal was an attempt to meet that challenge and was built as a narrow canal. It is a shorter distance and more direct but includes eight locks of its own, including a staircase lock and incorporates a section of the River Salwarpe within it. It also has an extremely low tunnel, on that river section, which had to be built during restoration in order to get under the M5.

Both waterways were abandoned by Act of Parliament in nineteen thirty-nine but a restoration effort began in nineteen seventy-three and the through route finally re-opened in two thousand and eleven.

Tuesday, 17th September was a lovely, sunny day from the start, perfect for cruising. Hanbury Junction, off the Worcester & Birmingham, is a slightly awkward turn back on yourself through two bridges. We made a slightly clumsy attempt but got round in the end and were almost immediately in the Hanbury Top Lock, which was manned by a team of CRT volunteers.

While we were in the lock, we had a conversation about the M5 tunnel. It has a nominal headroom of one point eight metres but even that is often significantly reduced if the river level is high. This section, right through to the Barge Canal, is often closed to navigation completely if the Salwarpe rises significantly. With the top box mounted on the roof our air draft is one point nine metres. At this point it had been fairly dry for quite some time and the river level was pretty low so, after a bit of measurement, we reckoned we could get through as long as nothing was standing proud of the top box frame, itself. They even helped us unload anything that was sticking up and put it inside before we dropped down and carried on through the rest of this first flight of three locks.

The marina was just beyond Hanbury Bottom Lock and we had a refreshingly easy time of getting into the basin and onto the service dock. As we had gathered, when passing it on foot yesterday, it was very well organised and had all the facilities we could need. As the only place on these canals that offers any services, we were pleasantly surprised at the fairly reasonable fuel price. The staff were friendly and helpful and it was as easy getting out as it had been coming in.

We carried on down the canal through the staircase, where Archie, for some reason thinking it was time to get off, managed to fall in the water. He was still secured to the boat so he didn't go under and Sue was quick enough to grab him and hoist him back up to avoid him getting crushed against the lock side but it was worrying for a moment.

There was one further lock before we were approaching the motorway tunnel. We slowed right down to a very gentle crawl as we approached and drew a deep breath as the bow slipped into the entrance and we could see how close the roof was to the top of the box. It just whispered across the cover at one point but then we had to duck right down and steer through the little tunnel blind, kneeling on the deck, to get through ourselves.

Emerging on the other side, we saw that the towpath had taken a detour up to and along the B4090, to re-join the canal at the next lock. We almost missed the lock landing because it is so far in advance of the lock itself that it seems to be completely unrelated. We just managed to stop, back up to the landing to pull in there and let me off to go and work the lock.

The final lock is also a flood gate to bring you back off the river, which meanders off to the right. It seems to be left open, as the difference in levels is only about three inches but is closed when the river rises. However, there is a swing bridge right across the top of the lock and that still has to be opened in order to get the boat in.

Max Sinclair Memorial Lock

Beyond this lock, rather awkwardly named "Max Sinclair Memorial Lock", a long narrow park opens up around the canal, which makes its way through three more swing bridges before reaching the visitor moorings.

The secure CRT mooring pontoons at Netherwich, just at the end of the park, looked rather different today, compared to our brief reconnaissance yesterday afternoon.

Just off to the right, as you come up the canal from town, there is a little basin, open to the water, with finger pontoons jutting out around it. There is a water point on the outside of the first pontoon. Some of the jetties are reserved for long-term permit holders and the rest are available as visitor mooring for forty-eight hours. On the park side, a locked steel gate provides access to the area for boatowners with a key.

Netherwich Visitor Moorings

As we arrived, we could see a cluster of dark uniforms and hi-vis clustered on the water point pontoon. A police officer left the group as we approached to ask us to moor at least a couple of jetties away from there. There were only a couple of boats in the basin, so there was plenty of space for us to choose from. We turned, reversed on, tied up and then watched proceedings with interest.

It seems that someone had reported having seen a man fall into the water the night before but not seen him climb out. According to the owner of "Round Tuit", moored next to us, there had been a lot of activity overnight. It was now one o'clock and there were still half a dozen officers, coming and going. As we watched, one of them came and asked to borrow our barge pole to probe for something in the water but found nothing. A cadaver dog (and handler) arrived from the dog section, stationed at the Hindlip HQ, where we had been walking a few days before. There was great excitement as the spaniel gave the trained indication a few yards away from us. A lengthy investigation followed. There was, indeed, a body in the water but it was that of a large fish that was floating under a pontoon. Invisible to those standing above it, the smell was still a powerful bouquet to the canine nose.

Shortly after this a dive team arrived and began to plan their search. By now, we had had lunch so set out for a walk, in my case and to the supermarket, in Sue's. When we returned, the force was still with us. However, on my way back, I had passed two officers talking with a rather dishevelled individual out in the park. It turned out that this was the drowned man. A fairly well-known drunk in the area, he had, indeed, fallen in last night but rather like the fellow we had seen in Bristol, he had known just what to do and pulled himself out immediately, unseen by the person who spotted the splash. Since then, presumably, he had been quietly sleeping it off somewhere, oblivious to the commotion by the waterside. It was still six o'clock before the last of the police presence had departed, which is presumably testament to how much paperwork is involved in closing down an incident like this.

We weren't quite done with the emergency services on this visit. Sue had returned from the shops this afternoon and attempted to open the gate. It was a heavy, steel, barred door, reaching right down to within a millimetre or so of the ground. Having pushed, in vain, for a while, Sue realised that it needed to be pulled, in which direction it moved quite easily. In doing so the bottom of the gate, almost flush with the ground, smashed into her sandalled toes. She arrived back at the boat in considerable pain and sat down to let it wear off. By morning, not only was the toe still painful but it was very swollen and quite black. A trip to the Urgent Treatment Centre was indicated, if only because we didn't want to move on and then find we needed assistance. No such facility exists in Droitwich, so Archie and I saw her off in a taxi to Bromsgrove, ten miles away and went for a walk round the town and back up the locks.

Sue did quite well at the hospital and was back on board by two o'clock. The X-ray confirmed a broken bone and the blood build-up under the nail had been drained but there was little more they could do. An overcast, muggy morning had turned into a brilliantly hot, sunny afternoon so we decided that, despite the relatively late hour, we would move on, regardless.

We pulled out and passed under the railway bridges, beyond which you are on the Barge Canal, broad enough for navigation by a wide beam boat. It was an hour or so before we reached the first lock at Ladywood. We passed only one boat coming up, the Black Prince "Daisy" and naturally, that was at the Salwarpe Bridge, which sits on a very sharp right-angled bend, with a significant build-up of silt on the outside curve. They did see us in time to move over so that we passed them easily but looking back, we could see they were partly grounded, working hard to push off with a pole.

As we moved down the locks there were a few boats coming up and we made good progress but as we left Porters Mill Lock it was already half-past four, so our main concern was finding somewhere suitable to moor. There were two or three places marked on our map as being just possible, so I walked on ahead to check them out. I found the places referenced but they didn't seem particularly good; overgrown with thick beds of reeds and very shallow. Finally, rather further down than I would have liked, I found a spot that I thought would do, in a pinch and started to head back to meet Sue on the boat. As I passed Mildenham Mill Lock, I looked again at a perfect mooring just above it. On the way down, I had assumed this was the lock landing, thus not available for mooring. Examining the set-up more carefully, I realised that the formal lock landing was on the opposite bank and currently occupied by "Dark Star". The nicely cleared stretch of Armco on this side was just a normal mooring spot. The only reason for not mooring there would be that, with "Dark Star" on the lock landing, anyone coming down would find it more difficult to access the lock. At that point, I spotted a couple walking back to the boat and went across for a chat. They were moored there to meet their son from Cirencester, with his family and would then be moving on. Even as we were talking, their guests arrived, so we had no reason not to call Sue down and tie up opposite for the night. A perfect spot with a very nice view.

On Thursday morning we were all set to move into the lock when Hoseasons hire boat "Rock Dove" rounded the bend. They joined us in the lock, two elderly ladies were sent up to help work the lock and we started the process of letting the water out. The lady doing most of the talking had a voice that suggested she had been quite deaf for some time. We were able to communicate quite well, however, as both her self-awareness and the hearing aid she was wearing were a great help. They put her a long way ahead of the man at the tiller who, while apparently equally hard of hearing, had neither. If he did hear the information he was being given, as we travelled down towards the river, then he must have wilfully chosen to ignore it.

Leaving that first lock, we let them go first and closed the last gate behind us. They then proceeded at a pace so leisurely that we could only avoid overtaking them by cutting the engine completely. At the next lock, the path to the final one changes sides and leads through a small stand of trees a little way back from the bank. Having managed to get that information across to them we proceeded down into Hawford Bottom Lock. This opens onto the River Severn and moving straight ahead out of the lock sees you on the channel towards Worcester, where the crew of the "Rock Dove" were heading. We needed to turn more sharply right, to head upstream, so we agreed that the ladies would go down the steps to the pontoon below the bottom gate and board their boat as it left the lock first. We would then follow and not be in their way as we manoeuvred.

Although this plan was carefully conveyed to their driver, as the bottom gates opened he applied the throttle and took off onto the river with great enthusiasm, leaving all three passengers standing, bewildered, on the pontoon. Meanwhile, a Black Prince hire boat had pulled in to a landing pontoon further down on the opposite side, just around the bend. They sent no-one up to the lock to communicate their intentions or understand what was happening. We waited patiently in the lock while "Rock Dove" realised what had happened, worked his way into the current and circled upstream to come back to the landing. The Black Prince, however, seeing him leave the first time, obviously decided the lock was empty and came, full steam, into the approach. The chaos gradually resolved itself, without damage or injury but the potential for misfortune was significant and on another day, with stronger winds or currents and less visibility, that might not have been the case.

The next eight miles or so up to Stourport-On-Severn were much less eventful. We phoned the lockkeeper at Holt Lock to let him know we were coming but heard a recorded message saying that the line had been disconnected in preparation for work on the lock that was due to begin shortly. However, the keeper saw us coming and we were able to go in without any delay. He was very keen to make sure we understood that the lock would be completely closed from Monday twenty-third September, for at least two months and we would not be able to return after Sunday. Luckily, that was not a problem for us, as we were keen to move off the rivers as soon as possible. The likelihood of autumn heavy rains and heavy flooding was increasing by the day.

Lincomb Lock was all ready for us, where the name of the boat caught the eye of the lockkeeper, who had been a keen archer. Leaving there, it was already one o'clock and we were bracing ourselves to tackle the next couple of locks up into the basin, which we would have to operate, then deal with the services there, before moving up onto the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal to find a mooring. Pulling over on to the floating pontoon on the river, we realised that there was a two day mooring here, just below The Angel, so we decided to tie up there and call it a day.