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Droitwich Barge Lock
The Droitwich Canals are under restoration and will provide a new route to cruise in the foreseeable future. Today was the ceremonial opening of the Barge Lock which links the River Salwarpe to the Barge Canal. After much hard work over recent weeks by the Waterway Recovery Group, British Waterways and many others the lock is ready for navigation. 
The gates were bowed. Not distorted but equipped with a large ceremonial bow and ribbon fastened along the gates. After the speeches the dignitaries pushed the gates to open them on the count of three but nothing happened. To hold the gates shut until the vital moment the organisers has let a couple of inches of water into the lock. A quick wind of a paddle and the waters were levelled and the ceremonial opening happened as planned on the second count of three. More info to follow in further blogs soon. Posted on Friday, 26 September 2008 at 20:55 Comments (2)
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I was walking down Farmers Bridge locks on Monday afternoon, windlass in hand, and caught up with a familiar boat. Don scores a hat trick as he appears in three consecutive blog postings.
He and Joy were escaping from Birmingham – Matt having returned to London, leaving them to the delights of Farmers Bridge Locks on their own.
I helped with a few gates and paddles as I passed on my way down the flight.
This story really begins back on 18th April when I helped Sue & Vic down the Rothersthorpe flight of locks. I just appeared, windlass in hand, along the towpath. In the comments Adam (from Narrowboat Debdale) asked if this service would extend to him when he was passing through Farmers Bridge Locks.
Well that’s a challenge to be addressed. A careful watch was kept on Adam’s Blog and Sunday’s post indicated that he’d be climbing Farmers Bridge locks on Monday.
So, off I go to London, to cram in a morning’s work, then onto a train to Birmingham. A quick dash to pick up a windlass from our boat – I’m sure Adam would have lent me one but it would have spoiled the effect to not have one in hand when I arrived.
Then off I go down Farmers Bridge helping Don & Joy a little on the way. A few locks later I spotted a boat coming up with boater on the towpath. "Are you Paul?" he asked, quicker than I could ask if he was Adam.
Adam quickly introduced me to Adrian and Adrian’s Mum and up we went, passing Don & Joy in one of the short pounds.
A chance to chat as we worked the locks, before mooring on the Main Line.
It’s almost 12 months since our boat appeared in the October 2007 issue of Canal Boat magazine and we were first spotted by Adam.
Now Adam writes the boat reviews for Canal Boat magazine and I offered him a turn on our boat to see just how quiet our electric power is. A quick figure of eight around the the Icknield Port and Oozells Street Loops before Adam headed off back to Debdale and I headed off back to Bristol.
When we returned to Birmingham yesterday we spotted the blog readers we had passed the day before. They weren’t going to get away without a proper photograph a second time.
Now we’ve formally said hello and used the camera to welcome Don, Joy and Matt – enjoying another canal holiday in England.
They follow other blogs, including fellow New Zealander’s Dot & Derek on Gypsy Rover and, I suspect, Sue and Vic on No Problem.
Heading south on the Stratford on Avon Canal we saw this boat coming towards us.
First the steerer seemed to be taking a particular interest in us, then he disappeared. The boat coming towards us appeared to have nobody at the helm.
I think he’d just bent down to shout something to those inside the boat – but what could it be? Was it connected to the interest he was taking in us.
Then the steerer re-appeared and seemed to be listening for something. He was listening for the sound of our engine.
Someone had done well to recognised us well in advance and remember we had an electric motor with silent running.
As we passed there was just time for him to say they were blog readers from New Zealand and for me to ask them to leave a comment so I knew who we had missed. So who are the mystery boaters – please leave me a comment.
I was so surprised that I didn’t get my camera out until they were well passed us – it’s a good job we had the Bowcam running so I could extract these stills.
It’s not very often we get to meet our mail order customers face to face. Today was an exception when I met Jane and Raymond Cross. (I do hope I remembered their names right).
Our son, Andrew, was steering as we headed north on the Stratford on Avon Canal and I was at the front investigating a problem with the Bowcam.
Then I spotted the crew of a southbound boat waving at us as they approached. They had recognised us from our Llangollen Canal DVD which they had purchased earlier this year.
We were just about to moor up so I could go back on my bike to capture a few more shots for our latest filming. I caught up with them at the next lift bridge for a short chat. Notice Jane doing all the hard work with Raymond supervising.
I also saw them at the next lock as I cycled back to our boat. Jane’s feedback that she liked how our DVD explained about needing to walk ahead with radios on the narrow sections of the Llangollen Canal was much appreciated.
Their home moorings are on the Middle Levels so they have quite a journey just to reach the main canal system. I hope they make it safely back there.
Susan made it back to her flat this afternoon. She’s still very weak and Christine is looking after her with an occasional evening visit from me.
She goes back to the hospital for a check-up next Monday and it will be some time before she is well enough to return to work.
Our boat is back home at Sherborne Wharf, and has been for a few days, but I’ve been a little to busy to blog. Our cruise around the Birmingham Mini-Ring was completed slowly as we hopped from station to station so we could take it in turns to visit our daughter, Susan, in hospital.
Susan has improved greatly over the last few days and is expected to come out of Hospital tomorrow, although it will be a week or two before she has enough strength for work.
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