Re - Tracking.....

With a short term time plan to stick to we've had to go over old ground that  involved a little more than a days travel. The canal involved was from Kings Norton Junction to Kingswood Junction.

Before that we had to pass through the Wast Hills Tunnel being the longest tunnel we have encountered.

Opened in 1815, steam and then diesel, tugs towed horse drawn NB,s through as there is no towpath. The horses would be led over the top and meet up on the other side...

Arriving at the tunnel entrance, 2 way but never saw another NB...    2726yds long....
One time I was pleased for the old saying "there's always light at the end of the tunnel"......

 

 

It's almost dead straight and you can see the light at the other end when you enter.. ..  It takes quite a while until the light starts to appear bigger...

The arch is very uniform in shape....  A Zillion bricks and though it looks dry it was raining  water in places.....

 

Cast iron brackets with insulators to carry telegraph lines through the tunnel....

Looking back after exiting...  28 minutes travel time.....





Then turned onto Stratford on Avon canal and passed under the two Guillotine stop lock gates......




















Then through the much shorter Brandwood Tunnel....  352yds...

 

Onto the Lapworth locks, another  typical UK hot summer day...  A cast Iron bridge above the lock  with the 1 inch split through the centre  so the horse drawn  tow rope didn't have to be disconnected.....

 

Some of the Lapworth Flight....

Kingswood Junction.... straight ahead to Stratford on Avon.... through the left hand lock to join the Grand Union canal....


While doing the last 3 locks a couple of kids showed an interest and joined in helping with the locks so  they jumped at the opportunity to ride on fireflyNZ  through the last two locks...

Millie and Lucas have turned onto the Grand Union,  thanks for the help.......

Gonna have to Brave another hot day tomorrow.....   Bring it on......

 

Hopwood........

Raining pretty steady this morning so stayed put and sat it out waiting for a clearance.
When it stopped, about 11.45am, I pulled the pins and made for the first of two tunnels about 200 metres from our mooring.

We stopped for a pump out of the sewer pit then moved on. Emerging from the second tunnel the rain had returned. Tough as steak I carried on steering, the crew had disappeared inside, for a couple of hours to moor up at Hopwood.




The first tunnel was Tardebigge  Tunnel,  580yds long....

Not lined on roof and pretty irregular shape...

 Looking toward the exit... the white stuff seemed to be leaching out of the roof...








Looking back to entry... wide enough to pass....




The second tunnel was Shortwood tunnel, 613yds long...





Approaching the entry.. looks dead straight...

 

Looking back.. this one is lined with bricks....  part way...

 

Approaching the other end...  Can also pass but no tow path...  was a "Wet" tunnel from the roof...



When doing multiple locks close together it pays to walk or ride ahead and set the next couple of locks, let water in or out, to speed the job up...

 

Irish Locker.....  Comes along after boat has passed through locks....


Still raining on and off, not cold though so should move tomorrow....

 

We Nokked The Bastard Off......

Left Worcester and headed for the Droitwitch Canal parts of which have been saved and  rebuilt and only opened since 2011.
Worcester town is ok, not a lot in the way of old English architecture to see, the moorings on the Severn are handy to the town centre and right next to the Racecourse of which we missed a meeting by three days Dammm It......

And yes it has a Cathederal is all I'm going to say..









View from the NB cruising past on the Severn.....

 

Leaving our Worcester moorings on the LH side....


The rivers are good fun but the big double locks and the oversize landscape can be harsh......

 

The Droitwich Canal leaves the Severn with two locks within 100 metres.....  And then within 500 metres.....

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That's What I'm Talking About....  Quite and beauty of the canals.....

At this particular  lock the water is diverted from the canal down here to feed the lock when raising the paddles to fill.....





 

OOOOOIIIIIIII........ Cherries, they left a Pound for the farmer... Yeah Rite...

 

Droitwich is a nice mooring 200 metres from a supermarket and village .....





Under  the M5  Motorway..... not much clearance and some boaters obviously don't believe the height guage you pass under before entering....




Droitwich is know internationally for its powerful long range transmitter built in 1933.
During the 2nd world war the transmitter was used to "Jam" signals to enemy aircraft.......

Guess these have a connection to the airwaves....

Nice lock keepers cottage.....

With a nice garden on both sides of the lock...

 

 

 Should have swapped the flag for an All Blacks one......

Done 14 locks up till we moored. Needed a good nights sleep because today was going to be Big..
The Tardebigge Flight, 30 locks in a row. Then there was the 6 locks before the flight began.

While moored last evening two NB,s passed going our way which meant if they were ahead of us on the flight we'd have to let the water out of every lock before entering. Also the weather forecast looked like rain in the arvo.
These two combined made us plan a Ridicuosly Early start. Now I'm not going to tell what time as it may lead to people calling me "Tommy Gadget" or saying " you've  lost your  bloody sanity"....

So here we go, already 6 locks done and no sight of rain...

Change of scenery, probably driving a water pump.....

 

The locks go on and on....

 

Looking back is best when there's more to see than what's ahead....

 

 

Then there's only 5 to go....

Nokked Off... 36 locks, had breakfast parked  in a lock, and moored up well before mid day......
Nice work team.....

Taking a short cut to open/close other lock gate...... it's only my Athletism and Ball Room dancing training that allows me to succeed.......

Didn't a couple name their son after this bred of dog.... 

Bit of a sleep in tomorrow I reckon.....

 

 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

Avon ....Severn.... Droitwitch......

Travelled to the end of the Avon River with our final mooring being at Tewkesbury. Hot days and nights in a row made for a cruzy trip.  The Avon is well worth the effort and locking with another boat especially going upstream would make good sense.

Of all the villages we stopped at Pershore takes the cake for the best village, best moorings.

Evesham wasn't flash and seven Op/ charity Shops within about four hundred metres probably tells the story.

Tried to stop at a couple of riverside villages but you cannot stop because they don't have available moorings and it's impossible to find a landing spot.

 

 

 

Before Tewkesbury...  Eckington Bridge...  16 century..

The moorings in Tewkesbury aren't plentiful for a place where a lot of canal uses pass through.  Three Quid a night, no extra's pay the lock keeper....

 

Opposite our mooring, Nice house,  Perfect for NBer's it fits in single locks....


All these town have Churches, Cathederals, Abbeys.  Must have been a sign of wealth and power to have the biggest structure to be seen from miles around.

For a town it's size the Cathederal size proportions of Tewkesbury Abbey meant a lot of locals, Peasants,  were going bloody hungry and paying taxes to the church.... Nothings Changed Then..

Front entry......    year 1120....

 

Was going to be demolished by King Henry V111 in 1539 so the towns people paid the price and bought it for 453 Quid to save it being ruined....

 

Lots of black and white timber framed buildings, some nicer than others.....  Pub and clothes shop , had a bit of colour and nice Sagging lines ......


In the streets there are a lot of alleys that run between buildings.  Interesting walking them not knowing what lays ahead. Narrow and with views in private court yards, back yards,  some tidy, some the Pitts....

This one was tidy, started with a pub entry on the left side........



Been known to flood on the rivers in England. We passed moorings with poles and pontoons with 25-30 foot lift in the mooring height..

 

This is looking down on the River Severn side of the Avon Lock. This NB was deposited there Nov, 2012.  It'd be 20ft up there....

 

 

In the Avon Lock with a hire boat,   you always let them go in First.  Lock keeper operated out of  shed on RH side....

Dropped down to the Severn, turned Right from gap between first two LH trees...



Before we left Tewkesbury we caught the bus to Gloucester. Only 12 miles and would have canalled there but working to a plan that didn't allow the time. So we had a look around, nice dock area been refurbished with apartments and shopping arcade and cafes etc. The town was busy and with some pedestrian only streets plus a good crowd, it was better than working...

Haven't seen one of these before...

Mobile butcher shop, Twin steer, triple rear axles, front and rear walk in chillers, no wonder Red meats so Bloody Expensive in the Uk..

 

And Guess What???  Gloucester has a Cathederal too... Mines Bigger than Yours...

She's a 1089 model this one...

 

Had some remodeling and extensions after 1330.... Starved a few more locals...

The whole towns and surrounding population could probably have filled all of two rooms...

Now there's more restoration work going on. Some clever dude has been repairing and renewing these figures..  See the battens on the new re roofing...  They tried to hit on me for some money, No way mate, I'm buying  Pork Scratchies....

Up the Severn River with the first stop being Upton Upon Severn..  The side banks are higher than the Avon so a lot of the time is spent looking ahead at water...

 

Small village, Nice, with seven pubs within about 300 metres
Sun was shining and the riverside pubs had the punters outside enjoying themselves...

Across the road at the next pub we got talking to a fella, he was a real hard case, who was in town for a steam rally. He had two cars with him, a mate driving one, and they were doing a pub crawl...

Only one of his cars was eligible for the rally..

A 1918 Stanley Steam Car...  Thought it was just hot and the radiator was boiling but it was dropping a little water and steam while he drank and answered many questions..

The Boiler and valves... A tank beneath the centre of the car holds 60 odd gallons of water.......

Has a pilot flame beneath the boiler that can be seen through the side door.....

Owned it for 9 years and it was in immaculate condition. When he drove off it was "Silent", as he said, "I can run you over you wont even hear me".....

His other car was a very original 1928 Model A coupe....

 

Firefly NZ moored way down on the river, this is the view from another pub...

 

But they have just added the glass panel extensions to the top of the brick wall to help stop the water coming over........


On the Severn the locks are Lock Keeper operated....

I'm keeping an Eye on the lock keeper who's keeping an eye on us in the lock....

 

Having  a few showers but mostly at the end of the day, 3pm onwards, and still very warm...