Taking the Road Less Travelled

Eddie here readers. I'm coming under pressure to complete my boating posts since, as George and Yorkie keep reminding me, there have been 2 further Bears Unlimited adventures since this one, and they're keen to have the blog back.

What I didn't tell you in my last post, when I waxed lyrical about our Greensforge mooring, was that we this mooring wasn't actually on the route I'd planned. I'd gone 'off piste' as I heard what a lovely spot it was, but no-one minded when I confessed, as it was wonderful and we did have plenty of time.

So, the next morning we found a winding hole (a place to turn for the uninitiated), and I turned the boat round and we set off back the way we'd travelled the previous afternoon.

We could have continued on to Wolverhampton taking in the great Wolverhampton 21 lock flight, but this was the busy route, and I had the urge to take the road less travelled. And so, a few miles back, we made a left turn, and joined the Stourbridge Canal.

This was a first for all of us and we were eager to sample its delights. And so, as we went through the first lock, just after the turn, everyone who wasn't working, was out in the bow enjoying the sunshine and seeing what the Stourport had to offer.


The water rushing in to fill the lock, created a great frothy head and made us think that it was probably time for a beer! Very quickly, not only were we supping beer, but we were passing through wonderful countryside, and it was all so quiet. We didn't see another moving boat during our time on the Stourbridge, and it was hard to believe we weren't far from the centre of Birmingham.


While we travelled towards Birmingham, we had a few adventures which included:

- fishing Maria's grill pan from the bottom of a particularly deep and muddy section of the canal (female minder who forgot the handle wasn't permanently attached when emptying crumbs overboard to blame)
- an excellent day out at the Black Country Living Museum - go there if you're ever near Dudley
- a descent of the mammoth Tardebigge flight of 30 locks in record time (under 3.5 hours)
- lots of rain which created dramatic waterfalls over the front lock gates - there really was water everywhere.

Our last night on board came all too soon. We had a bit of a party on board and it must have been good, as there were no end of locals who wanted to join us; one tapped quite insistently at the window until gave him a party bag.


At 9.30 a.m. the next morning it all over, and Maria was safely returned to the Black Prince yard at Hanbury Wharf. We were all sad as we waved good bye, but we all love canal boating so much that we know we'll be back.

Lots of love Eddie and the crew of Maria xxx

Simply Special

By now we were really into our boating stride and the days started to pass far too quickly. There is always so much to see and do. A simple job, like stopping to fill up your water tank, can be so much fun when you make such amazing discoveries as this old lock paddle, close to the watering point.

I was able to use it to give my apprentice Louis a lecture on lock mechanics. However, he's such a bright spark that he'd already worked it all out, without seeing below the murky canal water. It's great to have someone as enthusiastic about boats as me, to talk over the finer points of boating.

George and Yorkie were more interested in the wildlife that abounds on the canals. Boating in April is great as you get to see so many baby ducks ...

... although you have to keep your paws crossed at all times, that they won't get snatched by a hungry pike for dinner.

Not this family, but another, did live very dangerously by going for a swim in an empty lock. They could easily have got crushed by tonnes of hard steel, as there is not a lot of spare room in a lock. Fortunately, with our careful supervision, they made it safely out, family intact.

This mooring near Greensforge was one of my favourites. It was simply idyllic and very quiet. At dusk, and again in the early morning, it was very atmospheric, with mist over the water. And the great thing was, there was a pleasant pub, with good food, just 5 minutes walk down the towpath.

Have we sold canal boat holidays to you yet?

Love Eddie and crew xxx

Kinver Calls

Not far from Kidderminster we stopped for a stroll at a local beauty spot. It is one of the joys of canal boating that you can tie up almost anywhere and make a foray ashore.

We had a steep climb up to Kinver Edge which is a National trust site. Yorkie, as usual, had eaten so much for lunch, that he had surplus energy to climb to the top of the location sign ...

When we got to the stop we could see for miles and, even more exciting than the view, was the fact that we could bag another trig point for our sister blog Bears on Trig Points.

Back aboard Maria we came across a quirk of the canal system that we really appreciated. This was these marvellous cottage gates which were miniature lock gates ...

I made a close inspection and was able to confirm that they were very accurate replicas. It's a pity we don't need any gates at our Norfolk Bear cave, as I know what I'd be recommending.

Lots of love, Eddie and the crew of Maria xxx

To Kidderminster and Beyond

We paused in Stourport to enjoy a well earned beer in the sunshine, then we were all eager to start our trip up the Staff & Worcs canal. The Severn is great, but can be stressful, so it was lovely to be back on a conventional canal, even though we we did get caught in a few heavy showers. After the Severn, the canal felt very narrow, but there were few other boats around so we had as much space as we wanted ...


That night, we moored at one of George & Yorkie's favourite spots, just below the church in Kidderminster. Last time they moored there, I, Eddie, wasn't even born. I agreed though, It was a great spot, not only because it was scenic, but also because of the canal memorabilia, left over from the industrial past. To a canal anorak like me, it was fascinating ...


... I inspected closely while the other chaps crossed the canal at the nearby lock to visit the big Sainsbury's we were moored opposite. This mission was an important one to replenish the ship's stores.

The next morning we had planned to take some time out to travel on the Severn Valley Railway, but even though it was late April, trains were only running at weekends ... and it was a Monday. This was disappointing, and not as good as our local Norfolk Poppy line's service.

Taking time to explore the canal at the leisurely pace we could now afford, was just as exciting though. In places we were travelling through sandstone gorges. The rock was quite soft fortunately, so room for the lock beams could be made, by chiselling away at the rock ....


... luckily we didn't have to do this as it had been done, many years earlier, by the hard working canal builders.

Lots of love, Eddie, George, Yorkie and crew xxx

We try a Salmon Run

Bear flag safely aboard, we made our way into the overflowing lock without further incident. As the bottom lock gates onto the Severn were opened, there was a tense moment as we made the turn to go upstream. Would we be able to make headway or would we be carried backwards by the current?

As Eddie inched us further away from the canal, Yorkie and I looked back to see the junction with the canal (marked by the pontoons) rapidly disappearing; there was no going back now.


Although we had the tough task of forging our way upstream, against a river virtually in flood, looking back at the junction, we couldn't help thinking that had we been going the other way, we might have been travelling so fast, that negotiating the turn into the canal, and not shooting past, might have been quite difficult. If anyone could do it though we felt sure that Eddie could. However, on this occasion we didn't need to put him to the test.


After the narrow canal, the amount of water in the river and the speed with which it was moving was quite awesome. However, once we were pointing in the right direction, there was no doubt that we were making progress. It wasn't fast and no doubt our fuel economy wasn't very good, but we were all happy and relieved, especially Eddie.

We began to relax and take in our surroundings. There was no other boats around and we had the river all to ourselves. When we phoned the lock-keeper at the first lock he told us it would take us a while to reach him. It was nice to be expected though and we had the bonus of having the lock ready for us as we approached it. As we got close, the lock gates started to open and the traffic lights changed to green. This made us feel very special.


The lock- keepers on the Severn are very helpful and very patient, so they get our paw of approval. After the first lock there was a very noticeable drop in the speed of the current so we began to enjoy ourselves even more, especially in the intervals between showers.

It wasn't long before Stourport on Severn hoved into sight and it was time to turn off onto the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal.

The next stage of our journey was about to begin - how exciting!

Lots of love, George, Yorkie, Eddie and crew xxx

Time to take to the Ark?

The next morning everyone was in good spirits as we set off in the sunshine on our first full day of boating. The M5 motorway seemed a long way behind us as we rounded an early bend and saw this delightful stretch of rural canal.


It had much more of the feel of a river rather than a canal and the best thing was we had it all to ourselves. It was a real treat to all our finely tuned bear senses.

The relaxed feel of the day started to fade when 2 things happened that caused us all some anxiety, especially skipper Eddie who was responsible for us all and for our boat.

Our first anxious moment came when we saw the lock at the junction with the River Severn. This signified the end of the Droitwich canal, which was sad in itself, but what caused us consternation was the water level at the lock. It was very high and water was flowing over the lock gates and almost over the sides of the lock.


Memories of being flood bound on the River Avon a few years ago came flooding back. The thing about rivers is that they are only navigable by boat when not in flood. As water levels rise, the current becomes too strong for a relatively small narrow boat engine to contend with. The Severn was the only stretch of river, rather than canal, on this trip, but we couldn't complete the Stourport ring without navigating the stretch between Worcester and Stourport.

Although, at this stage we hadn't seen the Severn, the high canal level looked ominous. The most important job for the advance party, put shore to open the lock, was to check the colour coded water level gauge to see if it was safe to proceed onto the Severn. We'd have liked the level to be green, but it was in the amber zone which meant 'proceed with caution'. It was better than seeing it red, which would have stopped us in our tracks, but there were certainly no grounds for relaxing yet.

At this point, those of us ashore heard a cry of alarm from on board Maria. We ran back up the towpath to see what had happened. It was serious! No-one had fallen in, but ... the bear flag had got caught in a tree and parted company with the boat.


It was time to do a quick reverse and try and retrieve it. As Maria inched backwards, guided by Eddie, Fred's Mum gamely inched along the outside edge of the boat and managed to reach up ad retrieve the precious flag. We'd have lost our identity without it so were very grateful for Fred's Mum's minder length arms and gave her 3 cheers.

It was then time to deal with the lock and hopefully after that the river. Find out how we got on next time.

Lots of love, George, Yorkie, Eddie and the crew of Maria xxx

How Low Can You Go?

The Droitwich canal continued to have more surprises in store for us.

Just after Louis's cowslips we came across a simple staircase lock. I called Louis over for his next lock lesson - in the space of a couple of hours he had advanced to advanced lock handling and he was taking it all in his stride. I explained how the bottom gate of one lock was he top gate of the next. It was important to check that both pounds were empty before starting off; thankfully the canal was quiet so this was no problem.


Louis wanted a photo for his boating log book and this one shows the arrangement of the staircase lock rather well.

He also found a plaque confirming that the Droitwich canal had only re-opened last year. We were all astounded at the amount of work that must have been involved in the restoration and full of admiration for all those who had worked so hard on the project. It was a great privilege to be one of the first boats to travel this way since the re-opening.


The thrills continued as we approached the M5 motorway. What an obstacle to have to pass. I don't suppose for a moment that any of the drivers rushing along imagined for one moment that they were so close to the waterway underneath them. As we approached we got a warning of how low we would have to go to make it throughout the tunnel.


We cleared the height guides, but not by much; it was a good job the water level wasn't any higher, otherwise we'd have been doing a long reverse. Even so, as the tunnel proper came upon us, we all took a sharp intake of breath, hoping there would be no screeches of torn metal and even worse cracked heads.


We were o.k. though provided we kept our heads down and knelt to steer. It was quite an experience and actually quite quiet - we were completely protected from all the traffic thundering over our heads.

After the motorway tunnel came 2 swing bridges, I just could't get over how exciting this canal was and how many interesting features were packed in. But it was enough for 1 day, so just after the swing bridges we tied up for the night and were soon relaxing over a home cooked meal and a glass of wine. It was simply great to be aboard and none of us wanted to go anywhere else.

Lots of love, Eddie, Louis and crew xxx