We could happily have stayed a few days soaking in the tranquility at the lower end of the Stourbridge canal. But we were ready to continue our journey north.
And onto the Stafforshire and Worcestershire canal.
This canal was built in the 1770’s to service the potteries around Stoke on Trent. However trade declined when newer canals provided a more direct route between Liverpool and the South. In order to remain competitive the canal company increased the lock opening hours and reduced the tolls. Now there’s an interesting idea. It’s a very pretty canal that cuts through the red sandstone rock in places, and follows the meandering rivers and Smestow Brook.
Within minutes of turning north, the smell of wild garlic hit us, so I leapt off to gather a bunch to make pesto our first spring foraging treat.
Our next first was seeing our first ducklings of the year, 24th April. Out of interest I looked back to last year and my first duckling photo was on 23rd April.
And another first, this time for James Brindley in 1770, as he managed to combine a lock and road bridge in one crossing.
And whilst we were ticking off firsts, we realised that this was the first time we had done the Bratch Locks in sunshine. It was raining so hard last time we had to bribe the lockies to leave their toll booth to help us
It’s an amazing feat of engineering, originally a staircase lock of three, the water level changes by over 30′. Although technically its now individual locks it still needs to be treated as a staircase and there’s usually a lock keeper on duty to make sure no one sinks. Sadly James Brindley died a few months before it became operational.
The locks are fierce and powerful, we often chat to the families watching at locks and always remind the children never to play close to the edge because of the undercurrents. We had never seen a whirlpool as big as this one at a lock
Finally something we’ve come to enjoy peaceful mooring
