Good morning. It's still quite early so I'm making sure I'm going lovely and slow past
any moored boats because they'll be fast asleep, but it's lovely and fresh this morning.
And hopefully, it's going to be a nice day,
and my objective is to get through Wolverhampton and out the other side.
[Birds singing]
Leaving Hatherton Branch behind I continued to head south on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire
Canal. Travelling under the M54 motorway I pass through a very narrow cutting. Autherley
Junction leads onto the Shropshire Union Canal to the west and Aldersley Junction where the
Main Line starts to the east.
With Dunstall Park Race Course neighbouring the canal I travel through the suburbs of
Wolverhampton. I was due to meet up with some friends at Wombourne and Bratch Locks are
just north of the town.
I stayed the night just south of Wombourne and proceeded to get stuck in Botterham Staircase
Locks early the next morning.
Very hot weather was forecast, so I was eager to continue south where I moored up in a dense
wood, shading us from the sun, just south of Prestwood Bridge.
[Boat running sounds]
As I come down into Wolverhampton, just up ahead there is a very narrow cutting and it's
only just about wide enough for one boat.
Here we go. Hopefully I won't meet anyone coming in the opposite direction because I
can't see because all of the trees have grown down over the canal. It is a lot narrower
though and only just enough, wide enough for one boat.
There are little passing places like this dotted down this stretch but I'm so pleased
I've chosen to travel along this section really early in the morning, because I really wouldn't
like to meet another boat coming in the opposite direction. Because you'd probably have to
reverse quite a lot and get into one of these passing areas, but I haven't met anyone yet,
thank goodness!
Just to the right here is the Shropshire Union Canal maybe one day I'll actually finish that one!
[Music]
You wouldn't think we're just on the outskirts of Wolverhampton would you? This stretch of
canal is really pretty and very quiet. It's got lots of cyclists and lots of walkers, and
dog walkers. It's quite busy with the boats today, virtually every single lock there's
been another one waiting to go up or down. But that's what nice weather does for you!
So here I am at Wombourne. It's just sort of south, southeast of Wolverhampton and I
have arrived at Bratch Locks. There's three locks back to back and it's a flight of locks.
There is a lock keep on duty, which is a blessing because they're very deep locks.
[Slightly worrying music]
Okay, I'm at Botterham Staircase Locks. I've never had this before and we've got a bit
of an issue. The boat is ever so slightly angled in the lock and because of that it's
wedged and it's a good foot above the water, hanging above the water.
To try and explain what has happened, here is a rather rough diagram.
Alice is currently sitting in the top pound, or the canal before the lock.
As both locks were already full, I opened the top gate and moved Alice in. I closed
the top gate. All good so far.
As per the instructions at the lock I opened the gate paddle on the very bottom gate.
This is when I made a huge error. I then opened the gate paddles on the middle gate thinking
I was clever and I’d get through the staircase quicker.
Both lock chambers have the same amount of water in them. Instead of waiting for the
bottom lock to fully empty and closing the bottom gate paddle, I let too much water out
of both chambers.
So when that lock emptied, because of the angle of the lock Alice got wedged in the
lock and I tried moving up, I came down the ladder and tried moving forwards and it wouldn't
move and I thought why is it not moving? And then I looked down and the propeller was virtually
sticking out of the water and I was like, ah right okay. So effectively, this lock hadn't
got enough water in it to let it drift straight through. So I stood there and wonder what
on earth I should do. Open those gates so I had the full channel and the only thing
I could do is open a ground paddle, ever so slightly on the top gate and let a bit more
water into both and eventually because of that, Alice rose in both locks and was able
to move forward.
Here's what I should have done.
I should have opened the bottom gate paddles and emptied the bottom lock chamber completely.
I should have then closed the bottom gate paddles before continuing.
I could have then moved Alice into the top lock chamber and opened the middle gate paddle.
As both lock chambers have the same amount of water in them, the level would have equalised
correctly, and I could carry on down through the second staircase lock and onto the bottom
canal.
I’m sorry to say, filming all of this wasn’t my primary goal here. Alice could have at
any moment become un-wedged and dangerously drop down into the chamber. If one end had
stayed wedged, I could have very quickly and very easily have flooded the boat and destroyed
my home.
So I needed to act quickly.
It was a bit of a scary moment when your boat wedges in the lock and the water of the lock
is lower than your boat.
Follow the signs and don't open the middle gate to try and speed things up. Empty this
lock, close the pedals then deal with the next lock. That's all I can say. It was literally
20 to 30 seconds, enough time for me to get up there open both pedals and come back and
of course you don't know until both are level and then you realise how, hang on a minute,
there's, you know couple of foot or a meter or less than a meter less water in both locks
and because of that, Alice got wedged.
[Music]
Well that was an interesting way to start the day and it's not even 9 o'clock. Oh dear.
[Music]
So I just came up the last lock. That was a really good example of how being nice and polite,
and making nice comments helps you.
It’s something in life, in general really.
Lots of garages will have ths special #### tax. I’m going to have to bleep that word so
I apologise.
If you turn up to a garage, or you just turn up to a lock and ignore people,
then they're not going to help you.
Back at that lock there were two Canal & River Trust members of staff. They were busy cutting
the grass and making the place look good. And I went up, said hello, thanked them for
their work and said it looked much better, because it did.
And I got into a bit of a conversation whilst the lock was filling up with water. Because
of that, at the end, they could see I was on my own, and as I was climbing back down
onto the roof of the boat they said “don’t worry mate, we’ll close the gates for you”.
So it’s just a bit of nice, a bit of pleasantry goes a long way because otherwise I’d have
had to stop the boat, get out and close the gates again.
[Music]
As record summer temperatures were forecast, it was great to be able to move my entire
home under the cover of these trees, protecting it from the suns heat. It turned out to make
a huge difference to the temperature onboard and something I shall remember for the next
heatwave. Until then, I’ll see you later.