To Worcester and beyond

17th & 18th July

Yesterday was one of those days when we show we can do serious boating when we've a mind to. Having checked with the lockie the day before that there was no problem with going out as soon as he started business at eight, we were ready and waiting on the quay wall by the lock at five to.

Just after eight I gave him a call on the VHF to say we were there, and he started the gates opening at once. It takes the big lock a while to cycle, so it was at 8.15 that we set off up river. Levels were as low as when we arrived three weeks ago, if not lower. Sheila opened up the engine to 1250 rpm, a bit over our normal river cruising revs, and we made good progress up the comparatively narrow section that leads to the Upper Parting.

Checking our time against the distance markers suggested that we were making about 4.5 mph over the ground, so probably somewhere between six and seven mph through the water. We reckon Sanity's hull speed, her theoretical maximum speed, to be around ten knots, so this was a fair rate of progress. Using more revs would probably have got a little more speed, but at the cost of a lot more diesel.

We passed the Upper Parting at 8.52 in weather that was wet on and off – I spent some of the time at the back keeping Sheila company, and some down below out of the rain. This strategy makes sense from the steerer's point of view as well – in serious rain, if you are on your own at the back, you can stand inside the back doors with the slide pulled well up to you, so that much of your body is protected from the wet, and gets the benefit of the warmth from the engine.

Upper Lode Lock presented just a bit of a problem – as we came round the bend into sight of the lock itself, the red light was already flashing to indicate that the lockie had seen us and was preparing the lock. Sheila therefore opted not to moor on the pilings below the lock, just as I would have done, but was then caught in the powerful swirl of the water leaving the lock.

In the end she had to wind Sanity twice, performing a 36o degree turn just as the lock gates opened for us. It is worth noting that when waiting below Upper Lode, it's best either to tie on the pilings or to wait well away from the gates, barely in sight of the lock in fact.

Sheila had gone below to eat lunch as we passed Upton; I noted that there were fewer boats tied on the pontoons then when we came down river, but it would still have been a squeeze to get Sanity in there. Shortly after, Braidbar 105, Nocturne, came past in the other direction, her owners looking very pleased with themselves, as you would expect, since she's still only a couple of months old.

We got to Diglis river locks a bit before four, having taken around seven and a half hours to do the 30 miles from Gloucester. We'd planned to moor on the isolated pontoons between the river locks and the entrance to the canal, as we had on the way down, but in the interim they had acquired signs saying "Strictly No Mooring £250 Fine".

This gave us little choice but to work up the broad locks that lead to Diglis Basins. I'd taken over the steering by then, so Sheila hopped off onto the lock mooring pontoon and set up the first of the two locks. They are very heavy, and it took us a long while to get through them. There was a bit of vacant mooring just beyond the Sanitary Station, onto which we fell with muted cries of relief, over eight hours after we'd left Gloucester Lock.

When we first boated to Worcester, in our OwnerShips days, the moorings at the Commandery, just beyond this location, had an evil reputation for problems with the local youth, but we noted with interest that they were full of seemingly unmolested boats last night, and indeed we experienced no trouble where we were, just a bridge hole further down. The towpath is well used by locals going about their business, and the moorings are clearly very popular. As always in these situations, once people start using the area, problems tend to subside, if indeed they were ever as bad as they were cracked up to be.

This morning, after a great night's sleep (not that we'd been worried about the river passage, of course, much) we went into town in search of some perishables at the Sainsbury's reputed to be in the Cathedral Plaza shopping mall, and of the branch of Lakeland Limited for yogurt mix and some more freezer labels.

The Lakeland was found without too much trouble; in fact we got there too soon and had to use up some time getting some keys cut at Timpson's (we needed some spares for the front door), but the Sainsbury's was nowhere to be found. For the record, it took us about 10 minutes to walk from our mooring to the nearer end of the pedestrian precinct.

In the end we got only what we absolutely needed at M&S, and will have to hope that Droitwich is more productive tomorrow.

To sum up Worcester: good stuff: the visitor moorings at the Commandery and the Basin appear perfectly safe. Bad stuff: it's hard to find a supermarket, what canal moorings there are feel very down at heel (but may improve as various construction projects finish), and there's now nowhere to moor on the river except at the racecourse moorings upstream of the canal entrance, which are also desperately in need of a refurbishment.

Overall, Worcester didn't feel hugely welcoming, which is a shame, as it's a nice place with a lot to see and a big shopping area. To make it worse, as we left town, I noted that the Viking Afloat basin at Lowesmoor, which used to offer a free night's mooring in their locked yard, and further nights for a modest fee, now has a big sign saying that overnight mooring is only available on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and will be charged for.

Viking have become part of the Alvechurch Boat Centres behemoth since we were last this way, and this may account for a more commercial, not to say money grabbing approach.

By ten we were on our way up the locks which lead out of the city. There's quite a lot of them, and they are both heavy to work and not well designed. After you get clear of the city, at Tolladine Lock, there's not much chance of getting onto the towpath to stop until you've also gone up the Offerton flight and reached the good visitor moorings at Tibberton.

This makes for a long haul – we didn't get lunch until 1.45 today, which is a lot later than I like, but once here it's very pleasant indeed.

The forecast for tomorrow is not too good, so we'll probably settle for going just a short lock free cruise to Hanbury Junction, from where in the not too distant future you'll be able to cruise down to Droitwich. We'll settle for walking it for now.