Staffs and Worcester Canal

Hello and for the start of this episode of the Water Rd I'm

standing in the engine hole of the boat because I'm about to do

an oil change. It's a beta 43 engine and the

oil has to be changed every 250 running hours.

The engine is warm which helps keep the oil flowing, so the

first thing I need to do is to pump the old oil out.

Over the past couple of weeks we've been travelling the length

of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, from Great

Haywood in the junction of the Trent of Mersey at one end to

Stourport on the River Severn at the other.

That's 46 miles and 43 locks. James Brindley was the principal

engineer and it was completed in 1771.

One of the most interesting sets of logs is the branch at

Wombourne. 3 logs, all concertina together, with very

short pounds in between, so uphill and downhill boats can't

pass each other in the flight. Now my next job is to get the

old oil philtre off and that can sometimes be a bit of a

challenge. So while I grapple with that,

here's John, one of the volunteer log keepers at the

branch to explain how it all works, and Lucia, a hire boater

from Holland who was travelling through the flight.

It looks at first sight, like a staircase.

But it's not a staircase, is it? No, indeed not.

It used to be 3 separate blocks but because of the loss of water

they built a new system in including we call them blue

gates. So the water comes over the Weir

into a second pond, into the bottom pond to keep the

circulation of the water as the water's running down in all the

time. And the blue gates are

separators. So if you're going down the

locks, the blue up ones have got to be up, and if you're coming

up, the blue ones have got to be down.

And it's all to prevent the movement of water from the side

ponds actually into the canal. Some people find it very

difficult to understand and other people have actually mowed

up for two days and waited for us to come on to help them

through the locks. So it is a a backup for of

normal people coming through. They're not doing anything like

it before and that's why we volunteer here, help people

through, hopefully safely, give them a good time, have a good

chat because they're from all over the world.

So the the system is there really that there are pounds

between the locks, but they're just sort of off to the side

rather than in between. Correct.

And when you open those blue paddles, it doesn't have make a

Whirlpool, doesn't it? In that little tiny pound.

Yeah, there is quite a large pipe coming from the middle pond

and as it hits the wall opposite then it forms the Whirlpool.

So as you open or close those blue gates, you can actually see

the water in the middle pond moving one way or the other.

And of course the other thing about the branch is your little.

Toll House. Octagonal office here.

That used to be the Toll House. So back in the 1700s when this

was built, well then every bolt that came through after 1722

when it opened had to pay the toll because the businessmen in

Wolverhampton, they wanted their money back.

They'd put the money up for Brindley to build this canal in

six years from Wolverhampton to Stairport and obviously they

wanted their money back. It's very lovely, yes, I came

from Holland and we also have both canals, but not like this.

I think it's yes, it's nice to do.

Sometimes it's heavy but it is nice to do it and we did many

years, but this year we have a lovely weather, yes.

So have you done this part of the system before or is this

your first time at the? No, no, it's my tense time.

Yes, we did the Four counties ring.

We went to Chester, I think, yes, to Manchester and now lots

of time to Birmingham. And on this part, this area, we

did it several times because this is very nice.

And there's something a bit special about the Bratch locks,

isn't it, Because they're quite complicated?

Yes, there. Is because we came here a few

days ago and we go down and there were no lock keepers.

So I said to my husband, oh how to do it blue, red, blue, red

because I repeat it every time. And now we are coming back.

I said to my husband I have to do blue, red, blue, red.

And then I saw the lock keepers. He's like, wow, that's easy.

Right, I've got the old oil philtre off and a new one can go

on in its place. I'm going to put a little bit of

oil on the new rubber seal just to help it seal properly.

Now just to the South of the branch at Swindon Loch we came

across a Let's Fish event. The Canal and River Trust

supports these all over the country to encourage people to

get involved in angling in the canals, so I was keen to hear

more. Hi, I'm Craig Williams and I

work for the Birmingham Anglers Association and we're here today

with the Canola River Trust doing a lot of fish events with

the children. So what's the idea behind the

event? Really to get younger children

back into fishing, get out in the nice environment with fresh

air off the consoles and the bad stuff that's going on on the

streets. But yeah, that's basically it

with the kids. So is is fishing dropped off in

popularity then? Because it's really popular,

isn't it? It is popular.

It's not so much something that a junior wants to pick up and

and go fishing until they actually do it and they're sort

of, if you understand the pun, get hooked.

But yeah, it's more of a an older man's sport or known as an

older man's sport. And we want to try and get

younger kids into it and, and say get them off any of these

consoles. So what is the appeal then for

you of fishing? Being out in the environment,

lovely weather, meeting different people, catching fish

obviously if we can and getting Laura out, watching the young

faces when they do catch a fish. It's just amazing when you when

you see them. Catching fish Now fishermen do

have a reputation of being bit grumpy though, don't they?

We can be, especially with boaters, Yeah, but obviously

everybody's got to share the water.

And we're not all all grumpy. We've got to share the waterways

and canals, so it's all about respect for each the fisherman,

the boaters, bikers, walkers, dog walkers.

Yeah, but it's great. The new oil philtre is on and I

can start putting new oil in the engine.

I need to make sure it's the right amount so I have a

measuring jug here and the new oil is a lovely golden colour as

opposed to the black of the old oil.

Now Kimva is a lovely village on the Staffs of Worcester, just on

the Staffordshire side of the county boundary and the log

South of Kimva is Whittington Lock where we bumped into the

owners of the lock cottage. Now the all locks have what we

call a by wash, a channel which takes excess water from 1 LB to

the one below so the levels stay even and it's always fascinated

me that some of them flow right underneath people's homes.

My name's Rob. Leslie.

And you live at Whittington Lock Cottage and you've actually got

the by wash for the lock going underneath your house.

So what's that like? Well, it's, it's, it's

interesting, when we first thought about buying this place,

we were a bit worried about that.

But we do know it's very cavernous under here.

It's almost like a cave. It is very deep and the water

level actually is is lower than the ground level.

But also the the floor level of the house is at least 2 feet

above ground level. So even if it did flood, it

wouldn't flood the house, which is good to know, but can.

You hear it running. Yes, yes, when we first came

here, we were thinking about removing the.

The metal cover because there's an axe putting.

Glass there so we could see it go through, but we found that

when we were lifted it up the there was a a sort of stone step

that covered half the circumference of the.

So we wouldn't see the water, unfortunately, because of that.

But the noise is not at all distressing.

It's not as loud as you might think, but it's actually quite

comforting to hear the rustle of the water.

Well, if you like the idea of being able to hear running water

all the time at home, now you know what sort of house to buy.

Now I've put the right amount of oil in the engine, so I need to

turn it on and make sure it's all OK.

There's always a bit of a worry when the beeping carries on for

longer than normal, but that's just the oil filling up the

system and the philtre, and then the pressure sorts itself out,

so let's give it a go. Well, that all seems OK and that

sense of relief that brings us to the end of this episode of

the Water Rd on the Staffs and Worcester Canal.

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Water Rd.

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