Staffs and Worcester Canal

0:00 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.

0:35 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.

1:07 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.

1:38 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.

2:18 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.

2:46 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.

3:26 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.

4:04 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.

4:37 And then I saw the lock keepers. He's like, wow, that's easy.

4:46 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.

5:19 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.

5:52 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?

6:23 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.

7:05 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.

7:38 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.

8:18 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.

8:52 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.

9:36 The podcast is produced and presented by me at Importer. Please follow or subscribe depending on where you get your podcasts from so you're alerted when new episodes are published. And don't forget that all past episodes are there ready to listen to. If you're enjoying the series, please leave us a nice review because it really does help people to find us. Thank you for listening to the Water Rd.