UK adventure – Castleford to Worcester

We needed to return to England for the whole of July for two weddings and Alex suddenly decided to turn this into an 'excellent adventure' by going to the two weddings in the narrowboat! The canal system allows us to get within a few miles of each one. It may take a little longer than going by car, but should be more fun!

Peter of Zee Otter very kindly gave us a lift to Aiguillon station and we caught train, airport navette and plane back to Leeds/Bradford airport. The plane was late leaving France so we missed the last airport bus to Harrogate and had to get a taxi. The driver dropped us off in the street where Matt (our car mechanic) had told us he had left our car, but we couldn’t find it! Then we realised we were in the wrong street, and as soon as we got to the right one, there was the car! So a late arrival back at Newton Aycliffe.

We realised that the trip by boat to our first wedding in Worcester was going to be a bit tight so we only spent two days at home, sorting everything out before we set off.

We made good time from our home mooring at Castleford to the start of the New Junction canal getting there about midday. Louise called the lockkeeper at Keadby to book passage for the following morning only to be told that it would be too early for British Waterway’s attendance - 5am – so there would only be an afternoon pen out at 5pm. We were due to arrive in Keadby by early evening anyway so we would have had to wait a whole 24 hours or so until the next evening’s pen out. Alex rang the lockkeeper back to ask what time today’s pen out was – 4 o’clock! Perhaps we could just make it by 5pm and still go. The lockkeeper said OK and booked us in. He had asked where we were and we said at the New Cut – but not at which end! I think he assumed ‘his’ end because he felt sure we could make it in time. But the New Cut alone takes 1.5 hours at the best of times. We opened the throttle wide and went for it.

It’s a commercial waterway, so the speed limit is higher than we can achieve but the first fisherman we passed at about 6 mph complained, ‘Is this a race or summat?’ Actually, yes – a race to catch the tide! We were lucky with the bridges and the lock was in our favour and we managed to shave 10 minutes off our best time for the New Cut! Then we were on the Stainforth and Keadby Canal. As we approached Thorne we came up behind a charity barge going very, very slowly, but they let us overtake – great! So we got first to the lock in Thorne as well. Another boater helped us through and warned that the swing footbridge just beyond was faulty but was about to be fixed open. It was. Excellent! As we arrive another boat was trying to set off through it but had a novice at the tiller, who completely cocked up and her partner waved us through. Phew! We watched for them at the next lift bridge but even after we had got through it and lowered it, they were not in sight so we motored on. The last thing we needed was to be boating with a novice through all the lift and swing bridges to Keadby. Finally we got to the sliding rail bridge just before Keadby and as we arrived it opened as if by magic. (We have waited three quarters of an hour for a long enough break in the trains to let us through at this bridge before now.)

Alex rang the lockkeeper and as we arrived he swung the road bridge and we motored straight in to the lock. 4.30pm!!

When the keeper gave the all clear we shot out onto the tidal Trent with about 4mph of incoming tide to help us and by 7pm we were at Gainsborough. We could have gone on to Torksey but after 11.5 hours non-stop we felt we needed a break and anyway an early start the next morning would get us to Torksey at ‘set off’ time anyway, which it did. We sat at Gainsborough and watched the tide turn at 6am, gave it half an hour to get ahead of us, and then set off. By 4.30pm we were in Newark for our second night. Castleford to Newark in two days – must be a record!

From here on, we thought, we can relax a bit as we have gained a whole day already, but when we got near to Willington on the Trent and Mersey we found they were having an open weekend and there were boats galore queuing at locks, moored boats all over the place to slow down for etc. etc. But finally, the next day, we had the climb up into Birmingham through 24 locks – all against us. Louise’s back was still playing up (over-energetic keep-fit!) so Alex did them all! After a 7am start that morning, we got to Gas Street Basin at 6.30pm – Alex totally knackered. Will and Laura came for supper bringing an Indian takeaway with them and we drank a toast to their recent engagement.

In the morning we stopped just south of Birmingham on the Birmingham and Worcester where Will met us again and we had lunch, and then he took us to see his new house. As we travelled down the B and W canal we learned that the Droitwich arm had just been re-opened the previous weekend, after many years of dereliction, so we decided on a slight detour to Worcester via Droitwich, and the River Severn.

It’s always fun to travel on canals which have just been reopened because all the local inhabitants are so enthusiastic about boats travelling through again they come and chat about how it used to be and how nice it is now etc. Great!

So finally we got to Worcester and into the Diglis Basin where Alex had sweet-talked Jackie into letting us stay for a couple of days with electricity (vital for Louise’s hairdryer for the wedding reception picnic!).

After an afternoon and a following morning discovering Worcester – up the cathedral tower for an eagle’s eye view of the city – the taxi arrived and got us to Spetchley Park Gardens for what turned out to be an excellent post-wedding picnic in the park, followed by dancing and a hog roast – and it didn’t rain! (It threatened to all afternoon but didn’t actually do it). A taxi back to the boat at 11pm completed the first leg of our crazy journey.