Matthew opens the paddle at Hyde lock.
The Lock Keepers cottage at Hyde lock has miniture lock gates for a garden gate.
The short (25 yards) Dunsley tunnel east of Kinver
An amazing garden, which had several wicker animals by the canal
The entrance to Ashwood Marina, now private, but once used by the National Coal Board to link to the railway.
The entrance to the lower lock at Botterham - a two step staircase
Matthew carefully guiding the boat from the lower lock to the upper lock
The middle lock at the Bratch - with someone elses boat from the same hire company as ours. We stopped before we got here at a winding hole (a place where you can turn the boat round).
The Bratch is a famous set of three locks which are not a staircase where the bottom lock gate of one lock is the top gate of the second lock. They are three adjacent locks with what appears to be an impossibly small pound between each lock. However water is fed to the pound via a culvert from side ponds. There is a lock keeper on duty (who could talk for England but was very friendly and knowlegable)- he is in the blue top, bottom right.
The octagonal toll office at the Bratch which is one of the symbols of the Staffs and Worcs Canal.The Bratch Locks raise the canal by over 30feet.
Moored up for the night.
A short walk away was The Royal Oak at Wombourne, dating back to the 1800's. again meal OK but not memorable. I lost virtually every game of cards we played that night!
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