Thursday 10 April – Ice and my First Lock

Easter 2025, , ,

Distance travelled: 20 miles (by boat from Upper Burston Bridge No 86 to Gailey Visitor Moorings above Lock)

A map showing a route with a marked path in blue, connecting two points. The surrounding area features various place names and geographic details, indicating a rural landscape.
All our canal route planning came from CanalPlan

Locks: 15. Total so far: 61

When I woke up and looked out the window, the roof of the boat was covered in ICE. In April! I touched it and it melted straight away but still. Ice. In the morning. On a boat!

A misty morning scene with a calm canal reflecting the early sunlight. A solitary tree stands on the riverbank, casting a shadow on the water. A narrowboat is visible on the right side, with a bright orange life ring on its roof. The atmosphere is tranquil, with soft colours of dawn.

But once the sun came out it got properly warm and the whole day turned out to be lovely.

Today we didn’t really have any big stops, just kept going along the canal. We changed canals again, this time we joined the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal – and that’s a long name to type every time. It’s part of something called the Four Counties Ring.

I was getting better at helping with the locks. I was really becoming a good Lock Labourer. Some of the locks are really deep and the gates are heavy but I liked doing them. Hard work and great exercise.

At one point we went through some locks right next to the the M6 motorway. It was loud and full of lorries and not very pretty. Once upon a time there was a lock keeper’s cottage here but it’s long since been demolished. 200 years ago it was probably really beautiful here but today you’d get a motorway for a neighbour!

A clear blue sky above a scene that used to be the site of the lock keeper's cottage but is now cleared scrub land and a brick wall in the foreground. The canal boat is visible in the lock in the foreground while in the background the passing traffic of the M6 motorway is visible.
Would you have wanted to live this close to a motorway? I don’t think so!

When we got to the Gailey Roundhouse, I got to do a lock paddle all by myself. Dad stood nearby just in case but I did the whole thing. I loved it and was very proud!

A brick tower with a rounded top (the Gailey Roundhouse) stands beside a canal. In the foreground, a lock mechanism is visible, and two children in orange life jackets are preparing to close one side of the lock gates. The lock gate is designed at a right angle because it is so close to the road bridge. The scene is bright under clear blue skies.