We timed our departure from Worcester so that we would arrive at Bevere Lock soon after it opened at 8am.

We were off the rivers and back onto the canal system, on the Droitwich Barge Canal, just before 9:00 but not before a minor mishap.  It was lucky that Romy was only pulling Oliver onto the lock pontoon at Hawford Lock 1 relatively gently because with a loud ping the centre rope snapped.  Had she been putting a lot more of her weight onto it she would probably have gone over backwards into the water.

The locks were amazingly all empty except for lock 4 all the way to Netherwich Basin where we moored on a pontoon only half Oliver’s length.

There was only one boat travelling in the opposite direction and we met him just as he was coming down our next lock.

The Droitwich Barge canal seemed almost deserted.  It was quite a dramatic change in scenery from the wide rivers and into the narrow, reed lined, twisty canal.

After lunch on board we wandered into Droitwich and had a brief look around the town.  We aim to spend some more time there tomorrow.