Kinver - great village, great service

28th & 29th February

I forgot to mention a milestone last time. At about the same time as I started this blog, I started using to Sitemeter to count the number of hits my main site had, and a little later I added the feature to the blog. During the weekend, the count passed 10,000 hits – small beer by the standards of the mega blogs, but very gratifying to me.

Incidentally, as it says at the bottom of this page, I don't use Sitemeter to identify individuals, only their approximate location and stuff like which way they arrived at the site, such as from a Google search or by clicking through from another blog.

Yesterday we made another prompt start, and had a glorious day's boating, especially after we'd got clear of the light industry around Woodbourne. Next stop was Swindon (no, not the one in Wiltshire), where we got bread and a paper before going on to Stewponey for lunch.

That is not to suggest the nature of the lunch – the name comes from an old hotel, now gone, which in turn was approximately named for Estepona, a place which featured in the Peninsular War.

After lunch we went on to Kinver, finding a mooring below the lock. Odd thing – Kinver is a really nice place to stop for a few days – there are walks you can do, and the village itself is really interesting, but all the visitor moorings are 24 hours only.

Despite being well exercised after working 12 locks, Sheila then cut up a bit of firewood before we settled down for a quiet afternoon and evening.

This morning we took the cratch cover into Wilsons at nine, and were told to go away and they'd ring us when it was ready. We went into the village to get supplies – there is a good, genuine family butchers, where we got some prewar sausages as well as a chicken. Apparently, sausages used to be bound with bread crumbs, but in the wartime shortages, butchers went over to using wheat rusk, and have never gone back.

We also called at the bakers for a nice loaf of bread, and were just finishing off in the Co-op when the phone rang. It was Wilsons to say that the cover was ready. We called in to pick it up on the way back to the boat – they've done an excellent job of the repair, and, what's more, didn't charge us. Because the cover is less than five years old, it's covered by the warranty. All praise to Wilsons, not the cheapest on the market, but great after sales service.

We got back to the boat with most of the day ahead of us, so decided we might as well set off back. Sheila steered down to the winding hole, and then back to the lock, whilst I made mugs of coffee.

After locking up, we tied at the service block and did another pump out, getting rid of the sludge from the bottom of the tank that I had loosened when working on the Tankwatch sender the other day.

We got to Stewponey just as the rain started, and we've tied by Stourton Junction for the night. After lunch I did a full engine service, and I've just uploaded the website to its new home at www.nbsanity.me.uk.