A bit cooler and back to Kinver

It's been a glorious day for boating, though it's clouded over and cooled down a bit here in Kinver now. We had a lazy start this morning, loafing in bed doing Killer Sudokus until half seven and then making a leisurely toilette. This was so that I could start the engine at eight whilst we were eating breakfast, giving us plenty of hot water for the usual purpose by the time we'd done a couple of locks.

It was my turn to steer round the tricky blind bends between Wolverley and Kinver with Sheila doing sterling work as look out for much of the time. There was a fair bit of traffic about, too, Starline and ABC boats going our way and a motley assortment heading south. It was noticeable that most of the ABC boats had European crews and Sheila had some interesting conversations on the locksides.

We made it to Kinver just on half eleven, having had a coffee on the move. Sheila put the washing out on the whirligig before we settled down to eat lunch. After a bit of a rest, we headed up to the village for some more meat, including prewar sausages, I'm happy to say.

This afternoon, I've been doing a bit of work on sorting the Owners' Group compliance with the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulations) – hopefully, that will be mostly dealt with by the end of the week.

Tomorrow, a short hop to Stewponey, probably, then on up to Stourbridge on Thursday.

Is it over yet?

According to Michael Pearson, the stretch of canal from Stourton Junction down to Wolverley is one of the best on the system, and I'm inclined to agree with him, even though boating wasn't much of a pleasure today, frankly. That was down to the return of winter, hopefully for one last time this trip.

There was a cold northerly wind that penetrated even my waterproof plus fleece combination. By the time we reached Stewponey Lock I was feeling seriously chilled and struggled to do the routine tasks of tying on the water point. It's a rather slow tap there, so we only filled the tank to three quarters, enough to see us down to Stourport.

Whilst waiting, I made us coffee and added a gilet under my fleece which helped a lot when we set off again. We braved the dangers of Dunsley Tunnel without following the CRT advice to wear life jackets. The same notice admits that the tunnel is all of 25 metres long – estimated transit time: one minute. There are a lot of bridges on the system which take longer to pass under.

Arriving at Kinver at half ten, we found an excellent mooring just at the start of the visitor moorings below the lock and were soon tied up and heading up the hill to shop. I restocked on meat at the butchers, though sadly they had just sold out of their famous prewar sausages. On we went to the bakers, where someone had just bought the last large granary loaf, so we bought two small ones instead.

Finally, we went round the Co-op for various other bits and bobs. Back at the boat, I realised we'd forgotten to buy more yogurt. No matter, I got out the Easi-Yo kit and set up a brew with that. I've gotten very lazy about making our own yogurt, I must admit, must get back into the habit.

After lunch and some well earned rest, Sheila changed the bed then brushed the accumulated tree bits off the roof. I gave the sinks a good seeing to with Bar Keepers Friend before taking the recycling to the skip. Back at the boat, I applied some Rust Konverter to a few patches on the gunwale preparatory to blacking it later.

The weather has actually warmed up a bit, though we're still grateful for the fire. The forecast is for a slow improvement over the next few days and a fine Bank Holiday weekend. Let's all hope it's right.

Tomorrow, many fewer locks than today's five, just Whittington and Wolverley if we decide to go down onto the moorings below.

Karrying on to Kinver

After another rather broken night (must do something about my cooking ;)), we slept in a bit and didn't get going until after seven. Thinking it was a pretty straightforward and short run to Kinver, I wasn't too worried, aiming to set off around half eight, which we managed.

It was a very pleasant morning for boating, sunny and with little breeze at first. It was my turn to steer and Sheila rode for a while, then hopped off to do Rocky and Gothersley locks. It being Easter Saturday, we've seen a fair bit of traffic about. Indeed, a boat left Ashwood Marina and led us down all the locks.

This made for slightly slower going, but since we wanted to fit a wash load in, that didn't matter either. In the event, we just had nice time for that. Sheila got it going after Gothersley, then walked on again for the sake of the exercise in the sun and to give me warning of oncoming boats. This is the bendiest section of the southern Staffs and Worcs, dictated by the sandstone outcrops which were almost too much for the 18th century navvies, limited in their technology as they were to shovels, picks and black powder for blasting.

It all makes for entertaining cruising. Last time we came this way, we had quite a problem with depth, especially at the tail of the locks, but CRT have had a big dredging blitz recently and the channel was more than sufficient. Nonetheless, I'd underestimated the time it all took and we didn't get down the fifth lock, Kinver itself, until after half eleven.

Wisely, the visitor moorings here are restricted to 24 hours and there was plenty of room. They are on a bit of a curve, but nothing that can't be accommodated with care and three good fenders.

As soon as we were tied, we walked up into the village to shop for meat, bread and a few other perishables; we'll get a good restocking opportunity when we pass through Kidderminster on Monday, there being a Sainsbury's right by the cut. Kinver is blessed with both a good butcher and a baker, both with a very traditional feel.

We got some of the famous pre-war sausages for tonight and a nice granary loaf from the baker. A quiet time was had after lunch, but we have put in another walk since, collecting kindling and enjoying the weather. Tomorrow, it's going to rain but it really is a short run to Wolverley, our usual stop before tackling the badlands of Kidder. Apart from shopping, we'll boat straight through to Stourport on Monday, hoping that CRT have managed to clear the tree which is reported to be blocking the cut at Bridge 5.

Location:Kinver

Strange change in depth

It's presumably about the dredging, or lack of it, but the problem of the bottom being too near the top got worse and worse for a bit today, then improved dramatically shortly after we'd gone up Debdale. Before then I'd managed to run Sanity Again aground twice, once by letting her get too close to the towpath and finding a load of stone down there and the second time making a complete horlicks of the bend below Debdale.

I stemmed her up good and proper just below the cliff overhang at the point of the bend, unsuccessfully tried to back off and in the end had to get Sheila to shaft off from the bow. By contrast, Austcliffe bend gave very little trouble, though we had an interesting encounter with Bearwood Boster as we emerged. They proved to be blog readers – I couldn't stop to chat under the circs, but it was still good to meet you!

I say the depth business is strange because you expect the lower reaches to be deeper than the upper, being the beneficiaries of all the water brought down through the locks. No matter, I'm not complaining. It took a smidgen under three hours for the run from Wolverley to Kinver. On the guide it looks like it should be quicker, but the deep locks take time and the twisty nature of the cut slows you down quite a bit, even with Sheila doing forward look-out from the well deck.

There was plenty of room to moor when we got here just before half ten. I took a walk up to the service block and found that the pump out looks OK. There are a lot of moored boats here, of course, quite a few of them residential, I suspect, so any problems with the pump out should get reported promptly. We'll use it tomorrow, though nearly £16 for six minutes is a right rip off, CRT.

After coffee we took a walk up into the village and visited the haberdashers (cord for my new pyjama shorts), the baker (loaf), the butcher (sausages, pork pie, smoked streaky bacon, eggs), the greengrocer's (veg) and the Co-op (spread). We lugged this lot back to the boat and had lunch. Since then, the sun has come out, it's warmed up and we've been loafing on the bow with intent.

It's new Kindle book day, being the fifteenth of the month, so I've bought the third in the Aberystwyth Noir series by Malcolm Pryce, The Unbearable Lightness of Being in Aberystwyth. It features a barrel organ grinder client with a capuchin monkey that uses sign language (having once been employed in the linguistics department of a university), sinister nuns and the usual cast of hoods, heavies, bent coppers and Sospan the Ice Cream vendor, always good for what the word is on the street.

That's right, it's a bit weird, and don't even mention the war in Patagonia...

Great food, scary food

First things first: The Green Man was great, a real find of a pub. For a start, it's a proper pub with regulars in the bar chatting to mine host and various odd nooks and crannies if you want to hide away or if you see someone in the bar that you owe money to. We ended up in the dog-free room, which was clearly meant for eating as well as supping. In addition to the usual stuff – tables, chairs, that sort of thing – there were several bookshelves full of old books ranging from the Bible and Book of Common Prayer through Bookkeeping for Beginners to uniform editions of The Count of Monte Cristo (in two vols), Black Beauty, A Tale of Two Cities et al.

(The Count of Monte Cristo was really handy as one of last Saturday's GK crossword clues was his personal name (6,6). It's Edmond Dantès, of course.)


A notice explained that this was so that you had something to read whilst waiting for your food to be cooked to order and that reading glasses were available from the bar in case you'd forgotten yours. The menu was quite short but more than adequate, real boater's food that reminded us of the Boar's Head in Poynton. We were feeling sharp set so ordered a starter and main course each. This was a bit of a mistake as the portions were huge and we couldn't finish any of them. And all that for less than £25 plus drinks which came in at under a fiver for a pint and a half.

After we'd eaten as much as we could and were preparing to waddle home, the landlord took a bit of trouble to chat to us about our boating and our cruising plans in a non-intrusive way, just making us feel at home. Definitely a pub to go back to, though probably either for just a main course or maybe starter, chips and dessert. The desserts were things like rice pudding or blackcurrant cheese cake...

Despite our gluttony, we both slept well and managed a prompt start this morning. It was an excellent cruise along what must be a contender for the most picturesque length of canal in the country. You can keep the Caldon and the Llangollen if I can have the southern Staffs and Worcs. Sheila was locking and was soon working off all that steak and chips, not to mention the large portions of "rabbit food" that came with everything. (Well, ok, maybe not the rice pudding.)

Every lock was against us and had to be turned and for most of the morning we didn't see another boat on the move. Down and down we went until we reached Stewponey, the place that always reminds me of the Reverend Spooner reciting The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna:

Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,

As his horse to the rampart we curried

Like I say, scary food!

Anyway, on we went and got to Kinver just after eleven. There was plenty of room on the visitor moorings, though they've comprehensively filled up now. We've had a trip up into the village, bought pre-war sausages from the butcher and some other bits and bobs from the Co-op. It's turned out really fine and warm again, so most of the rest of the afternoon has been spent sitting on the bow, reading and smiling cheerfully to the passers-by. I must say, the locals make very good use of their canal towpath for walking, cycling, dog exercising, you name it.

An easier day tomorrow, just on to Wolverley before the final run through Kidderminster to Stourport.

 

Gently North in the wet

4th & 5th August

With only the short cruise to Kinver in prospect, we made a relaxed start yesterday; it was important not to get there too soon, so that some boats would have moved off the ever popular 24 hour moorings there. I took it very steadily on the tiller for the same reason, and to demonstrate that I can do easy cruising when I've a mind to.

In any event, as I said the other day, it's a glorious bit of canal, the weather, although not blazing sun was very pleasant, and it was just great to be boating. We noted in passing that Fulbourne was still on the towpath mooring where we saw her last.

All in all, it took us two and a half hours from Wolverley to Kinver, so we got there just in nice time to shop and then have lunch.

A quiet afternoon followed – the main task for me was making a start on a section of the quiz I've offered as entertainment for the Braidbar event in September. It's all actually Sheila's idea (getting my defence in first), and this bit is one of her brainwaves.

There's a regular puzzle in the back of the Saturday Independent magazine called Get the Picture, where you have to work out a set of names or phrases from photos representing the syllables of the words, rebus fashion. We are assembling one for canal related names, using mainly photos I've taken, supplemented with images from the Web.

Yesterday I had to get my head round using PhotoShop to put the things together. In no way a major task for anyone used to image handling, it took me a while to discover the best way of tackling it, so there was a distinct sense of achievement when I got the first one to work.

Sheila was less successful in her endeavour, through no fault of her own. She checked up the recycling site we've used before to see if there was anywhere before Autherley where we could unload some of the stuff we are lugging around.

South Staffordshire must be at the bottom of whatever league table there is for such matters. Their unhappy residents only get their general rubbish collected every other week, and paper once per month.

And that's it: no glass, cans, or cardboard, much less plastic. There were a couple of public sites where you could get rid of one or other of paper, glass or cans. Big deal.

Whilst in rant mode, let me return to the matter of these bollards ( a word that keeps springing to my mind in various connections). BW have decided, in their wisdom, that every narrow lock in the country should have three bollards on the offside, to which the only possible response is why?

In the days of horse drawn boats, or on those flights where a working pair regularly had to bow haul the butty through a flight of narrow locks, there was a need for a checking stump at each end to use to slow the boat in the lock, but these days, it's hard to tell what earthly purpose they can serve.

You shouldn't tie a boat when descending a lock, and anyway it makes sense to take it well forward to avoid cilling the back end. Coming up the lock you might choose to use a checking stump to stop the boat running forward, but how many will bother even when the things are there?

They've already fitted them to the Delph Nine and the Stourbridge 16. They've used incongruous looking square wooden bollards neatly set in a square of bricks. Putting them in like that on every narrow lock in the country will cost several million pounds, I guess, which BW could be spending on dredging or cutting back offside tree growth, rather than installing expensive trip hazards in this way.

Anyway, rant over, but I would love to hear from anyone who can shed any light on this barmy decision.

Today was very wet, so we were pleased to have an excuse not to boat off first thing. An excellent guy by the name of Andy Greener had offered to call in on his way north for a business meeting, to lend me the upgrade discs for my iBook, to take it from Mac OS 10.3.9 to 10.4. I won't bore you all with the ins and outs of this, but it's no longer available form Apple, and I could use the upgrade for reasons to do with planned present for both of us for later this year.

He made it by the end of the morning; many, many thanks for taking the trouble, Andy.

After lunch, we set off up the lock to the sanitary station, where we pumped out and watered. I'm pleased to say that my work rewiring the supply cable paid off handsomely. The pump worked much more quickly, and did its best job ever at emptying the tank, such that for the first time we had a green light on the tank gauge when we'd finished.

When all was done, Sheila did a bit of very wet boating to get us to the Round House above Stewponey, where we've stopped for the night with a sigh of relief. It was wet and miserable enough that we've lit the stove to dry the boat out.

Tomorrow it's back to early starts to get up the Bratch in good time.

Cruising some beautiful canal

31st July & 1st August

Although we had only a short run to do yesterday, we set off at eight along one of the most beautiful bits of canal in the country. It wends and winds its way between tree lined banks until it arrives at Kinver.

150 years ago, this was a densely industrial area, but you really, really can't tell now. We can but hope that the present post-industrial areas look as good in 100 years time as this one does.

At Kinver, we stopped on the water point above the lock, filled the tank and started a wash load, then worked down to find a mooring just below. There's a strictly enforced 24 hour rule here in the summer, which is just as well, as it's a very popular stopping place; not one to turn up to at half six at night and still expect to find a space.

After a quick cup of coffee, we got out the day sacks and the camera and walked up into the village, through it and up to the Rock Houses at Holy Austin. To get there, you need to walk a good bit along the main street of the village to Stone Lane, up that hill until it becomes Compton Road, then on up again until you see the footpath sign for the houses.

They are quite remarkable; it seems that living in caves used to be a popular option in these parts – the sandstone was cool in summer and warm in winter. At the weekend, the National Trust opens them up so you can see around inside, but yesterday we had to confine ourselves to looking about outside.

We had a bit of difficulty finding the route up onto Kinver Edge itself; you have to follow the track from the Rock Houses to where there's a bit of fencing along the hillside, then turn left and follow that fence to a cross path where you can turn uphill again to the top.

It's an amazing view up there, though the trees have rather grown up on the steep scarp slope to the west, so you can't get such a good view across to the Severn as you can in winter.

Coming down we stopped in the village to shop, making a point going into the Butchery that I mentioned in Waterways World the other month to get some more pre-war sausages.

As we were being served, the butcher asked if we'd had them before. I explained that I'd written about them, and the reaction was very gratifying.

"It was you!" both the butcher and his sister exclaimed. "We've had all these people coming in asking for 'pre-war sausages like the ones in the magazine'. Thank you ever so much!"

Whereupon, they gave me a free pound of sausages. As I say, very gratifying.

Back at the boat we had lunch and settled to a quiet afternoon. This was shattered when a figure nattily attired in a canary yellow plush top and shorts asked if she could share our mooring ring. I was working on the computer, but Sheila popped out to say yes of course, when she realised that it was Jane Howarth, and that Will Chapman was tying Quidditch immediately behind us.

Naturally we invited them for dinner, and a merry evening ensued, gossiping and sharing bottles and boxes of wine.

This morning all was quiet with them, so we snuck off for the equally gorgeous run to Wolverley. Our cruising was punctuated by passing boats we know.

First Indigo Dream was safe and sound at Caunsall Bridge, then a bit further on we saw Fulbourne, the working boat shared by a bunch of wrgies. She was pointed in the same direction as us, i.e. away from Autherley, but I imagine she's on her way there for the National.

Just before Wolverley, Graham Booth's boat Rome was on her home mooring.

We've tied below Wolverley Lock for the night, and Slow Gin has not long arrived in front of us, coming up from the river. We last saw them at Hopwood, when they were going down the Worcester and Birmingham and we were coming up, so we've basically gone round in opposite directions to meet again.

They too are on their way to the National (Sheila and Jane are working together there) so we'll see them again shortly.

We've had another peaceful afternoon. The contrast with the BCN could hardly be greater: no need to worry about "Is this a safe mooring?" or to thrash along through rubbish filled mucky water waiting for the clunk of something on the prop.

Tomorrow we'll have a brief return to that sort of cruising when we go through Kidderminster, but then we'll be in Stourport for the night before turning round and coming back this way; it's like being a holiday boater again.

Boating along a great piece of canal.

23rd & 24th June

Our night at the top of the Bratch wasn't quite as peaceful (once the wind had dropped) as we expected – no big deal, but for half the evening we had a pair of young manic fisherman apparently conducting their own two handed match, roaming to and fro along the towpath, casting here and there and shouting encouragement to each other.

They wandered off eventually, and we were quiet for the remainder of the evening, and the early part of the night. I woke at half three, however, to find that we were under duck attack. Some were ferociously pecking the hull side, whilst others stomped about on the roof.

Finally they too went their ways, and we were able to get a little more sleep before leaping joyously out of bed to greet the nearly-new day. By eight we were waiting on the lock landing; the locky was already about, and we got straight in, arriving at the bottom in twenty minutes, thanks to Sheila's energetic windlass winding.

She was able to have a good natter with the locky, too, about routes back from the Severn to Autherley Junction (about which more anon) and the best place to moor for a quick trip into Wombourne for supplies.

This was the further set of bollards on the left after the bottom lock. From there I walked up and then briefly downhill into Wombourne, which proved to be a very useful little centre, with an interesting looking butchers and bakers as well as a greengrocer, a newsagent and a Spar.

There followed nine more locks until we stopped by the picnic spot based on the remains of an old round house just below Gothersley Lock and before the Devil's Den, that strange boathouse in a cliff before Stourton Junction.

This is a very peaceful spot, if you don't count the manic cyclists whistling past from time to time, though unfortunately it has very poor phone signals, both voice on Voda and data on T-mobile struggling to get through.

It's a bit of a feature of this, one of the most beautiful canals in the country – probably the great lumps of sandstone sticking up out of the scenery all round do not help.

In the afternoon I did an oil and filter change, the engine having just reached 5600 hours.

Today we managed an even earlier start, getting away just after 7.30 on a fine and dry morning. It was great weather for a great bit of canal. From the boating point of view it's quite challenging, due to aforesaid lumps of rock all over the place, so that the channel is often narrow and winding, and you can't always pass another boat on these blind bends.

Fortunately, as Sheila was steering, we avoided any dramatic encounters – she always shows far more patience in these conditions than I do, so is able to avoid collisions, where my style of hacking in does on occasion lead to fender-to-fender confrontations.

High spot before reaching Kinver was the sight of a pair of young weasels bounding along the track just below a lock – no more than four or five inches long and mid brown all over, they were quite unmistakable.

Two hours brought us to Kinver, where we raided the Butchery for pre-War sausages as well as the more usual mince and stewing steak. We also got enough routine supplies to see us through to Kidderminster's supermarkets tomorrow.

Just after leaving Kinver we passed Dalliance going in the opposite direction. This was a bit strange, since we last passed them going up Atherstone Flight, when I'm sure they said they were heading for the Thames, with the intention of visiting the K&A. Either they changed their minds, or they've done the length of the K&A, the passage from Avonmouth to Sharpness, the length of the Gloucester and Sharpness and the length of the Severn.

I think they probably changed their minds.

We've now moored above Wolverley Lock, still in fantastic setting. The last few mornings, Sanity has been a tad reluctant to start, the starter whirring without properly engaging the flywheel. My suspicion is that the start battery is feeling its age, but I took some time this afternoon to check out all the connections and so on, all of which look OK. The battery itself is sealed, so I can't check its electrolyte or anything. I'll just have to see what its voltage is tomorrow before we start up again.

Finally, a word about my description of the area around Autherley as bandit country. I've been taken to task in a comment on the last post about this, not for the first time. I can only repeat and dilate on what I've said before – I wouldn't advise anyone to avoid any piece of canal just because some of the locals can be a nuisance, but there are areas where it pays to show some caution, and I believe it would be remiss of me not to point them out in this blog.

We've been through Autherley/Aldersley loads of times, in all directions, and never had a problem with the passage. But, we wouldn't choose to stop there overnight, and we are a bit concerned about the IWA National Festival there this year.

The area is surrounded by four large housing estates, and the hire yard at the junction has had more than its share of trouble with vandalism. At one point, they had to resort to storing the customer's cars in freight containers to protect them, and even so on one occasion one was set alight. There have also been incidents of boats being set alight in that area.

Our own policy is to start/stop from Coven, Brewood, Compton or the top of the Wolves 21, depending on route, and so far, as I say, that's been enough to avoid any trouble. People do moor in the area overnight, and mostly get away with it, but it's noticeable that a lot of the long term moorers choose to cover their windows with steel or wooden sheets.

Hopefully, the security and police presence at the National will be enough to avoid any incidents, but as I say, I'm frankly surprised that the site has been chosen for the Festival. Nonetheless, we'll be there working to make it a success, as usual, and I expect it will be another great event – I look forward to meeting readers of this blog there, or indeed at Saul in a couple of weeks time.

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.