Kinver to Stourport

The first task today was to visit Wilsons of Kinver where we planned to look for cabin chairs. We duly turned up at 9 am only to be asked to return at 9.30 when the boss would be available. This gave us a chance to look around the town centre where we found a good range of small shops. Andrew even bought cream cakes for lunch and some 'posh' chocolates for Christine!



As soon as we were shown the cabin chairs in the mobile show room we were convinced that they were the right option. As it happened they had two of the chosen colour in stock, but we would have to wait a little while for the appropriate person to be called in from his day off to assemble them! By 12:30 the chairs had arrived and fitted in to the cabin - one of the key issues had been to find ones that would fit through the available doors. These are specially manufactured for the purpose - ought to be good as Ralph Wilson has been in business here for 51 years!



The rest of the day was spent completing the Staffs and Worcester - rightfully considered one of the most attractive. The last few miles of the canal are frequently cut from red sandstone rocks. At one lock there is even a small room carved into the rock face.

Kidderminster has seen plenty of canalside development and is generally the better for it, although sopme of the existing housing areas could do with tidying up.



By this stage we had contacted the River Severn lock keepers and been told that mooring on the river was not advised. It was also becoming clear that we would not be in time to pass through the manned river locks before 6 pm when they close. As a result we opted to enter the Stourport basin for water and rubbish. We were lucky to find one of perhaps only two overnight moorings in the basin which avoided the need to reverse back up through the last lock to the longer canal-side visitor moorings. It was a clear blue sky that accompanied the sunset. Still no luck finding the problem with our TV aerial.