Kinver

Today's canal - Staffs and Worcester

Reporting on the weather is becoming a little repetitive - for today, see yesterday (and the day before)!

Before leaving this morning, Mike walked into town, same route as Christine sued last evening. He easily found a newspaper but failed to locate sweetcorn. The greengrocer had none left until tomorrow whilst the Co-Op only had some not very appetising corbettes.

Stourport High Street

There had already been quite a bit of traffic before we set off and the morning was comparatively busy. later on things returned to the calm that we have experienced so far. What we have seen is consistent with many anecdotal reports - fewer moving boats and a high proportion hire boats.

York Road Lock

The lock out of Stourport basin is quite deep (12ft) as were most we passed through today. As an earlier canal that follows natural contours, the locks are all spread out and come one at a time. This is very different from the later Worcester and Birmingham canal where they were all gathered together in the close flights we saw earlier in the week.

Three years ago, our blog http://takefiveboat.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/river-severn.html records that we could see koi fish in the tanks of the aquatic centre. This time we managed a quick snap of the largest tank.

Much of this canal passes through wooded banks. It makes for a pretty scene but sometimes the overhanging branches can be a problem, especially when passing another boat.

Ok, so we are trying to show pictures of different places from 2011 but this shot of the entrance to the former river lock is one of the few taken today that had any sunshine!

At Falling Sands lock we came across the first example of the handrails fitted to all of the tail bridges on this canal. Originally most were just a plain flat and narrow walkway, with some more fancy in cast iron with shallow (100mm) sides. Following the criticism of BW after a fatal accident to a boy on a bicycle, it was agreed that these handrails should be fitted. However, it took some time to work out a sensible solution that worked well with the original canal architecture and for a while there were some temporary ugly monstrosities. This example shows that it can be possible to make something new that looks as if it was meant to be there.

The former mill alongside the canal has been converted to several different uses but three bridges over the entrances into loading wharves are an indication of how extensive the canal traffic once was.

It is pretty much obligatory to include a photo of Kidderminster Church that stands on a rise above the canal but the light and sky today give it a rather sombre look.

The northern approach to the town has been extensively developed, mainly with housing and gives the canal a much more open feel for a short while.

Just outside the town we spotted two kingfishers (!) - there had been a couple of similar carvings just a little earlier.

We moored just short of Wolverley Court Lock for lunch. While we were eating there was the heaviest shower of the day but by the time we set off again it had, fora little while, turned bright once more.

Quite often the canal side was cut from the red sandstone rock face but the real reason for this photo is the sign which advertises that a new mini pro (whatever that means) golf course
is now open for business. Since it was only possible to see where it is located once we could download from the camera and zoom in, we wondered at the time whether visitors were expected to scale the cliff.

Above Wolverley Lock a small shop and garden selling ice cream tempted us - and succeeded, although Christine put hers in the freezer compartment for later.

Just before the very short Cookley tunnel is a bridge over the former entrance to the Iron Works. The original iron works moved from here to Stourbridge but related works continued. The present company is called Titan Steel Wheels and, using steel stamping, they make wheels for off-highway vehicles and export world wide.

Cookley Tunnel

Wonder what it is like having a canal tunnel for a basement?

Austcliffe Holiday Home Park looks as if it is still waiting for the next train to arrive.

As we came close to Kinver a sign reminds us that the visitor moorings are below the lock. We stopped here in 2008 to buy our cabin chairs from Wilsons of Kinver. Since then they seem to have had a slightly troubled time but seem to have survived. Once we spotted a space we pulled in. It was slightly earlier than we normally stop but we were not certain of a decent mooring above the next three locks.

10.2 miles - 9 locks