Wolverley Lock to The Bird in Hand, Stourport, via Stourport Basin
6.75 miles, 7 locks
There is yet another day of rain forecast for Friday, so we decided to get ahead again. Another day of hunkering down loomed, but that is so much more preferable to moving in driving rain, especially along a river. Would our plan work - we would have to wait and see.
First of all I took Monty for a walk back to the bridge behind us - I wanted to take a photo of another area of bank along here that I missed when we came through on the boat. Yet another very unstable looking bank.
The feature for today was to be the kindness of other boaters.
We just rolled up the sides of the new cratch cover today and were impressed how much bigger the entrance/exit holes are. It makes it much easier to get in and out.
The first lock of the day (Wolverley) went without a hitch, but I knew that the next one (Wolverley Court) would present a challenge. One I was not looking forward to.
Not only does this have a large gap to access the plank (another at a slightly dodgy angle)
but to wind up the gate paddle on the towpath side you have to stand on the plank. There is very little space behind you, so don't step back! As there were two ground paddles and one gate paddle on the other side, I gave up on this one and decided to just wait a little longer for the lock to fill.
The other side of Kidderminster lock there is a very busy main road, but looking this way you could be in the middle of the countryside.
A hire boat was ahead of us and they were the first to do us a great kindness. I had gone to help the lady with the bottom gates. Once their boat was out, we closed the gates and she came back to help open the paddles on the top gates before rushing off to catch her boat!
By the time we were in the lock a gentleman and his young granddaughter (4 very nearly 5 I gather) and were keen to learn about boats and locks as well as helping to open and close the bottom gates. Permission was granted for me to post this picture. If you see this, thank you for your help and interest and that word I mentioned for those who watch locking going on is 'gongoozlers.!
To get back on the boat Monty and I had to go down under the road. Just after we climbed aboard there was a loud bang! Not what one expects to hear, so what could be the cause? Someone's escaped birthday balloon. It is quite dark down there, so it was unseen and totally unexpected. We did fish it out and dispose of it responsibly, so it won't end up round anyone's' prop!
The road bridge is quite long and at one point some person/people made an effort to make something of the grey walls. It is so sad that others have felt the need to destroy their artwork.
In and around Kidderminster you are back to the world of 'water conservation' devices on the paddles, more often called anti-vandal locks! I don't think we have needed our 'water conservation keys' since we left Wigan.
As we approached the winding hole just before The Bird In Hand Pub, north of Stourport this working boat hove into view. We are not sure where it came from or who it belongs to, but it was certainly full of people enjoying a trip out.
They pulled over for us to let us through as they wanted to wind. Our target for the day was just under the bridge to moor at The Bird in Hand. However, we may have a long day on Saturday, so we decided to go on into Stourport to the upper basin to use the facilities and buy some diesel. There were moorings available as we went under the bridge. The best one was taken up by a fisherman! Does anyone know the etiquette when faced with a fisherman with a lot of tackle on areas marked as C&RT moorings? Who has priority? We continued on hoping we could still get in when we returned.
As we approached York Lock a boat was leaving. They had shut the gate, but when they saw us the lady got off and opened it again - act of kindness number 2. In we went, I shut the gate and went to wind the paddles on the bottom gates, however the one on the towpath side was very stiff. I gave up (something I rarely have to do) and went to the other side and still I really struggled, when along came the crew from the hire boat that had helped us before. The man took over my windlass and opened them both up for me. Act of kindness number 3. I was very grateful for all of them.
One thing we noticed along the stretch of canal above York Lock - just what an interesting shade of turquoise the water is. We have no idea why this is the case/
Chris winded the boat whilst I went up to open York lock for us and we were on our way back. A very short trip, but hard reverse was employed by both boats as this one came steaming round a blind bend under a bridge. Disaster was averted and we passed by with comments from both boats about meeting others on blind bends!
We were soon back at the Bird in Hand
On we went, not wanting to be too close to the pub. Under the bridge, a quick wind and into the first available spot. The space where the fisherman was (you can see him sitting in the picture below) would have been better, but we would be fine here, so did not need to spoil his day.
There is not much of a view (where the fisherman was is a view of the cemetery which is better than a brick wall), but with tomorrow's forecast that is not going to matter much at all!
Friday 16th August 2019
The Bird in Hand, Stourport-on-Severn
Were we right to stop? Yes. The rain was not too heavy first thing, so I took Monty for a good two mile walk along the disused railway line that starts just a few feet from our stern.
No photos today, but there are a couple at the bottom of this post from 2016. It was just a bit wetter today!
The rain really started late morning and has continued on since. There has been a posse of hire boats from Starline going past this afternoon - we reckon they are 'Friday starters'. One had a couple of bunches of balloons on the back - all had very wet crew in varying types of water proofs including one small girl in pink wellies with a pink brolly to match.
