Kinver

Last night we visited the local hostelry, as shown in the picture. 

We found a very interesting entry on the breakfast menu, shown in the picture below. We are not sure if the bacon causes a rash, or even if this is a correct use of English, but we doubt it.
It made us giggle, and we decided not to risk their breakfast this morning.

The round circular brick construction in the foreground of the picture of the pub, is one of the weirs for the locks on this canal. Very unusual and very picturesque.

The bridge by the lock has its own towpath tunnel, this again we considered unusual, as most of the time that towpath just goes over the road.
Why was it made like this? The horse could not tow the barge whilst in the tunnel.

It is yet another beautiful morning, 

and I decided to walk up to the canal and river trust public conveniences at the permanent moorings, but when I got there, there was a sign pinned on the door saying out of order, apologies for the inconvenience of the closed convenience.

Never mind, and early morning constitutional must be of benefit. Here is a picture of the view that greeted me on my return.

Stourport to Kinver

Day 2 of our mini cruise and we have made it to Kinver. 

We set off from Stourport at around 9:30. Too much whisky last night but we are on holiday. We did find a good beer guide pub called the Hollybush. Great beer and lots of helpful information about where to eat and for tomorrow night the best fish and chips in Stourport, a locals place not a tourist plaice (sic). 

It was really nice exploring a new canal, though one we have seen as landlubbers before. 

We cruised through Kidderminster and much to my disappointment did not see a steam train, but a wonderful view of the church. 

The locks on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal have a centre paddle on the upper gate. It's quite spectacular. 

Tha canal is cut through lots of rocks and very narrow in places but this creates wonderful scenery and here we found a dwelling. 

We arrived in Kinver on schedule and turned in an unofficial winding hole at the top of a lock that Dave (boating acquaintance in Kinver) recommended. We thanked him for it later. 

We moored in a great spot with a lovely neighbour for the night. The boating lifestyle means everybody is your friend and that is great. 

As we moored, Alison found the sun cream. Two days of burning, my arms are pinker than Magpie II but tomorrow I don't need to fry!

Now to follow the good beer guide in Kinver. 

Droitwich Spa Marina to Stourport

The Easter family visits are over and it's finally time to set sail on our own. We have decided to brave the river and head for Stourport. 

Yesterday we travelled back from Hutton Rudby on a new Virgin East Ciast train, can you spot the quick addition to the livery?

Today we got up early and set off at 10:30 for Stourport. 

Luckily we found some nice hirers to share locks with down the Barge Canal having met some obnoxious ones on the junction canal who didn't understand etiquette and how locks work and thought it ok to keep a boat waiting whilst emptying a full lock without a boat in it but keeping one waiting. We put them right!

These are pictures of the nice hirers and the Droitwich Barge Canal. 

Finally we reached the last lock before the Severn. 

 

And then it was time for the river. 

Alison was confident to have a steer on a wide waterway 

And the views were lovely. 

Stourport is unusual, a tourist seaside trap without the sea. But with a permanent fun fair. We negotiated the offset staircase locks with interest and finally found a mooring above lock 5. 

Now it's time for food and beer and a little bit of after sun. 

Hopefully on to Kinver tomorrow. 

A view from a train.

About two miles north of Warrington station just after going under the M62 you pass an abandoned lock. 

I tried to get a couple of pictures whilst doing 100+ mph on a Pendolino yesterday. 

Research determines it to be part of the Sankey canal. 

Penultimate resting place

Today we went to Leicester to see the King Richard III museum. We had hoped to see his last resting place in the cathedral but unfortunately this was open for worship only and there was no access to Richard's resting place. 

It made us wonder why they went to such lengths to bury him in Leicester when they deny access to an 11 year old boy desperate to visit. Surely the burial place of a King should be accessible!

We did go round the new visitor centre built on the car park where he was found. I had previously taken the children to Leicester to see the RIchard III memorial stone in the Cathedral. That day, unlike today, we were made welcome. We also had a look round the now infamous car park before any digging started as research had led me to the conclusion that this was the most likely resting place of his remains. When we saw the excavation site it was a revelation how lucky it had been that the body hadn't been disturbed whilst it was there. 

The bones below the knees had been destroyed by Victorian foundations, just above and to the right of the head were concrete blocks from the 1930s demolition of buildings and to the left of the body the floor of a building stopped just inches from the body. 

Anyway he survived. Maybe one day we will visit his current resting place. 

Here are my photos of the car park excavation showing the position the skeleton was found. 

The calm after the storm.

Today was a much nicer day and we had a leisurely morning moored at Oddingley before returning to the marina. 

We are very pleased with our decision not to cruise the River Severn as it was closed today. 

Just three locks today so relatively easy. Lots of hire boats out, rushing to do a cruising ring during the Easter holiday. Surely the journey is more important than the destination. With the Severn being closed they'll be stuck at Worcester anyway. 

Gracie got appointed a trainee lock keeper today and was delighted. 

Opening a lock can now be considered child's play. 

The locks at Hanbury have side ponds which saves half the water each use. Very clever. 

Alison and the CRT volunteer open the side ponds. 

And here it is filling wIth water to be used for the next boat.  

The Hanbury locks are quite deep at 11'. 

It feels a long way down. 

And the gates hold back a lot of water. Good job they're strong. 

Last lock. 

Next week we had planned to go up the Severn to Stourport but are reconsidering.  What if the river is in flood again and we can't navigate? What happens if they close it whilst we are on the Staffs and Worcester canal?

There are always more questions than answers!

First cruise of the year

It's the end of March so time for our first cruise which is a taster for the children before our grand summer holiday cruise. 

We were going to go down the Droitwich canals and then down the Severn to Worcester. But the weather forecast was for really strong winds, which had duly arrived by Tuesday morning and several rivers were already closed due to high water level so we put safety first and decided to do both journeys on the Worcester and Birmingham canal. 

It was really windy and keeping control of Magpie II took a lot of effort. 

Apart from the wind, we had the odd shower but it was also a nice day for cruising for much of the time. 

Not much time for photos on the first day, too windy as well. This is the only other one I took. 

We moored by Diglis Basin and had a lovely tea at the Wetherspoons in Worcester. Also a lovely beer. 

Today the wind was less and we bravely decided to turn at the top of lock two and head back to tonights mooring which is at Oddingley. 

The children were a great help with the locks, a good job as they have 200+ to do in the summer!

They both had a go at the tiller as well. 

Magpie II looked good, though you can't see the newly blacked bottom. We added a few scratches here and there  but it is a contact sport. 

We needed to be wrapped up warm but had a really good day. Everyone is cooking tea as I write the blog. 

Here are the rest of today's pictures.