Wombourne.

Hi,

Our blog this week comes to you from James Brindleys 1771 Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal in the Staffordshire village of Wombourne.According to Wikipedia,Wombourne is sometimes referred to as the largest village in England,I thought you’d like to know that little snippet of useless information.We left Wolverley last Wednesday and steadily cruised to the end of the Stourbridge Town Arm,getting there on Friday.Stopping overnight at Kinver on Wednesday and Stewpony on Thursday.

 

The approaches to the Two Locks at Kinver,Kinver Lock first which is just past the visitor moorings and Hyde lock second.

Kinver is a lovely little village in Staffordshire where they used to make nails,as can be seen from some of the Street Furniture that looks like the old flat nails,and is well worth a stopover.Stewpony doesn’t have much going for it,other than being where the Stourbridge Canal begins at the junction just past the Visitor Moorings,and there isn’t a lot for a visitor to see and do.The Stourbridge Canal is a bit like our “home“ canal,the Erewash,in that the water is so clear you can see the bottom and all the weed growing in it.

 

Stourton Junction just past Stewpony Wharf where the Stourbridge Canal leaves the Staffs & Worcs,the finger post pointing to the places you can get to from here.

 

Approaching the third of the four Stourton Locks while going under Four Locks Bridge.Chyandour with a moustache of foam in the top lock.

 

The bridge just before Wordsley Junction where the Town Arm leaves the Main Line,and yes,we did meet a boat coming the other way.We heard his Horn and pulled over in time just after I took this.

The Stourbridge Arm leaves the Stourbridge Canal Main Line at Wordsley Junction and goes for about a mile and a quarter into Stourbridge where it used to be a Railway Interchange.At the end of the Arm is the home of the Stourbridge Navigation Trust and there are good moorings you can moor safely to explore the surrounding area.We wanted to stay for a couple of days to get a train from the local station to get to see our Family who were having a BBQ for the housewarming of our youngest Daughter’s new house and the Birthday of herself and her Sister.We had a great day out but sadly the BBQ was a non starter because of Sundays torrential rain.

 

Heading down the arm with some of the old Glassworks on the offside that Stourbridge is famous for.Heading back out on Monday and this was where the old canal entrances to the former Ironworks of John Bradley & Co. are now bricked up but the bridges over them remain.

 

The Bonded Warehouse at the end of the arm,it was built in 1779 and extended in 1849.It is now part of Stourbridge Navigation Trust and is used for leisure activities.The Trust has an office behind and to the left of the moored boats on the left is a Drydock that used to be part of the canal that went through a low tunnel to the Great Western Railway Transhipment Basin.There were Foundries,Rolling Mills and Steelworks  to the right of the warehouse.The large amount of weed and Water Lilies along the arm,all of which you can see in the relatively clear water.The bridge on the left is the bricked up entrance to a former Drydock where boats were built and repaired.

We left Stourbridge on Monday morning in the company of Pete and Val off NB.Tadpole 2 who came into the basin on Saturday to surprise us.We hadn’t seen them for exactly a year when we left Pete at Trent Lock on August the 9th last year,after he helped us through the locks on the Erewash when we were heading for the Shackerstone Festival on the Ashby Canal.The four of us have already consumed a good few beers since meeting up again,we went to the Navigation at Greensforge Lock for a few last night and that’s the reason the Blog is a day late again.

 

Back at Stourton Bottom Lock ready to drop back down off the Stourbridge and onto the Staffs & Worcs.tadpole 2 in Rocky Lock with boats waiting at either end.The Staffs & Worcs has been busy with quite a few hire boats as well as private ones.

 

Botterham Staircase Locks,I’ve just brought Chyandour into the bottom chamber ready for Lisa and the crew of another boat to empty the top chamber into the bottom one as we climb up 20 feet or so.Tadpole 2 coming into where we are moored for the night near Wombourne.

Well that’s all again for this week folks.Since our last Blog we have done 22 Locks and 19 Miles,that gives us a Grand Total of 932 Locks and 1511 Miles since October 2012.Take care everyone.

Wolverley.

Hi,

Our blog this week comes to you from the Visitor Moorings at Wolverley,which is about 2 miles North of Kidderminster on The Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal.We got here yesterday afternoon,having left Stourport Basin earlier in the day,on our way to our next port of call,Stourbridge.We spent all of last week in the basin at Stourport having a great time visiting parts of the local area and getting a visit,on Thursday,from our eldest Daughter and our lovely Grandchildren.

 

Last Wednesday Lisa and I took a walk along the Severn Way footpath from Stourport to Bewdley and here’s a pic’ of the end of the navigable River Severn.It doesn’t look any different from other stretches of the river but this is as far as you can get in a narrowboat I believe.I shan’t be trying it.Bewdley bridge over the Severn,designed by Thomas Telford and built in 1798.We had a good day in Bewdley,it’s a beautiful place and the Town Museum is a must see for any visitor.

  

The day our visitors arrived was spent enjoying the Playland Fun Park and Treasure island in Stourport.There’s loads of things for kids to do and they’re not too expensive either.

   

Friday was the highlight of our stay in Southport when we went on the Severn Valley Railway from Kidderminster to Bridgnorth.

 

Arriving in Highley and some of the exhibits in the Engine House Visitor Centre there.

 

The inside of the Royal Mail carriage that was robbed in August 1963 in The Great Train Robbery.Me on the footplate of the ex GWR 7325,built at Swindon in 1932.

 

Bridgnorth Station on the SVR.It was chucking it down but shortly afterwards the rain stopped and we were able to walk into Bridgnorth itself.

 

Looking up to the top of the Bridgnorth Cliff Railway.It’s the oldest and steepest inland Funicular Railway,opened in 1892 to carry people up the 111 foot incline from Low Town to High Town in Bridgnorth.The view from the top over looking Low Town and the River Severn.

 

A couple of locomotives that were running on the SVR on Friday.

 

Falling Sands Bridge and the Viaduct that carries the SVR over the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal as we cruised yesterday.We saw the train crossing the viaduct but as we searched for the camera it passed.The beautiful setting of Cadwell Lock on the S&W.It was quite busy on the journey up here yesterday with boats going up as well as down and we had a bit of a hold up at Falling Sands Lock when something was jammed under the top gate.There was almost as much water coming into the lock,under the gate,as was leaving through the bottom paddles as we tried to empty the lock.We got it sorted once the lock was refilled,a quick poke around with a boat pole shifted whatever the obstruction was and all was well again.

Well,that’s all again for this week folks.We haven’t done a lot since last week,just 5 Locks and 6 Miles,all of which we did yesterday.That gives us a Grand Total of 910 Locks and 1492 Miles since October 2012.Take care everyone.

Stourport on Severn.

Hi,

This week we are moored in the upper basin at Stourport,just off the River Severn. We’re moored on the pontoons and we’ve got unlimited amounts of water and electricity and that is a bit of a luxury for the pair of us.Lisa can have all the Telly she can eat,we can have as many showers a day as we like and I don’t have nightmares at the thought of what is happening to my beloved batteries.The batteries themselves are having a treat with a nice trickle charge and I’ve got the Lappy and the MiFi on charge at the same time,what more can anyone ask for??.We’ve decided to give ourselves a bit of a treat while we spend a few days here and we can use this as a base to go to places in the surrounding area.More about that next week.

Last Tuesday we moved on from the mooring near Blackpole,North of Worcester,between bridges 18 and 19 on the Worcester & Birmingham,where we had spent Monday night.It turned out to be a little less of a good mooring than we had hoped.When we stopped we thought the nearby industrial estate would quieten after about six,wrong,they worked all night and,though we slept ok,it probably wasn’t one of the better choices that I have made.The next day we discovered that another half mile or so would have got us to what looked like a good place to moor.Still,that’s how things can be,in the past we’ve kept on going for hours before finding a place for the night,so,being a bit wiser now,we do like to take the first opportunity.

Take Tuesday for instance.We had only done 3 miles or so when we came out of a bridge hole,into a wide bit of canal with shortish growth on the wide towpath,and decided to stop.It was lovely,so good in fact that we stopped for two nights.It was just near Oddingley with the nearby Parish Church of St.James overlooking us,we couldn’t have asked for a better place to stay.

 

The view from our mooring on Tuesday and Wednesday,with the Parish Church of St.James,Oddingley to the left.The house in the picture is up for sale at just £675,000,if your interested.Yours truly taking it easy before a gentle stroll to The Fir Tree Inn at nearby Dunhampstead after tea.

 

On Thursday we did the next two and a half miles along the Worcester & Birmingham before turning very sharp left onto the Droitwich Junction canal just past Hanbury Wharf.Here’s the first of three locks we encountered after we entered the Droitwich.These are the first locks with Side Pounds that we have ever used,in fact they are the first that we’ve seen that work.About a third of the water at each locking is saved by diverting it into and out of the pound alongside the lock,hence,Side Pound.The paddles on the left are opened first when emptying the lock and then first when filling the lock.Clever.Volunteers from CRT were on hand to help us down the flight and show us how to work them.

 

The locks are deep,each one drops you down about 11 feet.The Droitwich Junction Canal was reopened in 2011 after a lot of hard work from many volunteers.It was one of the last canals to be built when it opened in 1854 but was abandoned in 1939.

 

A bit like a scene from The African Queen,it’s a bit deceiving though ‘cos there’s just about enough room for a couple of Narrowboats to pass with care through the reeds.It does open out a bit further on,here’s the Staircase Locks 4 & 5.

 

Chyandour waiting to leave the staircase and Lisa working Lock 6 to get us down onto the River Salwarpe and the next obstacle to our progress.

 

It says Limited Headroom and it means it.That Gauge was so low that it was scraping along the things we have on our roof but,it’s wrong by about 3 inches.We continued the few yards till we got to the M5 Tunnel,it’s a bridge really,and squeezed through with about an inch or so to spare,with full tanks our height is 6 feet 1 inch.I think that the recent dry spell made it possible for us to get through.From there we cruised into Droitwich itself where we stayed in Netherwich basin until Sunday morning and an early start,early by our standards anyway.There are pontoons in the basin and the moorings are gated so it’s a good place to stay to explore the town which has some interesting history.

 

Droitwich Barge Canal,a broad canal,unlike the Droitwich Junction.This canal was one of James Brindley’s canals and opened in 1771,it too was abandoned in 1939.The end of the canal at Hawford Junction with the River Severn.I took this from our mooring on Sunday night,there’s a pontoon just downstream from the exit of Hawford Lock 8 onto the Severn and it’s not marked on any of the guides that we use.You can see the Lock Landing to Lock 8 on the right of the pic’.This morning we left Hawford junction to do the eight and a half miles to here at Stourport where,after a bit of umming and arring,we decided to leave the moorings on the Severn and come up through the two Staircase Locks and into the basin at the end of the Staffs & Worcs,below York Street Lock.

 

The river this morning at something silly o’clock,I got up to use the bathroom but you don’t really need to know that,I looked outside and this is the view that I got.Chyandour heading upstream on the Severn,destination Stourbridge.

 

Lisa as we waited at Holt Lock on the Severn,there’s a Waterpoint here so we made use of that while we waited.The last Lock of the day,the staircase locks leading to the upper basin here in Stourport.

That’s all for this week again folks,Since last week we have done 30 Locks and 22 Miles,giving us a Grand Total of 905 Locks and 1486 Miles since October 2012.Take care everyone.