Can't believe that it has been three weeks since my last post. The first thing I did since then was a trip to London for Luke's "special" birthday. He always has a picnic in the park and about 25 people (maybe more) came to that, some brought little people with them. The weather was very kind although it was a bit windy. We all ended up having a bit of a musical evening with guitars, ukes, violin, a double bass(!!) and copious amounts of cider and other brews. I was driving so got Kate home and then I returned to Olivia. After a day or so I dared to face the River Severn and it was delightful. Olivia actually likes the deeper water and it was so nice to have lock keepers do all the work. I travelled with Tim on Mon Canard who just happened to be going the same way as me and that was really helpful when we got to Stourport as we could help each other through the two sets of staircase locks. I moored up through the next lock and stayed a couple of nights as I wanted to visit Bewdley. The first day I attempted to visit was Bewdley Regatta and I just couldn't find anywhere to park (I should have hopped on a bus) so I gave up and went to Wolverley and Cookley just to look at future mooring spots. The next day was a wet one so I tried Bewdley again as I found that I could park a little way outside of the town (at a picnic place) and walk in. I went to the museum which was celebrating the cherry season with bags of fresh cherries for sale and a school band playing two long sets. They were from Winterfold House School and with an average age of twelve were truly brilliant. I found a little shop selling reasonably priced books, many of which were music related, plus cards and gift items. I thought I had better start my Christmas shopping :-).
I cruised on up to Kidderminster which doesn't have an awful lot going for it. However, it used to be the centre of the carpet making industry and there is a
Museum of Carpet. Ex employees within the industry run demonstrations on some old looms. One showed us how Wilton carpets were (are?) made and another demonstrated Axminster methods. I have a new found respect for why quality carpets are so expensive.
Next stop was Kinver which I liked very much. It has a high street full of small independent shops, myriad cafes and such rare outlets as butchers, bakers and greengrocers. It is known for the
rock houses which are well worth a visit alongside a walk up on Kinver Edge where you get some 360 degree views of the area. Luke had spotted an advertisement for a boat that he quite fancied and it was moored a mile from where I was moored so I felt compelled to go and look at it. It was a lovely boat and I know Luke would love it, however he needs some capital in order to buy it so if 40,000 of you would each like to donate £1 he will be able to buy it :-) sigh!
The next area that I entered was the Stourbridge Glass Quarter, so having learnt all about carpets in Kidderminster I thought I had better do the same for glass in Stourbridge. My first visit was to the Red Cone where there are both craft/maker outlets and glass making demonstrations in the original cone (which I think is the only original cone left intact in the area). I then went to the Broadfield Glass Museum which is a fabulous old house containing a vast array of glassworks from many eras. This museum is due to be closed down and moved to a new museum that is currently being built at White Cone, which is next door to Red Cone. I suppose it makes sense to have it all on a single site but it will be such a shame to lose the lovely house, which is a mile or so further north at Kingswinford. I finally went to the Ruskin Centre which again houses many craft studios, not all were glass based but a good proportion were and the others were things such as enamelling, wood working, clockmaking, etc. Again there was a historic element at this site which was also an old glass manufactory and many of the original stuctures were still in place. I concluded that the glass making industry was a hard life as the heat in which they worked must have been unbearable.
On leaving Stourbridge I had a flight of sixteen locks to climb. At the first lock three or four lads aged ten and eleven helped me with the gates and the lockwheeling. They were very polite and interested in how it all worked. When I got to about the fourth lock I was adopted by Tom. Actually I think I adopted him. He was eleven years old and was fishing by the lock. He wasn't having a very successful haul and asked if he could help me up the locks. For a tiny lad he was brilliant at opening the gates, winding the paddles and running ahead to open gates for me. Again this lad was polite and showed a lot of interest in boat life. As I reached the top of the flight there were a couple of low pounds and a CRT guy helped me through one and I am glad he was there as more water need to be let down into the pound as I was stranded at the lock gate not able to push Olivia in. Leaving this flight I started looking for a likely mooring. There are not many places that were suitable. The Fens branch is said to be ok, but no one else was moored there, it was a bit too quiet and very weedy so I pushed on down towards the Delph locks. I tried pulling in at a couple of places but it was too shallow and I had been beaten to the only place that was ok by another boater. I ended up at the bottom of the locks with the bow tied to the lock landing and the stern pinned to the bank. There was no way I could face another eight locks having already done twenty locks and travelled for seven hours without a break. The next morning I nipped up the Delph locks and moored at Merry Hill.
Now Merry Hill was nothing like I imagined. I thought it would be buzzing like Gas St Basin but The Waterfront is a commercial centre and was dead as a dodo. Only the Wetherspoons and the Brewers Wharf showed any signs of life. There were no boats moored there either. The embankment above the shopping centre looks to be a good mooring and if you want food or shops Merry Hill has them aplenty. I also walked up to Brierley Hill High Street where there are more shops including lots of charity shops and a thriving market. I got a new looking pair of M&S black bootcut jeans from the hospice shop for £1.50 and had a jacket potato with tuna and mayo and a mug of tea in the market for £2.80. I know where my preference lies between the shiny shopping centre and the not at all shiny High Street.
This weekend I have been to Blisworth Canal Festival. The weather was just right for it and it was heaving with visitors. There were lots of stalls for both food and for gifts, clothing, etc. There were many trading boats, including Luke's. I particularly liked the sheep shearing demonstration and the other animals on show: sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, rabbits, parrots. Once again we finished with a musical session featuring several melodeons, guitars, ukes, a bodhran and some shakers :-)
Heading back into Birmingham now and then I will get the boat moored while I go to Edinburgh Festival for a week. Yay.
The swans at Worcester
Hmm. Could do with being rectified.
Lock on the River Severn (can't remember which one)
You can't better this mooring. Shame it is only 48 hours. It's close to Kinver.
One of the circular weirs common to the Staff and Worcs canal.
Someone has been busy!
The rock houses at Kinver.
Sad.
Delph lock flight. Magnificent.
Ah, so there is light at the end of the tunnel.
So peaceful here at Windmill End.
Windmill End.
I love the lighting in this shot.
