Walsall, Stourport, Coventry and onwards

I went over to sort out Olivia on 13th April, the day after we were "allowed" to get back on our boats. She started well and didn't look too bad at all so I set off the very next day. My first deadline was to reach Hawkesbury Junction in time for Christine's birthday. I won't say which birthday it was save for the fact that I will be celebrating the very same milestone later this year!! We went for a very nice, socially distanced meal at The Greyhound. As there were eight of us, we sat at two tables for four and were able to chat across the 2 metre distance between us. Later we had a few drinks seated on the towpath in the unseasonably warm weather.

Our next destination was Birmingham as three of us had signed up to join the Walsall Campaign cruise in May. We met up with Katherine at Fazeley and took a leisurely journey down the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, stopping at Cuckoo Wharf before heading up Aston and Farmers lock flights and mooring outside the Arena.

After a few days in Birmingham, we took the Old Main line to Tipton where we met up with a couple of the other boats that were joining the campaign. The following day we made our way through Factory Locks along the New Main line to drop down the eight Ryders Green locks. There was quite a queue here as the number of campaign boats grew in number. There are several videos of the Campaign cruise one of which can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NhklBgtESc

Suffice to say that most, if not all, of the twenty eight boats that made their way along the Walsall Canal to the basin and then on the Curly Wyrley, paid many visits to their weedhatches. Duvets, coats, a paddling pool, rugs, wire and many plastic bags and some weed were the main culprits found on propellers. However, we boaters had a lot of fun despite having to socially distance and, therefore, without the usual big social evenings.

Once the weekend was over us three amigos decided to head through Netherton tunnel and onto Stourbridge, via Merry Hill and the Delph flight of locks. Weather was very unsettled with plenty of rain and it was quite chilly. None of us had visited the Stourbridge Arm before and found good moorings for all three boats. The town is quite sweet with many independent shops and we all liked Grandad's Attic next to the Bonded Warehouse. We also found a very nice patisserie for our morning coffee (and treats). It was soon time for Katherine to leave us and turn right at Stourton Junction. She had an appointment with the NHS vaccine clinic. Christine and I turned left heading for Stourport.

The journey down towards the Severn is really pretty and we had stops at Kinver and Wolverley before reaching Stourport and bagging a nice mooring just north of the basin. We met up with another couple of boaters and discovered a nice place to eat which is part of The Swan pub. They have made part of their establishment into a bistro called Mimi's. Christine and I decided to have a busman's holiday by going out on the trip boat. We are making a habit of this as we did the same when we were in Stratford last year.

We turned to go back up the Staffs and Worcs as Christine needed to go up the Wolverhampton 21 while I carried on Northwards before leaving Olivia while I went home for family birthday celebrations. On my return I carried on up to Penkridge where John (John's Canopies) came out to first fit my new back cover. I had been measured up for this last year as a friend was having her cover fitted so I asked John to measure mine. It's the perfect colour for Olivia and is much needed as my old one has shrunk and ripped and is really beyond repair. Onward to Great Haywood, turned right and made my way to Fradley where I met up with Katherine at her mooring. She has been painting her boat so I thought it was about time I thought about touching up mine. When I reached Atherstone, we had a spell of calm, warm weather so I had a go at painting the back rails and around the counter before getting the cover fitted. Soon John came and fitted the cover and very nice it looks too. In between time I had taken the rear wooden seat home, planed it to get rid of the tatty, weathered surface and then gave it some coats of danish oil. I am much happier with it.

An arrangement was made for some of us to go to Coventry basin to immerse ourselves in the City of Culture (2021). This year the Canal River Trust have instigated a booking system so we got ourselves booked in during the hottest spell of the Summer. I enjoyed the Two Tone exhibition at the Art Gallery and we booked two events in the Spigeltent at the Assembly Festival garden. The first was Choir of Man which was several young men singing and having good fun and the second was Circolumbia which was energetic and some moves seemingly impossible. We found a really nice restaurant/bar called Metropolis. The food was tasty and plentiful and the atmosphere relaxed. We were joined in the Basin by Maggie on her boat Puzzle. We all had a nice time at the Transport Museum and back at the Art Gallery/Museum as well.

We were joined by Katherine on our last night together (and also Collette and George with Lily the dog) so a couple of Gin and Tonics were the order of the day - actually evening. Maggie had to scoot off as she was booked into Brinklow Marina for a short stay, Christine had to head back towards Birmingham as she will be heading to Worcester for the IWA Festival of Water, Katherine and I headed towards Braunston where she headed off up the locks to join the Leicester line while I made my way to Napton on my way to Cropredy. The festival was cancelled but I heard that the Brasenose was carrying on with the fringe so I thought I may as well go to that.