A climb at Kinver but well worthwhile.

A dull, cold start today. We seem to have got away without heavy snow last night, only about ½ an inch fell in our area. But, even though there was no frost, a breeze made it feel raw.

I’m glad we no longer have to rely on the roads, and in fact can please ourselves whether we move or not. It seems that as a country, we no longer know how to cope with a proper winter. Too many mild and wet ones have made us complacent. Every day this week the news has carried details of how much chaos and mayhem this snow has caused.

We weren’t in a hurry, so left it till 11:00 before getting on our way. Down past Stourton Junction and we arrived at Stewponey Lock.

A closer view of Devils Den, the boathouse cut into a sandstone cliff.

Stewponey Lock, with it’s Toll Office.

Dunsley Tunnel carries the tunnel through an outcrop of sandstone. Cut directly out of the stone and only partly brick lined, it’s only 25 yards long.

Dunsley Tunnel, South Portal
Near here the cutting through the sandstone is so unstable it’s shored up with brick pillars.

Another ½ mile saw us at Hyde Lock, in a beautiful setting above the river, and with a well maintained cottage alongside.

We were hoping to be able to moor between here and Kinver Lock, but this stretch is given over to permit holders only, so had to drop down the lock and moor on the visitor moorings just below. We just managed to get a signal on the dish, which is perhaps as well because aerial reception down here in the valley is non-existent. Friday night is wall to wall soaps night, and my name would have been mud if we had no TV….

Approaching Kinver Lock. Wilsons of Kinver supplied our chairs for the saloon, and made the cushions for the dinette.

Kinver Visitor Moorings.
Mid afternoon Meg and I set off for our walk. A mile or so of tarmac, steadily climbing, took us to the National Trust area around Kinver Edge. Meg was pleased to be off her lead, and promptly stole a ball from a passing spaniel. Having returned the booty, we continued on up to the Edge. This is a ridge of rock looming above the village, rising to over 500 feet. The views from the top are splendid, especially as the sun was co-operated by making an appearance.

Views from Kinver Edge

Meg enjoys playing in the snow.

We got back down to the boat around 5 o’clock, both of us ready for tea. We’ll have a walk around the village tomorrow, there looks to be some interesting buildings.











Locks 3, miles 3¼

A short cruise.

In fact a VERY short cruise! Just 20 minutes from Gothersley Lock to the 5 day moorings at Prestwood Bridge. 2 inches of snow fell last night, and there have been snow showers through the day so far, but this should be the end of it for a while. Just as well, with local councils running out of road salt!
It’s supposed to be turning milder, but inevitably wetter, over the weekend.
So today, with not much travelling to report on, I’m doing a “photo post” of our walks of yesterday afternoon and this morning.

Yesterday we set off along the canal towards Kinver, turned up onto the Stourbridge Canal at Stourton Junction, then, after a mile or so, picked up a bridleway which brought us back onto the Staffs and Worcs where we are now moored.

An atmospheric view towards Bridge 34, with mist coming off the water and the sun slanting through the trees.
Devils Den, a boathouse cut into the sandstone cliff.
Panorama of Stourton Junction, using Autostitch
Bottom 2 of Stourton Locks. No-one’s been up these for a while, the ice on the pounds is completely undisturbed.

Stourton Top Lock Bywash runs under the gardens.

There’re some very posh houses around. I wonder if they have a butler to put the bins out….
This morning we walked on the other side of the canal, up into the woods known as “The Million”.

It was a snowy start again.
Wintry canal.
Snowy trees reflected in a pool of unfrozen water.
If you go down to the woods today......

Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be fine and dry, so we’ll make for Kinver, intending to stop there for the weekend.

Locks 0, miles ¾

Another fine day, and full cupboards again.

Last night started with a frost, but the temperature rose later as some high cloud rolled in. This gave us a duller morning than yesterday, but still fine. The sneaky cold wind that we had yesterday has dropped making it feel warmer.

We were through Hinksford Lock by 10:20, heading for our rendezvous with Tescoman at Greensforge.

Down Hinksford Lock
From this point on, the hills on either side of the canal start to close in as the river valley that it follows narrows.
There’s a steep sandstone bank to the left (east) side of the canal at Greensforge. This was an important strategic site in Roman Britain.

Greensforge Wharf.

We’d just finished filling the water tank when our delivery arrived, but it took over an hour to get everything put away! It was handy being at the services; I was able to dispose of 2 bags of packaging we’d stripped off the groceries before we stored them.

Bye, Bye, Tescoman.

Leaving Greensforge Lock, with The Navigation Inn on the right.
Just a little further on is Ashwood Marina and under the bridge is a real treat as the canal passes the gardens of Ashwood Nursery. They’ll be fabulous in the summer, I’ll bet.
Snowdrops are just poking through, and there’re clumps of deep maroon cyclamen.
And an unusual herd of deer….
Another ½ mile and we dropped down Rocky Lock. This section of the canal is cut through the sandstone ridge that runs down to the other side of Kidderminster. The Smeeton Brook, which joins the River Stour at Stourton, has cut it’s own meandering valley through the soft rock, and the canal follows it’s eastern side.

Rocky Lock. The sandstone bedrock is easily visible.
We were looking for somewhere to moor, and a likely spot was just above Gothersley Lock, around the corner. I didn’t expect to get a TV signal on the aerial with the high wooded banks, so was looking for a gap through which to point the dish at the spot in the sky. This was just the ticket, so I set up then took Meg for a long walk.
When we got back we were met by a chorus of barks and growls from across the canal. There’s a house behind the fence and the owners must have let their guard dog out. We decided to drop down the lock and moor just below instead, so at least we won’t get barked at when I take Meggy out for her late perambulation. And it’ll probably save the dog from getting a sore throat….
No satellite signal down here though, but we’ve got an acceptable TV picture on the boosted aerial.

Temporary mooring spot just above Gothersley Lock.
Just heard the forecast for tomorrow and it looks like we’re in for another dose of snow. Showers starting at midnight and running right through till afternoon. So I guess we’ll not be going so far again.

Locks 3, miles 2½

Too good to miss…

What a beautiful day today! Crisp white snow, blue skies, birds singing. I can understand why they kept the schools closed for another day….

We were off, and in Dimmingsdale Lock, by 10:00 this morning. A bit slippery on the lockside, but good to be moving again.

Dimmingsdale Lock

Ebstree and Awbridge Locks were next, taking us towards The Bratch, with it’s unusual flight of 3 close-together locks.

The Orton Hills rise to the east
The architecture on these locks is interesting. There’s the circular bywash weirs, the little brick bridges across the tail of the lock chambers, and the pierced parapet of Awbridge Lock Bridge.

Bywash weir at Ebstree Lock. This one’s more shield shaped, though.
Tail Bridge at Dimmingsdale Lock
Awbridge Lock Bridge (taken yesterday)

We arrived at Bratch Locks at around 11:00. This is a known bottleneck in the summer, as the 3 locks have to be treated as a staircase as far as passage is concerned, although they each have gates at both ends. The problem is that to get down the slope as quickly as possible, the chambers were built with very short pounds in between, too short for boats to pass. The water needed to fill each lock is stored in side pounds, which are filled or drawn from as required.

Bratch Top Lock
Into the middle lock, with octagonal toll office….
And finally the bottom lock.

Mags is the star of several photo albums today. These locks always make a good photo opportunity, but with the day as it was, the gongoozlers were out in force!

The “proper” 2 rise staircase at Botterham takes the canal out of the modern housing around Wombourne. By this time we’d some grey clouds rolling in, but the threatened snow didn’t arrive.

Botterham Staircase Locks
We were making such good time that we chose to press on, through the 2 locks, one either end of the village of Swindon, and moored just below Swindon Bridge after a 3½ hour trip.

I took Meg out for a walk, along the towpath to Greensforge Lock. There’s a BW maintenance yard at the wharf, and I had a word with the guys about access to the wharf for a Tesco delivery. No problem during the day, so I’ve organised a supply drop for tomorrow lunchtime.

We came back over a footpath which crosses the high ground to the west. You can tell the snow is starting to thaw; she came back mucky today!

Locks 11, miles 4

More wood, then the landscape turns white!

Well, we were going to move on today, but a look out of the window made us change our minds.
It sounds like we were in sympathy with the rest of England. The news suggested that 20% of workers failed to show today, costing the country an estimated £1.5 bn! God knows what’ll happen if it really snowed!

Snowy Outlook

Anyway, after spending last Thursday night moored near Pool Hall, I took Meg out for a walk and came across the team of contractors who are thinning out the trees along the banks of the canal. They told me I could take whatever I wanted from the pile on the offside, so, after they’d knocked off for the day, we tied up alongside their flat, and loaded the roof up again.
It was too late to go far, so we just motored down to Dimmingsdale Lock, and moored on the 5 day mooring on the offside just above the lock.

Moored out of the way, with some more wood to cut.
We spent the weekend here, as I’ve said, intending to move on today. There’s a dismantled railway line running parallel to the canal, giving lots of opportunities for varying walks. It was pretty busy yesterday, dog walkers, cyclists, runners and horse riders all taking advantage of a fine day.

But today is different again, after a couple of inches of the white stuff fell overnight, with more throughout the day.

Dimmingsdale Lock.
Meg enjoys herself in these conditions, she seems to be immune to the cold. She's waiting for me to throw a snowball.
Her only problem is she collects balls of snow on the long hair on the back of her legs and her paws!

The South Staffordshire Railway Walk was unsurprisingly quiet this afternoon.

There’s more snow due tonight, so we’ll see what the situation is in the morning before making a decision.

The lock sides are pretty slippery, so there’ll be no jumping across the gap at the top gates if we move. Slow and steady is the name of the game.

Since last Thursday, locks 0, miles ¾