A short trip to Dimmingsdale

We only planned to get to Dimmingsdale Lock today. The mooring on the offside above the lock is quiet, we spent 3 days there during that snowy weekend early in the month.

So it was late start, after waiting for some drizzly rain to blow through. I had to chop up a load of wood and reorganise the roof, so we had room for half a dozen bags of smokeless we intended to collect on the way.

Awbridge Lock was the first of the 3 today. Full, after NB Phoenix with Victor and Nancy aboard, had gone up.

A fair few hobnailed boots must have crossed the cast iron tail bridge to wear away the grip rails.
Just around the corner is the home mooring of NB Roach, the coal boat where we stopped for the fuel.
We pulled alongside and transferred 6 bags of Taybrite onto our roof, at £9:30 quite a bit cheaper than at Turners at Wheaton Aston.
We weren't sure he'd be there, he passed us on the way down to Stourport some days ago. He must have snuck back up without us noticing...
John and his wife Jenny cover a fair bit of the midlands, and north and west network. If you're looking for fuel, check out the website.

John Jackson and NB Roach
Mags had to battle against a fierce bywash at the tail of Ebstree Lock, but made it in without touching the sides.
The foam stirred up by the gate paddles makes it look like wash day!
Another 15 minutes and we were in Dimmingsdale Lock, above which we pulled over for the night.

Locks 3, miles 1½

The Mad Swan of Swindon, more lambs and a boating Grand Master

That cob I mentioned last night was certainly persistent. He kept on attacking the boat till 11 0’clock last night, took some time out, then started again at 6 this morning! He was still at it when we left, chasing along the side of the boat, pecking at the hull. He must have a pretty tough beak. I reckon he needs some anger management counseling….

Mad Swan of Swindon, looking a bit tired…
Jo on Hadar and Sue on No Problem have both beaten me to posting lamb pictures.

Big Ahhhh….

But I reckon I win the most in one picture award…

I count 24. Spot the 2 black ones on the right?

There are 2 locks at Swindon, one at either end of the built up area.

Heading to Marsh Lock
We’ve hardly seen a boat moving for the last few weeks, so it came as a bit of a surprise when we saw a boat waiting at the top of Botterham staircase locks for us to come up. I guess I’ll have to start checking for oncoming boats again…

Leaving Botterham, another boat ready to go down.
Wombourne is pretty well completely swamped with new housing, with still more under construction. It must be a handy dormitory area for Birmingham. Trouble is, no matter what they do, they all seem to look the same…

Wombourne “Legoland”
2 more boats passed us, heading to Stourport, before we reached Bratch Locks. And there was another just preparing the top chamber as we arrived.
This was Victor and Nancy on the hire boat Phoenix out of Norbury. They were a little unsure of the operation of this flight, so I gave them a hand down.
Then Victor kindly returned the favour as we went up. Chatting while waiting for the locks to fill (as you do…), I found out that he’s a semi-retired teacher, and now teaches chess to pupils in schools all over the country. They also organise international tournaments a few times a year. Twice a year, early winter and late winter, they hire a boat for a week. They’ll be taking Phoenix back to Norbury for Friday, so they’ll overtake us in the next couple of days.

Cheers, Victor.

There’s a lot of boaters gone through this ‘ole under the bridge at the bottom of the flight…
Vortex as the middle lock fills. You wouldn’t want to fall in there…
Coming up the bottom lock



We pulled over just around the corner from the visitor moorings, about 5 minutes from the locks.
We’re opposite the cricket ground here, near the sign that warns about errant cricket balls. I don’t think they’ll be playing this week, though.


Locks 8, miles 3

A touch of Spring in the air..

What a bonny day it’s been! It started out cool, but warmed up as the sun rose. Cooled down a bit early afternoon as a bit of cloud rolled in, but by teatime it as sunny again.
It was chilly out of the sun, but still mild compared to this time last week.

Snowdrops and wooden otter
We were off at just before 11:00 this morning. Climbed up Whittington Lock then under the pretty Whittington Horse Bridge.

This was only built wide enough for foot (or hoof) traffic.

Whittington Horse Bridge.
We didn’t stop in Kinver, I’d already walked up with Meg to get essential bits like bread and milk, so we kept going.

Coming out of the village is Hyde Lock, with a well-maintained cottage alongside.

The owner has carried the canal theme into the garden….even including the controversial square bollards!
We nearly met the BW tree fellers under Prestwood Bridge. The boats had been moored for the weekend at Gothersley Lock, but had taken all the cut logs with them. Shame.

There’s a nicely decorated boat just through the bridge.
We carried on, with a stop at the services at Greensforge, to moor just above Hinksford Lock. On the way down we’d moored a ½ mile on, near Swindon. But TV was almost non existent there. It’s much better here.

In the field alongside there is a flock of sheep, with lambs. One of the mums has 2 black youngsters. I’ll try to get a picture tomorrow. It was too dark tonight.

On the opposite side of the canal a pair of swans are setting up home. I reckon the Cob doesn’t want us around…

Locks 8, miles 7

A walk around Whittington.

We didn’t travel today, as planned. After my training run I took Meg on a ramble across Whittington Common, to the east of the canal.

Whittington Common
A lot of the stiles have a hinged top rail, making it easier to climb over. Very welcome if you’ve just done a 10 mile run!

Hinging StileExcuse the angle of the photo. It's not easy holding the rail with one hand, camera with the other, both arms fully outstretched..

Not all though! Groan….
At least there’s a dog flap. I couldn’t fit through it though.
At one point we had to deviate from the footpath to get around a blockage. Meg took one look at this lot and made it perfectly clear she was NOT going over that stile!

Traffic Jam
We swung back round, above the cottages overlooking the canal at the moorings at Kinver.

There’s 2 or 3 of these with no road access; the only way to get to them is by a footpath, or from the canal.
One of them is for sale….http://www.midcalf-nicholls.com/residential.asp - Gibraltor, Kinver

Dunsley Rock Cottage.
Here’s a fine looking pike, caught just as we walked past.
Back to the boat, feet up and a read before lunch of roast beef, roast potatoes and parsnips, carrots and Yorkshire pud. Life doesn’t get any better than this….

Locks 0, miles 0. (On foot 15)

Happy Valentines Day!

I hope you all got lots of cards, and not just those you sent to yourself…..

We decided to move on a bit today. Wolverley is a nice spot, but gets a bit busy at the weekend.

Got another 5 logs cut into rings before the chainsaw teeth lost their edge again. Without the correct files and guide, it was a bit of a lucky dip trying to get the profile right. So I sat down this morning afterwards and ordered a new chain and sharpening file set off the internet.

We got off at around 1 o’clock, up through Wolverley Lock past the Lock Inn.

A little further on we passed the mooring of NB Rome.

On the way up I saw this boat, and something was nagging me about it afterwards. I finally remembered why I recognised the name.
Way back in the ‘70s Waterways World did a blow by blow feature on fitting out a narrowboat, over 10 issues of the magazine. The subject of this article was NB Knottingley, and I bought the feature as a bound softback at the time.
More recently, when we were considering our change of lifestyle, I picked up the 3rd edition of The Narrowboat Builders Book. This was published some 20 years later, and is rather more professionally produced. The subject this time was NB Rome. Still looking good after 10 years.

1st and 3rd editions of NBBB

Through Debdale Lock and on to Cookley Tunnel.

Back around the ivy clad Awcliffe
Better shots of Cookley Tunnel than on the way down.
A mile or so on we crossed the county boundary, from Worcestershire to Staffordshire. We’ll be in this county for some time, now.

County Boundary
We moored up about a mile further on, just below Whittington Lock.
It’s been a dull, grey day. No rain though.

Black Country Faggots, mashed spud and carrots for tea. Yummy.

Locks 2, miles 4

So Long to Sunny Stourport

We had a very hard frost on Wednesday night, cold enough to completely freeze the basin and canal. Of course, this had to be the night I chose to let the stove go out so I could give it a good clearing out. We woke up at 7 o’clock, with ice on the inside of the windows and Meg trying to cuddle down between us.

I got up, hit the start button for the central heating, and had the stove cleaned out and relit in record time.

Last night I had a walk around, and the clear air gave an opportunity for a good shot of the Clock Warehouse
Cold morning at Stourport Basin.

A cup of coffee, and then Meg and I set off for our morning constitutional. We headed off down river, then turned north and up onto Hartlebury Common. This is a SSSI, consisting of upland heath, on sand deposited when the area was under water. It rises to 184 feet above sea level.

Hartlebury Common

Larch (or Spruce, I’m not that good on trees) Plantation

We dropped down the other side, and picked up a footpath running on a dismantled railway line back to the canal. The railway engineers had exactly the same trouble with the sandstone outcrops as the earlier canal engineers.

Cutting and bridge

I always think it’s quite ironic that the railways, which in no small way were responsible for the demise of the canals, have in a lot of cases closed, and have been completely lost or converted to cycleways and footpaths. Meanwhile the canals get busier and busier…

Dancing on Ice, duck style.
Adam of NB Debdale left a comment on yesterday’s post suggesting I go and see John and Kathy on NB Marmaduke, across the other side of the basin. I’m glad I took him up on it, we met a very pleasant couple. They came and joined us for a couple of hours last night, and we shared a bottle of wine and boating experiences. They had some trouble getting their boat finished; read all about it on their blog.

The weather warmed up considerably later in the day, bringing in some showers, but this morning was dry and bright again.

I had a walk up into the town to post some mail and visit the butcher recommended by John. Wow! I was like a kid in a candy store. I had to restrain myself, but still finished up with 2 different kinds of special recipe sausages, some Black Country faggots, and a lump of topside for Sunday dinner.

A couple of cakes from a baker on the way back, and my life was complete!

The town is very pleasant. Good shops, friendly people. There are no less than 4 butchers!

We untied and reversed back to the SS for water and disposals, then did a U turn and went back up York Street Lock

Back to the lock.
The chamber was empty, just as we’d left it a couple of days ago. No-one else has been up or down since us.

Paul on NB Free Spirit was on the 5 day moorings above the lock. This is his last day, and he was waiting for the owner to arrive to take the boat back. I think he’s a little sad; he’ll miss the lifestyle he’s grown accustomed to over the last 7 weeks. We have another convert to canal life, methinks….
We swapped phone numbers, and promised to keep in touch.

I’d spotted some sawn logs lurking in the bushes near Pratt's Wharf, while out with Meg. It seemed a crime to just let them rot, so we pulled over and snaffled them for the fire.

Loading logs.
Loaded logs
The rest of the trip was uneventful, up the 3 locks through Kidderminster, and then Wolverley Court Lock, to moor just above. I set to, cutting some of the logs into rings for splitting, but didn’t do much before my chain saw blade dulled. It was too dark to continue after I dressed the cutters, so I’ll do some more tomorrow.

It’s been a grand day, warm in the sunny spells, noticeably cooler when the sun slipped behind clouds. But it is only February, after all! And Friday the 13th, to boot!

Oh, and the Pork and Leek sausages are lovely!

Locks 5, miles 5½