Two lumps of something and two Heros.

 This mornings start was delayed....

But not for too long in fact.  The sun came out and although it wasn't as clear as yesterday it was still fabulous.

David had moved the car ahead to Bratch Locks.  So when he returned we moved off.

We struck lucky today, very lucky with the volunteers, today there were three on.  All was going well, up came WaL in the first lock, I had a gentleman of advanced years instructing me and definitely advising with far more information and knowledge than was on the instruction notices.

I felt in safe hands! 

So here is where we had goofed up when we were descending some days ago, we had forgotten to raise the blue paddles.   Notice the second gates behind the blue ones....

Still going well

A former toll house I presume, 

This is where it all went wrong, David was waiting for us (Me and three pensionable gentlemen) to open the gates that would not budge.  I called David up from down below to help but no joy at all.  David was then sent back down to nudge the gates with WaL's well cushioned nose, it moved an inch then shut again, so David put his foot down so to speak and finally the blockage gave way and the gates opened.

The volunteers were not far off leaving for the day, we were in fact the last boat of the day.  One gent told me that it hadn't happened in months, but it had happened with the first boat of the day and with us the last boat of the day.

Had these knowledgeable gents not been there I think David and I would have had to of reversed out of the locks completely and waited until morning to ring CART or see if any volunteers arrived.

So the blockage dislodged and we were on our way.  But see the young man with the bike?  A volunteer asked him to help push and heave and he said no I can't I have slippy shoes on.

I met the owner of this boat when moored at Greenforge years back, he'd painted it himself and said it had taken 5 miles of masking tape. 

Bit of a squeeze to get from side to side when trying to operate this lock.

This property is for sale if you are interested.

Well it was about this time when we got a phone call from home, a family problem that needed me.  (Not my mother I hasten to add)  but as we went along from Bratch to Compton we were both making plans and suggestions as to get David back to Great Haywood as I was needed.

Can you guess Reader who came to our aid?  Frequent Flyers to this blog may have guessed.

Yes The ex-Boat Sharers, Amanda and David didn't hesitate.

When we got to Compton and got up the last lock of the day, David got his Brompton out and he made me a coffee in my Keep Cup to take with me, I squashed myself into my cycling padded shorts under my trousers and remembering to take the car keys with me cycled back along the tow path to Bratch some four miles back to retrieve the car, then drove the can back to WaL who by now David had brought along to Coven and to the pub there where I packed a bag and kissed him goodbye.  There are 12 or 13 locks between Gailey and Great Haywood and David did not fancy doing them single handed going downhill with the prospect of getting caught on a cil.  There are two marinas but one said no and the other said maybe.

I'd collect him next week.

So weren't we lucky to catch those ex-Boat Sharers aka Amanda and David back from Canada and in this country for two or three minutes before they were due to depart for France for six weeks.

They changed their plans, drove from Cambridge to Staffordshire the next morning, planted their car in our marina, got a taxi to Gailey where David the next day had brought WaL along to meet them.  One night aboard WaL at Penkridge and then down to Great Haywood.  

David spent the remaining few days cycling and watching cricket, which I think he quite liked.

A few locks down from Gailey, working hard.

Here, Darling Lewis (as I call him) they had the same problem as David and I had had at Bratch, an object caught under the lock gate preventing it being opened.  Darling Lewis spent 25 minutes unblocking it.

This is a photo from the archives but I nice one of the two saviours.

Amanda and I met just the 48 years ago.

So that was the end of my boating for this year.  

Six days later I drove back up to collect David and drive him to Buxton where we went to a talk by Jeremy Bowen form the BBC entitled "Truth Under Fire" a very thought provoking and a interesting evening.  

David and I were to have stayed three days at Buxton in my favourite hotel but just the one night then home again to help family.

I can't thank the Lewis's enough for Saving our Skins, we owe you.  

A goose and an almighty crash.

 Time to pull the pins and make tracks or ripples I suppose.  

The lock just in front of us was empty and as David was letting off the bow rope, yes you've guessed it, a boat passed us by.

Last nights mooring spot.

The passing boat was just out of shot...

The other boat was ages and ages getting into the lock despite the lock being empty, I eventually walked up to empty it and they were just leaving.  

I offered to shut the lock gate for them and they thanked me.

We wanted water at Kinver and it seemed that they did too.  Shouldn't be a problem as two water points here.

Oh my goodness just look at the sky and that view.  This is another of David's favourite views so far on the system.

This is Hyde lock looking southwards back to Kinver.  This is David's first favourite view although the growing trees have narrowed the view since we first came this way.

Hyde Lock looking northwards and to that gorgeous mooring that we call The Wide Bend.

Well that slow boat in front of us did indeed pull into the water point, right bang in the middle of it so that we didn't fit.

We continued hoping that the water point at Stewpony was back on stream as we had received an email from CART that it was out of action during the  past week.

We did water up here at Stewpony lock and as we pulled away the slow boat was rising in the lock so we stayed ahead.

Suddenly this incredibly loud honking noise and I spotted the culprit, see?  A goose had taken up residency in the car park of all places

Sometime later the slow boat did arrive at the lock we were working.  I was about to close the gate behind David and I was a tad surprised that the husband did not offer to close it for me as I had done at Kinver lock, indeed he said okay then and walked back to the bottom gate and immediately wound up the paddle, I tried desperately to hold the gate and slow its closure but of course it slammed with a tremendous wallop!

I yelled to him that he had raised the paddle far too early but he showed no sign of having heard me.

A great method of breaking the locks in times of massive financial hardships for the waterways.

A total idiot.

This is a glorious garden at Greenforge, full of Dahlias even though I'm not a Dahlia lover the garden was terrific. 

Funnily enough that slow gate crashing  boat caught us up at Botterham Locks, bar one boat between us.  Its a staircase arrangement here and the boat in front was a single hander.  I offered to help him and he thanked me earnestly saying I've been on boats for thirty years and I am very conscious that things can go wrong very quickly.  I though him a wise one.

Well he and we cleared Botterham without incident I'm glad to say...

So once again my phone has loaded these photos in reverse order despite me selecting them in order. 

Not at all annoying.

So please go to the bottom of these few and work your way upwards  

So this is WaL almost in the top of two "Joined together" locks, towards the back or stern of WaL you can see orange netting which is surrounding a mini sink hole and that paddle isn't working so it took extra time to fill.

This is WaL entering the second lock.

This is WaL below me (I'm on a bridge in between both locks.)  You have to start the sequence by emptying the bottom lock which if you are following a boat up is already full.  

Now the top lock is emptied into the bottom lock, pretty leaky here.

This is the top lock leaking into the bottom lock as I waited to get WaL into it.

Now this is the bottom lock and it's wee footbridge, quite high and a narrow rail to hold onto. 
But oh isn't it beautiful?

Our mooring that afternoon.  It was hot and we needed the shade.

Supper was sausages.

"It should be okay...."

 It was time to leave Wolverley and really make the turn to return to Great Haywood.  This trip had been not exactly cut short but trimmed, or shaved a few days.

David had given me the option of getting down to Stourport in a bit of a going hell for leather option or relaxing, enjoying, slower and turning early.

But where?

As you may remember WaL is a full sized boat of 70' and many winding holes or as I call them Turny round places are shorter.  In the past that is to say when we started cruising with WaL back in 2012, many Winding Holes had signs denoting the length of boat it could accommodate but these are all too few now.

We had talked to Sarah and Chris, our friends in Kinver who used to moor their boat in this vicinity and Chris said you should be alright....  choices of above Kidderminster, well past Kidderminster at Falls Lock which is situated on a wide bend or else it would be all the way to Stourport.

So I walked to the lock here at Wolverley to set it for David and WaL ...  I looked back at the moored boats I had just passed and realised that it was a pair of Hotel Boats, one motor boat and an engineless butty.  

These were the people to ask, the crew were enjoying their cooked breakfast 'En plein air' and yes we would definitely wind above Kidderminster at a park.

Bit of a relief as it would have meant extending the days and doing a bit of that hell for leather I mentioned.

Yes this is the spot, it would have been easy to have overlooked it. 

This is a great thing to do with annoying willow trees... cut their heads off and carve them into beautiful sculptures.

You sure about this David....?

This is where I hopped off with the stern rope, but that is a rubber protective band on the brickwork.

Ummmmmmm

I'm still holding the rope now though to keep it away from the prop.

An out of season Ox-eye Daisy. 

 Two years David humoured me and grew some seeds as I love them so, my mother nurtured a handful of plants for me while we boated and before we got home some had flowered and seeded in her garden.  Then we planted them out with a warning from David that the bloody things will take over the garden soon enough...

Well after this steaming hot summer, you know Reader the one I missed most of having their winter in New Zealand, well when I got home it seems that all the grass has died in the back garden and the only thing growing are these Ox-eye daisies there.

David not frightfully happy, he's looked in the garden centre for a small bag of grass seed (Remember he's a retired farmer and grass seed was available back then) so a small bag of grass seed in our garden centre was £90.

He didn't buy it.  

Anyway, we retraced our steps and I walked, here below you can see that this is where the Hotel pair who are tethered and had finished breakfast, met WaL in the narrowest section and a bend.

Marvellous but no contact.

So no stopping today until Kinver.  Plans had been made to meet said friends, ex-boaters and ex-blogger Sarah and Chris to have supper in the new Indian restaurant here.  David couldn't resist and indeed had planned another swift pint of that best beer in the world Bathams.

 

I found this online and indeed it was a big print framed in the pub.  The original pub is where the beer is brewed still I think.  The Delph Flight of locks up to Merry Hill in Birmingham is quite literally just behind the pub.  Don't pass by without trying it.

These next couple are out of sequence as I remember the trip but it was a while ago and I'm all behind like a dogs tail, so forgive any errors.

Glorious sunshine and wonderful views

I always love an Aylesbury duck.

Picturesque cottages.

Pretty property, I was confused with the Royal Standard but I think The King is in residence.

Another of those challenging bends, this time a friendly pair of walkers confirmed there were no boats approaching.

Keen eyed among you will know that we are back to Wolverley here, this is a little above the lock where a few years ago there was a landfall here.  At the top of the photo you will see the road (Or rather lane barrier) which too has fallen.  When it happened a resident of a house on said lane said he'd be surprised if it was repaired and so it seems.  David was appalled that the metal barriers have been left by either CART or Severn Trent Water Company, between the two was an active discussion as to who was liable.

I reckoned that the Health and Safety Brigade say it's too dangerous to collect the barriers.   

From L to R  Sarah, Lisa Chris and David.

It's really surprising just how many restaurants, cafés and pubs there are in Kinver,  it's a smallish town and even on a Monday this Indian became full.