Last day

A civilised start hour and lovely weather put us in a good mood for the many locks we'd be facing today. The scenery helped as well; this is somewhere south of Audlem, can't remember exactly where, but the grazing sheep, rolling hills and small lake looked to be the perfect embodiment of English countryside:

After a brief stop in Audlem, then a pause to buy some more sausages for supper from George's Pork & Poultry (see first Saturday) we stopped in again at Overwater Marina to see if at last we could visit their café when it was open, which it was so we both had a nice coffee.
We were determined to see if the marina's webcam really worked so quickly logged on before we left, and lo-and-behold, there we were and Barbara stood on the stern but got tired of waving as it only updated once a minute!

Having completed the majority of the locks for the day, a break to start tidying up the boat and polishing the brass was next on the agenda.

We'd had quite a strenuous, but not stressful, day so it was good to have a change of occupation. I was pleased with the shiny brasswork; the boat looks good for the next owners aboard.

As the evening cooled down, we cruised on into Nantwich to moor a few minutes away from the marina, and very close to the attractive cast iron aqueduct over the A534.

The local drake waddled up to see if we'd offer him any food:

And that is it for our little blog; here's a last view of the sunset over the Shropshire Union Canal at Nantwich:

P.S. 3-Mobile wouldn't give us a signal last night so this has been posted first thing Saturday. Hope the car starts after a fortnight doing nothing!

Reflections

Our overnight mooring looked even better in the morning sunlight as it fell on the far bank of the canal. The foxgloves in particular reflected nicely off the mirror-like surface of the canal:

Looking north in the direction we'd soon be moving off, the scene was equally as tranquil:
Once on the move, we passed through one of the shorter tunnels on the canal system, Cowley Tunnel. Very dark, damp and green:

By early evening, we'd got back to Market Drayton to moor for the night, putting us within range of Nantwich tomorrow.

After a walk into town for emergency wine supplies (for Barbara!) I took stock of our surroundings and noted the rabbits playing a few yards away and then as I was about to put the camera away, two swans and their cygnets glided past. This one happening to pass through a beam of evening sunlight.

And this is our mooring for the night, pleasant dappled sunlight and very quiet:

Stately stress

We had a leisurely start as Wightwick Manor didn't open until 11am so after motoring a little closer to Bridge 56, we breakfasted and set off for the very short walk to the house of the Mander family of paint/varnish fame. The house is relatively new, but built in a period style, and inside is just as it was about 100 years ago.

Outside in the garden are a lovely range of flowers, and although the roses were going over, there were still some gorgeous examples to be found.

A couple of nice ponds added charm to the garden:
After the long and interesting tour of the house and gardens we set off north again on the canal. Not far up, we tried to stop to look at some shops and the engine all but stopped each time I tried to reverse to stop the boat. It was fairly obvious that we'd got something around the prop, so once we'd drifted close enough to the bank to jump off with a rope, I was able to pull the boat in and investigate the weedhatch.

At first I thought it was a bit of sacking, but the more I pulled, the less sack-like it looked. It turned out to be a substantial carpet, which having been immersed for some time, was fairly disgusting, and extremely heavy. The only way I could get it out, once I'd freed it from the propeller, was a foot or so at a time - I couldn't possibly lift the whole thing, even if I could have got my arms around it.

Rather than leave it in the canal to be picked up by someone else's prop or on the bank to get thrown back in, we had little option but to take it with us to dispose of at the refuse disposal at Autherley Junction. Even that wasn't easy, dragging it like some great dead anaconda across the towpath - but such is narrowboating, a little rough with the smooth.

Back on the Shropshire Union Canal after Autherley, there was this interesting set of seven bridges in close succession:

The profile of this canal is such that mooring is often difficult, or only possible if you have a good long gangplank and don't mind being 2 or 3 feet out from the bank. We were lucky and found a space just long enough for us at Brewood, so here we are for the night in another peaceful location:

Multi-lock Tuesday.

We had a relatively easy day today, only needing to go a short distance as we're stopping just short of Wolverhampton to visit Wightwick Manor when it opens tomorrow.

One of the little pleasures of boating is seeing all the place names that locks and bridges are often named after. In addition to passing through Swindon (another one), this lock name particularly appealed:

Not far up the canal we came to the Bratch flight of locks. these are three locks set very close together, with a combined rise of over 30'.

Going up, the gates just of the first two locks tower over the boat:

And then higher up the nice little octagonal lock keepers tower comes into view ...

And this is our peaceful mooring for the night, where the birdsong is significantly louder than the distant traffic noise, even though we're quite close to suburbia.

More in Kinver and some locks.

Last night in Kinver, we'd walked up to the Austin Rock cave houses and as it was quite late they were closed, but the sign said they'd reopen at 10am, so we walked back up the steep hill this morning. En-route we discovered St. Peter's Church and were welcomed inside.

We were shown some attractive modern glass:
as well as the spectacular older windows:
and a beautiful modern extension, replacing a delapidated Victorian section:
The stained glass from the Victorian section though, had been saved and built into this lovely lantern hanging near the impressive organ pipes.
Moving on we discovered Kinver Edge Farm Shop (should be www.kinveredgefarmshop.co.uk but it's not working) and had a refreshing coffee. They did have a rather fun poster though:

We couldn't try their Maize Maze as it wasn't ready yet (neither is the website www.kinvermaizemaze.co.uk) so we walked on towards Kinver Edge and the Austin Rock cave houses.

Kinver Edge was rewarding with great views of the village of Kinver and its surroundings:

And the cave houses looked fascinating (see Nat. Trust website), but sadly it seemed we'd been misled and the opening times of the actual houses were only 2 - 4 pm and not on Mondays.

Around the back of the rock outcrop was a lovely little back door set into the rock. The whole thing struck me as being distinctly Hobbit-like.

Moving on up the canal, we passed through Hyde Lock and took particular pleasure in the front garden gates of the adjacent Lock Cottage, built as miniature versions of the lock just as few feet away:

Here they are in close-up:

The next lock up the canal, with the lovely name, Stewpony Lock, had another of the interesting circular bywash weirs, so worth a photo I thought:

Barbara had remembered passing what she described as a door in the rock by the canal on our way down, but we passed it too quickly for a photo. This time I spotted it in time to slow down and get a photo. It's a little blurred as it was so dim that it required a rather long exposure, but interesting, nonetheless:

We wonder what's inside???

Too hot today!

The day started warm but cloudy and we moved on through to Kidderminster in comfortable conditions. Arriving in Kidderminster, it started getting quite warm and sunny, and after a brief stop at the convenient canal-side Tesco, we pushed on to Wolverley Court Lock - a convenient place to moor up and watch the European Grand Prix (boring) and eat a very good Sunday lunch (thank you Barbara). It was seriously hot but eventually we did move on a bit in search of shade, which we did find along quite a lot of this pleasant stretch of the Staffs & Worcs.

In due course we got to Debdale Lock, pleasant enough but not especially unusual:

until you see that there's an opening in the rock face on the far side of the lock:

Looking inside, it opens out significantly both to the left and right ...

This is the view to the right of the entrance:

We reckoned the cave was about 20' x 8' and apparently was used to stable horses overnight when they were used for towing boats. Moving on, we passed through Whittington Lock, which is quite picturesque:

Continuing up the canal, we got to the quiet moorings at Kinver, which seemed like a good place to moor for the night:

A stroll into Kinver showed it to be quite old in places, this is the chippy & Chinese take-away:

And these are some offices:

And back to the boat for a quiet night.

Burial at sea

Our little furry friend was peeping for its mum all evening, taking occasional food from me and seeming quite chirpy. It quietened down when it got really dark and I made it a cosy nest for the night in one of the take-away containers from our evening curry (not the madras one).

In the morning, it started peeping again at first light (quite early at this time of year) and seemed in good spirits. We left it for a little while to go into Worcester in search of the Post Office, and had a pleasant stroll around the shops.

When we got back though, we were surprised and saddened to find that our little friend had gone from apparently perfect health to near death. I picked it up and warmed it in my hands and it peeped feebly occasionally, but was clearly not well and despite my ministrations, was not recovering. There was little we could do except watch it and keep it comfortable while we motored back up the sunny Severn towards Stourport again. Here we are, setting off:

Eventually, it clearly had died, so we gave it a decent burial at sea (Severn), not quite wrapped in a Union Flag, but the nearest we had, a paper bag!

The trip back up the Severn was pleasant enough apart from our sad bits. Here's a particularly nice view:

Then for the last river lock and the locks going into the basin at Stourport, we shared with another boat and had a very sociable arrival. Now moored outside various fast-food outlets, so a bit smelly, but otherwise okay.

All for now.

Peep peep!

A leisurely start saw us moving on down the Staffs & Worcs Canal at about 9am for Stourport.

When we got to the basin there, we needed to negotiate several locks, but in one of the first ones, we had some company:

Locks are not the safest of places for tiny ducklings that can't fly out like mum can. The turbulent waters and strong suction of the water emptying through the lower paddles could easily suck the little things under, but mum somehow got them all from the front of the boat to the back, where it was a bit safer, and I watched over them carefully to ensure that I didn't swamp them with the wash from our propellor.

In due course I was able to move out of the lock and they all followed:
After a stop at the BW services, we set off again across the basin, past the impressive clock tower and the gin palaces, for the series of locks that would take us down onto the river assuming that we wouldn't see mum & ducklings again now that they had the big basin to explore.
I negotiated the tortuous route through the basin to the narrow locks at the far end and waited while Barbara set the lock. Just as it filled up and she opened the gate, what should I see but a mother duck and eight little ducklings swimming into the lock ahead of me! I presumed it was the same family as she seemed to know what she was doing and how to cope in locks, but I still took lots of care as we descended two more locks.

In the last lock before the river, the water flowed over the lock gate and as I moved the boat slowly into the lock, mum and ducklings were nowhere to be seen, so we presumed they'd jumped over the end of the lock into the river.

On looking around the river side of the lock gates though, I spotted one tiny duckling trapped by the gate under the waterfall coming over the gates. Barbara saved it from getting drowned by opening a paddle and lowering the water level, but it didn't want to leave the lock gate and seemed to be trying to climb out, which it would never do as it was a 6' sheer wall.

Fearing it would drown or get squashed by our boat, I grabbed the net off our roof and taped it to the boat hook to lengthen it, and scooped the soggy little thing out of the river, hoping we'd find mum.

No such luck, mum had disappeared, so we were lumbered with a tiny, cold duckling with very sodden down. So, it's now in the bath peeping loudly for its mum, but relatively warm and dry, and taking occasional bits of food from me. Hopefully, we can repatriate it with its family when we return through Stourport tomorrow.
And this is our mooring in Worcester, nice enough though we are a bit close to the railway bridge, but it's not nearly as noisy as a road bridge would be.
All for now.