More rain, yippee!

August 28; Hyde lock to Oldington Bridge near Stourport

We awoke to a beautiful sunny morning on a delightful mooring and were almost tempted to stay, but we have other things to be doing and need to be home next week.  In fact I have got so far behind with the blog because of lack of signal, or a long days’ locking somewhat sapping my energy, that I am writing this at my desk at home.  But we didn’t rush to get going – Dave washed the starboard side of the boat, and I washed some smalls.  We left about 9.30 to find Hyde Lock ready for us, with the top gate wide open.

The delightful Hyde Lock Cottage with its well-known garden gates.

I walked past the long line of permanent moorings to Kinver Lock.  The boater with the floriferous garden has his wallflowers growing strongly for spring and early summer colour next year.

Seedlings looking good

One of the moored boats has had a recent repaint and looks very smart.  It strongly reminded me of Jennie and Chris’s Tentatrice, which I know had a name change after they sold it.   

Looking well cared for

A boat had just left Kinver lock as we approached and a young woman was fully occupied posing for photographs on the lock beams.  She wasn't in the way, and didn’t even look at me as I walked up to open the top gate.  

I was expecting the angled balance beams of the bottom gates to be hard to use, but they weren't if you braced against the bridge to get them moving.

At the pretty Whittington lock we stopped to chat to the owners who were sitting in the sun with their beautiful young collie, till a boater appeared from below and we had to quickly go down and get out of their way.  Dave and Jess got off to walk for a while, and it was so sunny Dave didn’t bother with a waterproof – silly boy!  I was slowing to pick them up in a bridgehole, just as the rain started, when Jess took a flying leap on board and dropped her ball in the cut.  By the time Dave had retrieved it, the boat was too far away for him to get back on.  I should of course have reversed back under the bridge, but instead of just one boat moored below as I thought, there were several and by the time I had passed them all – slowly, of course – and he could get back on board, he was quite wet.  He got his waterproofs on as the rain became torrential and Jess and I retreated inside.

Cookley Tunnel, with the village street above it

It rained for quite a while, and we had just got moored at Wolverley in a short dry spell before it started again.  After lunch the weather was much better so we carried on to the Sainsbury’s moorings at Kidderminster – it was lucky I was already on the towpath with the centre line, as the boat got stuck in reverse gear, and Dave had to turn off the engine so I could haul him out of the bushes and into the edge.  While I occupied myself in Sainsbury’s he took the Morse control lever off and unstuck the red button which disengages the drive – fortunately the throttle cable hadn’t snapped (as happened on Chuffed as we descended the Caen Hill flight on the K&A).  It was still sunny as we descended Kidderminster lock but we could see the rain clouds on their way so were properly clad as we descended Falling Sands and Caldwall Locks.

Caldwall Lock in the rain

We were given a book on the history of the canal (which we have since passed on) which said that there was once a house built into the cliff there, but it collapsed in the 1960s from neglect and vandalism.  When the book was written, probably back in the 80s, there was what looked like a fireplace just above the bottom gate.  The weather was so horrible we forgot to investigate, but it may well have weathered away in the intervening years.  At Pratt’s Wharf bridge there was once access, via a lock, down to the Stour which runs close to the canal on its way down to Stourport.

Two vapers taking shelter

It had continued to rain but eventually stopped by the time we reached Oldington Bridge, after which we pulled in on the pleasant stretch of mooring (without overhanging trees thank goodness) before the outskirts of Stourport.

9½ miles, 8 locks and a fair bit of rain – we’re not complaining!