Oldies On Tour

Tuesday 3^rd we left our mooring on the Severn quite early and headed straight into the first double lock of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal; we were through it with no issues and headed straight into the second double lock; here we had a problem. There was a boat waiting to come down and the chap left his boat and came to help Christine by closing down the sluices on the top lock whilst I was waiting patiently in the bottom lock chamber for the middle gates to open. Time marched on and nothing seemed to happening and I noticed Christine and the other guy struggling to move the lock gate. I scrambled up the lock ladder to gave them a hand; nothing. Christine had seen a couple of CRT men earlier and went looking for them to report a problem, in the mean time I asked the other man if he had let both paddles down properly, yes he said emphatically; but looking down into the chamber there seemed to be too much water swirling around so I casually walked over to look; what a plonker, he hadn’t closed them off so we could have been there all day!!!!! Oops and he went and dropped the paddle, now all was well and we were now in the top basin.

Interestingly there was no town or village in this area before the canal was built; Stourport-Upon-Severn was a “New Town” of its day. When the Staffordshire and Worcester Canal was completed in 1768, and joined the River Severn here, the area blossomed around the basin with trade, and once the Birmingham Canal link was complete, prosperity in this area followed.

Whilst in the basin, we made use of the domestic facilities before we were off, heading towards Kidderminster.

We moored right outside the Kidderminster TESCO, very convenient

Engine letting of steam

but we didn’t head for TESCO, no we headed for the “Severn Valley Railway” station. Naturally it couldn’t be near the canal; no it was the other side of the town, uphill all the way!!!!!

At station with old toilets, milk churns and fire buckets

The Severn Valley Railway is one of those heritage lines that have sprung up after that “Infamous Doctor Beaching” closed down all the un-profitable branch lines, this one closed in 1962.   The Heritage railway society was set up in 1965 and today the railway runs from Kidderminster to Bridgnorth with 4 regular stops and 2 halts (request stop) in between.   We arrived at Kidderminster station with time to get our tickets, board

One of the carriages

and source a compartment for ourselves, fortunately for us (but not the train society), we had the pick as the train was very empty.   It was very nostalgic sitting in the old style individual compartments that

No comment!

were common back in the day, we even sat in the first class compartment for a short while, but didn’t stop as we only had 2^nd class tickets and there was a ticket inspector on board!!!!

We got off at the Hampton Loade stop and

A couple of the many engines on show

visited the “Engine House”. Naturally this only really appealed to me but we were pleasantly surprised. Of course there were Engines of all sorts and sizes to look at but the two interesting displays were the post office carriage and the royal train.   We first visited the post

Me sorting the post

office carriage which is original and set up as it was before postcodes with all the “pigeon holes” for the various cities, towns and villages etc., so that the sorters could deal with all the post as the train thundered through the night.

The next carriage was built for King George

Kings lounge

6^th at the start of the war. Very interesting, unlike previous royal trains it was very austere, reflecting the issues at the time, but had very modern communication systems as he went around the country boosting morale etc. This carriage was also different to

Kings bedroom and office

others, being extremely heavy due to the “armour plating” it had an extra set of bogy wheels and springs.   We were guided around this carriage and apart from being “austere” it had everything the King needed. There was also a duplicate carriage made for The Queen, her carriage is now in the York Museum.

Back on the train and we continued up the beautiful Severn Valley and

Geoff enjoying first class

arrived at Bridgnorth. We had spent a few hours in Bridgnorth a few years ago so decided to get the next return back but this allowed us sufficient time to enjoy a drink at the station bar. Everything was very nostalgic except the prices, what a shame!!!!

The return trip was uneventful but enjoyed seeing everything from the opposite direction. We lingered at Kidderminster station and visited another small museum full of assorted railway memorabilia before walking

One of the pretty stations

back to the boat, downhill, hooray!!!

England was playing Colombia this evening and we didn’t feel being outside TESCO was a good place to be so headed off towards the Kidderminster lock.   The lock gates were open so in I went, Christine closed the bottom gates behind me and went to open the top ones; I waited patiently but nothing happened, eventually I climbed the lock ladder to see if I could help but we discovered we needed a special key, which we didn’t have so I had to go back down this slippery, algae covered ladder and reverse out. I had to keep going backwards, under the road bridge until we found a straight bit of canal to moor against, nearly back to where we had started.   We didn’t watch the match but heard the screams and cheers from the town’s people of Kidderminster and knew we had won. The rest of the evening was noisy as just behind the brick wall we were by, we had swapped TESCO car park for a outlet centre car park with a couple of fast food places that serve alcohol, still everything seemed good humoured and we slept.

I walked up to the lock early next morning and low and behold there was a boat just pulling up and he kindly let us in the lock first. The chap also explained what key we needed; it was called a “Conservation Key” and it is used in town Centre’s where there has been vandalism. Now we had a challenge to get one!!!!

We came across a CRT workshop at Stewponey Wharf, hoping to get a key but there was no one at home. We were just about to set off again when the CRT workboat turned up so we asked if they could tell us where to get a key, they did better than that, one of the kind gentlemen gave us one.

One of the three locks

We then came to the “Bratch Locks”, a

Halfway up

flight of 3 interconnected locks raising the canal over 30ft. To operate these locks requires special skills so the CRT people man them with their volunteers. They control access and send boats through in batches of three to preserve water but more importantly to avoid a boat going up at the same time as a boat coming down and trying the impossible, to meet in the middle.

Through the lock and we continued up the Staffs and Worcester, a very pretty canal passing through gentle countryside and many period

One of the many lovely properties on the canal

cottages, most no doubt originally associated with the working canal. We passed the Stourton junction where the Stourbridge canal branches off towards Birmingham and after one more night we passed Aldersley Junction where there is another link into Birmingham. The Staffs and Worcester canal is 46-miles long with 43 locks though we only did 25-miles and went through 33 locks.   When we arrived at Autherley Junction, we headed up the Shropshire Canal.

Boat yard on route

The first lock at the start of the Shropshire is only about 6-inches but this was a method, when built, to keep their own water in their own canal, strange or what.

We had a gentle, lock free run up to Brewood arriving early afternoon. Tonight we had booked a table at the “Shropshire Grill” as it has fond memories for us and it serves excellent food.

We left our mooring just before 8.00am but sadly the lock-keeper was late in opening up, so we had to hover until she was ready, I think Geoff using the bow-thruster got her out of bed, anyway when she did

Cows trying to keep cool

arrive we were quickly through the lock, and now we were on the River Severn.

The River is very wide and sadly not as interesting as the River Avon,flanked by wooded banks that prevent any views of the countryside. There are few signs of habitation or human activity apart from the occasional boat and anglers. Between

Busy at work

Ripple Wharf and Ryall there are regular

Before being loaded

aggregate traffic, so we had to watch out for the barges back and forth.

We stopped at Upton-on-Severn, a delightful town that is well provided with fascinating old timbered and early Georgian buildings, and nearby is the prominent 13th

Heritage centre

century tower with its 18th century copper

Main high street

covered cupola, all that remains of the church that was demolished in 1937. Such a pretty place glad we stopped now.

One of the old buildings

Back to the boat and heading for Worcester, first we came to Diglis

Diglis Locks

locks, well they were huge, one held 54,000 gallons of water, and the one we went in

Made us look very small

held 38,000 gallons, I have never seen such huge locks. We left the lock and travelled into Worcester, where the Cathedral came into view, the big square tower dominates the riverside.

Worcester Cathedral

We have been to Worcester many times, also being married there, so we decided to give it a miss this time, and travel on.

Worcester

We passed the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, and the Droitwich Barge Canal where Simon and Margaret would have turned off, and kept going passing Thomas

Thomas Telford bridge

Telford Holt Fleet Bridge, which dates back to the 1830’s, until we finally
Arrived at Stourport on Severn where we stopped the night.

I wanted to keep going, and get back onto the canals, out of all the places we have been I was not impressed with the
River Severn, I found it rather boring, I did enjoy going through Worcester, but glad we will be back on the canals tomorrow.

Looking over the basin at dusk.

We walked around after dinner, having a look at the triple locks we have todo tomorrow and where the facilities are, we then went for a drink in the Angel pub, and back to the boat for an early night.

Leaving Fladbury Lock, we arrived in Pershore mid morning, moored and strolled into the town. We were quite surprised with what we saw; none of us had any per-conceived notions about Pershore and apart from numerous Georgian style buildings, the olde-worlde high street,

Angel inn on the high street

it had a beautiful and historic abbey with superb grounds, but before exploring we decided to have a coffee and a bun. At a lock earlier that morning, a chap we went through with recommended a visit to Pershore, and also suggested we visited The Angel Inn for coffee, which we did and was very pleased we ignored the usual suspects such as Costa or Cafe Nero etc. Entering this old oak beamed hotel, built in Tudor times using old ship’s timbers was well worth visiting. The high street in Pershore was originally part of the main road between London and Worcester and onwards into Wales and the

Old photo of Angel Inn

Angel being a posting house as well as an inn, meant all coaches carrying mail as well as most others had to stop there. This was a “Motorway” of the middle ages with several monarchs passed by, one of which, Queen Elizabeth 1^st stayed here, no doubt as a guest!! Whilst renovating the place in the 1920’s they discovered a portrait thought to be her dated i 1570.

After being suitably refreshed, we both went our separate ways; Christine and I visited what used to be an Anglo-Saxon Abby but today it is an Anglican parish church, “Church of the Holy Cross”. Looking around this quite stunning building it transpires that there is little evidence chronicled as to when, or what was originally built though there are suggestions the foundations for an abbey go back to around 670’s AD. Today’s main body of the Abby was started in 1100,

The Abbey at Pershore

completed 1130, and through the ages additional bits have been added. The two main, very large, buttresses were added in 1913 to keep the building up. Unlike many Churches and most Abbeys destroyed during the reformation, Pershore was spared as the local residents purchased it as a parish church for their own use.

Walking around this pleasant town we struck upon a launderette, so back to the boat for the sheets etc., and then returned and deposited said washing. Having time to kill we

Carving in the grounds of the Abbey

revisited the Angel as they had a good selection of real ale, naturally I had to try a couple!!!

This evening we had our customary “Cocktails”, but tonight we were entertained on “Doris” Simon and Margaret’s boat. After suitable refreshment we went our separate ways for supper then returned to “Doris” for another game of Phase 10, Christine won, again!!!!!

Saturday morning and Simon and Margaret who aren’t too keen travelling in the heat of the day left Pershore soon after 0700hrs, we don’t have that problem so stayed in bed.   Our arrangement was to hopefully meet up later in Tewkesbury.

We couldn’t hang around too long as the locals were having “Dragon Races” today, and were setting things up so after a flying visit to ASDA (oh dear!) we were off. The river Avon continued winding its way I

Cows trying to keep cool

through the vale of Evesham, passing fields of market gardening on an industrial scale, cattle swishing their tails to clear the flies and taking things easy in the heat.   Today was also Qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix so we had a time constraint and decided to stop at the only pub en-route. When we got to the moorings they were taken and whilst we were deciding our next move we grounded, the river here was so shallow we struggled to get off. Eventually we were away and said goodbye to the pub we didn’t visit.   I say they should have longer moorings.

As we sailed into Tewkesbury, under King John’s bridge, we spotted “Doris” on the moorings and as there was no other space we moored alongside. We quickly switched the “telly” on and caught the most important part of qualifying, what a relief!!!

Tonight will be our last evening together, so Simon and Margaret joined us for “cocktails” where we put the world to rights before going separate ways for supper. We then got back together again for one final game of Phase 10 that Margaret was determined to win; and she did.  We then said our goodbyes as they were aiming to leave early.   Next Morning we noted them go by as we enjoyed tea in bed!!

Tewksbury Abbey

After breakfast we headed off to visit Tewksbury Abbey but being Sunday had to wait for the morning service to end. We eventually found a window of opportunity between two services to do our tour of this spectacular building started in 1102 but completed in 1121.  This abbey church, like Pershore, was sold to local parishioners for £453.00 after the dissolution of the monasteries. The grounds surrounding the abbey were simple but had some very nice sculptured Yew trees.   The abbey is also famous for its beautiful medieval stained glass window.

Stained windows in the Abbey

The last time I was in this abbey was around the mid 50’s; it was here that I was confirmed.

Leaving the abbey we noticed the Police had closed the road off and after enquiring was told there was a military parade in the town and it was under way right now in the High Street. We hurried along to try and catch the tail end of it, unfortunately as we turned into the High Street all we heard were the dying throws of the marching band; we had arrived too late. Never mind, a quick visit to Tesco and then we headed back to the boat, it was after all the Austrian Grand Prix.

Our day was completed with Poldark before retiring; we’re off tomorrow, up the River Severn as far as we can go before heading back into the canal system.

Stratford was very busy, with a Boat festival and Music festival, and having been here before, we decided after going into Town, that we would move on, it was so busy, Geoff went to get the license (£50 for seven days) to go on the River Avon. Margaret and Simon also decided to move on, so Margaret and I walked to the lock, to open the gates.

Scenes on the Avon

When we finished the lock, opened the gates, there were about fifty

Some of the swans

swans as a welcoming party, we walked to get on the boats, when we were told we could not get on boats there, and we would have to walk over the bridge and the boys had to meet us the other side of the River, ridiculous a two minute job took about ten minutes, so much for making the boats welcome!

One of the locks

The River Avon is lovely, I prefer it to the Thames, we stopped at the first lock, which was huge, we think you could get three narrowboats in some of them, we helped a guy through, who we thought was on his own, as he seemed to be doing everything, when we suddenly spotted a lady just sitting holding one of the ropes, we were not impressed with that, so we let him get ahead of us.
We moored up just before the lock, Margaret let her lovely Bengal Cat

Claud relaxing in the sun

out, he is gorgeous, his name is Claud, even Geoff has taken a shine to him, Claud is fitted with a GPS collar, so they can track where he is, he seems to go hunting at night, but is always back in the morning.
We had our normal six o clock, cocktails, with Simon and Margaret, sitting on the bench by the lock, then stopped for supper, and later we played Phase 10, another lovely day. There were some students

Claud on look out duties

having a drink, and a swim in the River, which we worried about, but they were very good, and left at a sensible time, so we all got our beauty sleep.

We headed for Bidford-on-Avon, where we both stopped for lunch, another lovely mooring, in the middle of the town, the

Early morning start

weather has been amazing, we walked to the boat yard, to see if they do fuel, which they didn’t, then went for a lovely lunch, wondered around the town, walked up to the church, then walked back to the boats, normal

Church at Bidford-on-Avon

cocktails this time in the park, and later played Phase 10. I have won twice and Simon once, come on Geoff and Margaret, your turn next!
We filled up with water, before we left in the morning, this time heading for Evesham, where we stopped for fuel, as we were both getting low, had some lunch

The houses and the gardens along the river are stunning.

in the centre, but decided that we would not stop as the place has a bad reputation so we moved onto Fladbury Lock and stopped the night, enjoying cocktails and another game of Phase 10.

Carpet tiles all fitted, but before we could leave we were back to B & Q for a refund, yes we had a number of tiles over.

Heading up the Oxford is a very pleasant experience as it weaves

So pretty

around the contours of the land. Being June, hay making was in progress but in todays mechanised world it is done in a flash; gone are all the people with pitch forks turning and drying the hay, today it is partially dried cut grass formed into cylindrical bales in the field, then sealed in polywrap.

By late afternoon we arrived at the “Folly Arms”, (Napton-on-the-hill) where we moored up and immediately,

Enjoying his pint

and went inside. This pub has fond memories for us, we met Dave and Leisha Burns for a meal a year or so ago, and as usual when we are with them, couldn’t stop laughing. As before we enjoyed a good country pub meal with some fine local ale. When we came to pay, that was an event in itself. The pub had been experiencing

Loads of stuff hanging from the ceiling, but no televisions in sight

Internet problems, so when we presented them with our card, they couldn’t get a connection. Naturally, like the Queen we didn’t have sufficient cash, so the Landlord took me outside. At first I wondered if he was going demand his pound of flesh from me but no; after walking around the pub’s grounds and onto the canal bridge, he eventually managed to process our card. I can say he wasn’t looking forward to the rest of the evening bearing in mind most people pay on a card!

The pub was only one reason for stopping here; we also had an opportunity to do our regular domestics!!! We were away by mid morning and soon joined the Grand Union Canal. We don’t find this so interesting, probably because it is straighter and it has double locks, and ‘many’ of them.

By Friday, we had managed to join another couple, Simon and

Margaret and Simon

Margaret Bebbingon, so we did several locks together until they peeled off to fill their water tank. We on the other hand carried on through Royal Leamington Spa heading to TESCO at Warwick.   En route we passed numerous narrow boats moored up for a local “festival weekend” thus making the canal very narrow. We met one narrow boat coming towards us, and with careful driving on both of our parts, passed without touching but as they passed us they warned us about the “wide beam hire boat” following. They casually mentioned that the occupants had no idea how to handle the boat. Ouch, we had nowhere to hide as it approached us, weaving from side to side; fortunately a lady on one of the moored boats suggested we lay-up next to hers and hope for the best. This we did and watched and waited, but as luck would have it they managed to miss us, but as they passed us they ended up in the bank!!!!!

We didn’t stop at Warwick this time as we had stayed there a couple of years ago, so apart from TESCO, carried on to the “Cape of Good Hope” pub where we met up with Simon and Margaret again for a drink and an early night. Tomorrow we attack the 21 “Hatton Locks” Flight.

We left our moorings at 0700hrs, arriving at the bottom lock at

Hatton Locks all 21 of them, wow!

0720hrs; we started early, before most boaters were up so that we got a head start before the flight got busy.

The Hatton flight was opened 1799 on the Warwick to Birmingham

Well done Simon

canal and was known as the “stairway to heaven” due to its difficulty. In 1929 the canal was renamed, along with a number of other canals, as the “Grand Union Canal”, a decision was also taken to widen the Hatton stretch of this

Simon negotiating the locks with both boats

canal together with all the locks to allow for industrial size boats to pass through. The widening was completed by the mid 1930’s and the new locks system was officially opened by Prince George, the Duke of Kent. These new double locks were built alongside the old narrow

Old canal next to the new
One

locks, remains of which can be seen today.

To speed our journey we lashed our two boats together and Simon drove which allowed me to help the girls with the locks. 3 people doing the locks speeds the process considerably, as one always walks ahead and prepares the lock in advance. Today was very hot and by the time we reached the top, just over 3 hours later, the Hatton Lock Café was a welcome sight, and we all enjoyed a full English; we deserved it!

We covered another few miles before we came to the junction with the Stratford-upon-Avon canal, where we turned and headed south. After the broad Grand Union with its wide locks, it felt a little strange to be

Tiny locks, but beautiful countryside

back into narrow locks, in fact we struggled to get out of the first lock; through age the walls of the lock have bulged a smidgen, just enough to cause a problem if the fenders are left out. Naturally ours were, so we got jammed in. We lifted the fenders; applied full power and we were out. This canal was built between 1793 and 1816 and is set in some very pretty countryside; certainly out of the way with minimal Internet connectivity but we were certainly pleased we had taken this route even though we had to go through 32 locks.

Aquaduck

Mooring along here was a doddle, space everywhere so when we had had enough, we just stopped. The only issue we had was the lack of  water; the level was about 10 inches below its norm and this created

Another view of the Aquaduck

many shallows where extreme care was needed. One feature of this 25.5-mile canal is that it has the longest a queduct in England, the Edstone Aqueduct and it is 475-ft long.

View as we were going over

Amazing going over roads and railways

The evening before we arrived at Stratford, Simon and Margaret caught us up so we enjoyed a couple of drinks at the pub we moored opposite.

The run down into Stratford was un-eventful but when we came through the final bridge into the Canal basin we were amazed how

Meg-A-Star in the locks

busy everywhere was, still lady luck was on our side and we got onto the only vacant finger pontoon. Our luck continued, just as our friends turned into the basin, another canal boat was leaving so they could also moor up on a finger pontoon. Apart from a little provisioning we had to buy permits before we could join the Avon, as it is not part of the CRT.

We left Kidlington behind, and meandered slowly through little villages, stopping for fuel, topping up the water, and all the normal activities we have to do, then headed towards Banbury, we made one more stop in the middle of nowhere, which was really peaceful.
Arriving at Banbury around midday, we found the same mooring as two years ago, we sorted ourselves out, and headed into town, first the washing to drop off, then pick up a few bits in Morrisons. After lunch we returned to collect the washing, after Geoff deciding to buy a tool box with some more tools, then he spotted a shopping trolley, oh no,

Geoff with his trolley!

really! Anyway he bought it, and we returned back home, only to

Not going to forget it this time!

realise that he left the tool box behind! Plonker! Having phoned Robert Dyas twice, they finally located where he left it, so we agreed to collect it in the morning.
Up bright and early as Geoff has to go back to collect his tool box, how embarrassing, just shows we are getting older and more forgetful.
Today Karon and Andy came over, so lovely to see them again, it’s been too long, we had a couple of drinks on board then walked into

Enjoying the wine

Town, we were going to a Thai restaurant but ended up going to the pub and the boys demolishing several pints of real ale. We had a lovely

Andy and Geoff enjoying their pint

lunch followed by a few more beers, before going back to boat for coffees donuts, and a lardy cake we bought this morning from the market stall, they were delicious! We walked back to the station to say goodbye, don’t leave it so long next time. A great day was had by

More wine

all.

Sunday morning we walked to launderette again, then onto Morrison’s where we stocked up again, making use of the trolley, I guess it has it uses. Later geoff walked back to laundry whilst I had a thorough clean of the boat, and cooked a roast dinner.

Monday we decided to buy some carpet tiles, so we moved the boat up to an industrial estate, where we purchased our tiles, and Geoff then spent the next two days fitting them, we want to protect the oak floor, so when we come to sell again, it looks pristine still!