New Territory

 We left Worcester behind again after a close shave with Real Estate. Too easy to get tempted back into the Rat Race.

We travelled upstream on the River Severn into new territory, passing Beverley Lock and on to Holt, where the clever Lock keeper welcomed us with the phrase ….”We’ve been expecting you, Mr Bond!”.  Oh the British humour; what a delight!

We experienced our very first disturbed night here, thanks to some quiet fishermen who started up a conversation about every 45 minutes, enough to keep breaking us out of our reverie. At 2am I took control and politely asked them to stop nattering. They said it was such a lovely night, they couldn’t give it up. 

They all disbanded except for this gentleman who obviously had nowhere else to be that night!

Our engine is now behaving ok, but we have discovered that on Rivers water tends to leak into the bilge, probably because we’re going faster. Andy has got used to being completely anal about engine checks daily. 

We had a surprisingly uneventful night in Stourport, despite mooring next to a bunch of blokes on a hired boat, then continued through Stourport’s complex basins with the help of some fabulous CRT volunteers. 

The day had started so well, but there were dramas ahead.

Hmmmm. This canal is quirky. We both found ourselves losing control of the boat, sliding off towards the edge despite steering perfectly. Apparently this pound is short of water. 

Further along, we were enjoying life immensely, passing under a bridge before Kidderminster, when Double 0 came to a complete standstill. 

We had gone aground half way under a bridge. Bridges are always on corners for some reason, and we couldn’t get a good run pulling ropes, and the barge poles have yet to prove their worth. 

Nothing else for it but to seek help. Andy went up to the bridge and found a steel fabrication company, all staff more than happy to leave fabricating for a while and flex some muscle.

Anyway, we managed to get moving again. 

Kidderminster was interesting. It is the home of the carpet mills.

We found a comfortable spot to moor just outside Sainsbury’s and Costa Coffee, which was great the next morning.  

Further along the canal next day, we met some hire boaters who told us they had been warned specifically, under no circumstances to moor in Kidderminster 😳.  Glad we had a good night! 

We are headed for the Llangollen canal, although we are warned of inclement weather ahead. We have passed some pretty sights, such as small Aquaducts, but also some less pretty sights. 

Again, the lock keepers volunteers were so helpful at the staircase locks.  These involve going up 2 or 3 locks at a time, as at Bratch Locks, which required diligence and courage as they are deep and steep!

 

I had some great videos of this lock, but the internet has been crap and i can't upload them.

The rest of the day went very smoothly for a change, and we cruised effortlessly through the locks and tunnels, turning left from the Staffordshire Worcestershire canal into the Shropshire Union Canal.  This is good fun.  The Shropshire Union is like a straight line with no locks at all, and very pretty.  We managed to find a nice mooring at Norbury Junction, with very friendly staff and a tea room.  As it turned out, we got to know this place even better later on.

Travelling North we were hoping to get to the Llangollen within the next couple of days, but the rain really set in.  There was thunder and lightning, which we are quite used to from Australia, but it really was bad for the Midlands.  Houses were struck by lightning, and one even burned down!  We were OK, but we hadn't realised quite how bad it was.  We were moored on one spot up the canal when we noticed that our batteries hadn't been charging while we had been travelling, or if they were, it was not very efficient.  Our house battery was getting low, and there was not enough sun for a solar boost, so we got onto our very good friends, Canal River Rescue, for the fourth time!  They couldn't really help us as it was a domestic not motor problem, so they advised us to turn back and ask they guy at Norbury juction!  

This was 3 hours back, past the old Cadbury Chocolate factory, which we have now past three times.  

At Norbury, they had already helped us fix our central heating when 2 of our radiators wouldn't come on.  Oh the joys of boating.  So they were pleased to see us and offered us a power mooring for a couple of nights while they had a look for us.  We thought the Alternator had gone, or the batteries were dying at the very least.  The engineer spent at least 2 hours checking the whole battery system, and diagnosed....wait for it.... operator error!!  What, again?  Oh yes, my dears. We had not been using the motor correctly and we should have had it running when we turned th heating on and all this sort of thing!.  They had spent hours, given us a free mooring for 2 nights, and only charged us 35 quid.!!  Unbelievable.  So we added to their Christmas fund, wished them well and buggered off up the canal before the next lot of rain.  This is still great fun!!

But truly, it is.  We are still really happy.  It is getting cooler and Autumnal now, but we still love the life.

And at Goldstone Wharf, where we were three days ago, and we are starting to hear thunder again, thank goodness for our central heating, pot belly diesel heater, hot water system, friendly boatyard fellows, and for this lovely pub!