Hawford locks

Another 7:30 start and, having turned all the locks again, arrived at Sainsbury’s in Kidderminster to do a bit of shopping. We had been following two Black Prince boats who were the most competent. So we thought that it would take a while to get through the staircases, but they both stopped on the services

Wolverly

We managed to wind at the bottom of the locks and set off back down the canal. Most of the locks were against us today. We were heading for Wolverley court lock, one of our favourite moorings. But was very hot and there is no shade there, so we stopped under the trees at Wolverley

The Bratch

A really easy day today. All the locks were in our favour. We left Kinver at 7:15 and arrived here at 12. There was only one space in the middle of the offside moorings, but it was fine. A lazy afternoon followed by a barbeque and then a walk. The day rounded off with a

Kinver

It has been really hot today. We set off early at 7:30 and had to turn almost all the locks as we were following a Dutch couple. He was very friendly and chatty, her less so. We arrived at KInver at 1 o’clock for lunch, found a nice mooring in the shade and decided to

Stourport

Our plans have had to change because Rob cancelled our Avon trip at the last minute. So we decided not to waste the available time and go for a short trip up the S&W. It’s been a long day today. We left home at 8:15, after topping up the water etc we left the marina

Netherwich Basin

After an excellent evening with Simon & Karen yesterday we said our goodbyes this morning at seven o’clock and set off. We reached Stourport about 9:30 and were down onto the river by ten. It’s been another really hot day, but travelling down stream was pleasantly cool with a lovely breeze Hawford junction was reached

Wolverley Court Lock

We were in constant WhatsApp communication with Karen & Simon regarding tonight’s rendezvous. We settled on Wolverley Court lock as it was within reach of both of us. We made good progress, even though we had to ‘turn’ every lock. We arrived here at about 1:30 in time for a late lunch, they arrived about

Bottom of Bratch locks

Again an early start, 7:10am, to try to beat the hot weather. Down the rest of the Wolverhampton flight was reasonably OK, though we did have to turn a few of them. Two locks before the end an upcoming boater had emptied the lock before us without me noticing. He didn’t bother to look ahead.

Stourport – on the river

We were due to pick up Karen & Simon at around 11:00, as they said their train got in to Kidderminster at 10:30, but then we recieved a message saying that they were an hour early. We still had plenty of time to get to Sainsburys to get some stuff for lunch. We set off

Woverley Court Lock

Rain, rain, rain and more rain! The weather forecast was showing the rain getting worse as the day went on, so we set off earlyish at 8:15. This part of the canal was very familiar to us as it was our “home canal” for about 6 years. We had fun trying to remember the order