Late Saturday afternoon, we had left The Bratch, a bit disappointed as there were no people about at all, therefore no real incentive to open the shop. We thought we would drift along to the next village for the remainder of the weekend. I must say at this point, that Richard was suffering in a great deal of pain after biting his tongue quite badly earlier in the week and had got some mouthwash from the pharmacy in Wombourne to ease it!
Botterham staircase locks took us by surprise as we hadn't registered that there was another flight so close after the Bratch, so on through we went.
Once in the bottom of the 2 chambers, the gates behind me closed like the 'Gates of Mordor', to cover the first 10 feet drop. I dropped down again to join the lower canal and then we repeated the whole process for the butty.
We moored in the small quiet village of Swindon and enjoyed a proper chip supper and bought a lottery ticket....no we didn't win again!
Sometimes long lining is more convenient to get the butty away from the lock than cross strapping, harder work, but good fun!
We moored after a long day, as well as stopping at Greenforge to fill up and empty as usual and run a couple of wash loads, at the beautiful Prestwood area on the outskirts of Kinver. Richard was still in a great deal of pain, but could at least talk a bit better without too much tourettes style flinching and complaining!
The morning revealed a hard frost and several deadish plants on the roof as we had forgotten to take them inside overnight. We had both completely forgotten, so now we leave them out regardless!
Awesome scenery
We carried on at the junction for the Stourbridge Canal which would have taken us to Birmingham. Not really in the mood for the 20ish locks (40 with the butty) at this stage!
The tiny 25 yard tunnel at Dunsley, didn't need a tunnel light really!
One of the many locks we have come through, serene and tranquil, hidden from the real world...
We pulled up in Kinver, walked into the village and stocked up on something tasty for lunch, then carried on to moor in Cookley.
The next morning we decided to jump on the local minibus and do some errands in Kidderminster. Later in the day, I finished a canalart item I was working on, so I was really chuffed we hadn't continued in the rain.
(My facebook page is Canal Art by Ruth if you want to see the sort of items I have painted)
Red sandstone cliffs line the canal and in places made things quite windy and narrow. This was a good blind bend!
Pulling into Kidderminster this morning, we saw our friends boat Oakfield (they have a blog too, see my Read list) again, and moored for the night outside the very convenient Sainsbury's right next to the canal, as is the Tesco further on, so the shopping and lunch was sorted. But still the rain came down........
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