Alvechurch

As the title of this post isn’t All Powered Up, AMPS! 150!! BATTERIES!!! AT LONG LAST!!!! you may have guessed already that the text message we awoke to this morning told us that Kris was still off work, therefore we’d not be seeing our boat builders today. We’re starting to wonder if the lithium batteries were a figment of our imagination all along.

The message did however mean that we didn’t need to rapidly get dressed and try to have breakfast before they arrived, so we rolled over and had a few more zz’s instead. The last few days we’ve been cruising much longer hours than we’ve been used to for some months so a day off was allowed, the chaps might be with us tomorrow, so there was no point in moving on from such an ideal place.

Breakfast

Mick set to cooking us a breakfast whilst Tilly made the most of being allowed to come and go.

The forecast for the last few days has suggested that we’d be waking up to days where the temperatures would be starting to rise, so we keep leaving the fire to go out. Today with not much activity going on the boat felt cold, so a new fire was light and we settled down for the day. An episode of Inspector Morse and the next Breaking Bad episode were watched as the weather outside got more and more blustery.

Where is that bakers

A walk down the hill into the village broke up the day. Alvechurch has a couple of butchers, barbers, post office and a bakers, if you can find it! As we approached the cross roads we started to look out for the secret bakers, was it that building or the next? No it’s the one that just looks like a house with a granary bread sticker on the front door. We walked over to have a closer look only to find a sign in the door saying that they had closed in February. We stocked up on milk, bread and lunchy bits from the Co-Op and headed back to Oleanna waiting to hear if Kris was on the mend or not.

Gone for ever!

Tilly’s playground!

Late afternoon a message came through saying that it was unlikely that Finesse would be with us tomorrow, the remainder of the week now wouldn’t be possible. We decided to stay put overnight just in case we woke to a message saying they were on their way, but if not we’ll push off and start our descent down to the Severn.

Today we received two good bits of news. According to C&RT the river is now fully open, so when we reach Worcester we will be able to make it down to Gloucester without hanging around.

Four jars of tastyness

Mysteron Lamb and Veg

The other, I have won some mayonnaise! Our friends at Charlie and Ivy’s (Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil) had a facebook giveaway last Friday. All you had to do was tell them what your favourite Friday night meal was to be in with a chance of winning. That night we were going to have what we I call Mysteron Lamb. This was a recipe I came across when we were in Misterton on the Chesterfield Canal. You roast small potatoes, maybe with some other veg, sear seasoned  lamb steaks in a hot hot pan, pop these on top of the potatoes in the oven for five minutes, then drizzle over some balsamic vinegar and leave to cook for a further five minutes before resting and serving. I suggested that I was going to try doing it with one of their bread dippers, Juniper Lemon and Balsamic. This turned out to be the winner, not sure if Jennie had anything to do with choosing me, certainly the lady who got in touch had no idea that I know them quite well. Have to say using their dipper did make the lamb extra tasty. So we know have a mayonnaise filled summer to look forward to, hopefully with new batteries!

0 locks, 0 miles, 6.50am text, 30 mins extra, 2 cooked breakfasts, S2 Ep3, 1 Morse, 1 lost forever secret bakers, 1 giant bank to play on, 2 stupid diddy woofers, 1 knitter stuck for what to do next, 4 jars of mayo, 0 batteries.

Severn River level at 9am today (at Bewdley a mile upstream from Stourport) 1.283m.

Sheepcote Street Bridge to Scarfield Hill Bridge 61, Worcester and Birmingham Canal

Noel and Carolyn

Mick popped out to stock up on bread and milk after breakfast and was back in time to greet Noel and Carolyn who’d popped over for a cuppa and guided tour of Oleanna before we headed off in different directions. Yesterday was really the first time we’d chatted to Carolyn and today she and I discovered each others crafting habits. Noel had had a look round Oleanna when we’d reached Crick last year, boxes of stuff piled high as we moved boats. Today he got the more homely version still with things piled high in places, but that’s just where those things live now. It was lovely to have met up with them and for Noel not to have been at work. Hopefully our paths will cross again later in the year.

Old Turn Junction

As we pushed off we could see Noel just about to clear Leon’s prop before they set off back towards Crick.

Gas Street Basin

No locks to do today, just a flat run out of Birmingham. My navigation duties would be much less today as we only had one right and one straight on to do. The sun was out to start with but a chilly wind blew down from all the high rise buildings as we made our way through Gas Street.

Edgbaston Tunnel towpath widening

At Edgbaston Tunnel works on broadening the towpath were on going. The tunnel used to be wide enough for two way traffic, but the towpath was narrow causing problems with cyclists and walkers. So the decision was made to broaden it, reducing the canal to one way traffic. We don’t see a problem with this as you can easily see through the tunnel and when ever we’ve been through we’ve not see another boat, but others have been up in arms about it all.

The old, not so old and the soon to be new

Reaching for the sky

Plenty of building work was going on around the University. Plenty of cranes and rubble all around.

Cadbury Purple

Telly signal must be good round here

There were a few more moored boats than I remembered, Sainsburys moorings were full (no need to stop, we’re still okay for wine!), an H2 powered boat. Yet there was only one boat on the secure off side Bournville moorings, a rarity.

How many locks ahead?

Anyone would think it was wet in there!

At Kings Norton Junction we carried straight on and headed to Wast Hills Tunnel. Another long one at 2493m straight. When we saw a tunnel light near the north portal Mick slowed Oleanna down, the tunnel is two way traffic, but why bother when pausing for a few minutes means we would both have the tunnel to ourselves. Seeing that their roof was a flood of water I quickly bobbed back inside for my waterproof coat, a good job as in some places the drips were hard to avoid.

Sneezing mid tunnel is really quite amazing. The height and length must alter what happens to the sound. My three sneezes were amplified and echoed around our ears for sometime. It’s worth a go if you ever feel the urge.

Coming out into sunshine we hoped to warm up, but the temperatures seemed to be having difficulty reaching double figures. Not far to where we wanted to moor today at Hopwood where there was plenty of space. Despite being the only boat we pulled further along past the pub to where there is a layby on the narrow road. Tomorrow we are due to meet Finesse and here was a possible mooring where they could get the van close.

Tilly went out to roam whilst we had a late lunch. Possibly a good mooring, but there were strange things in the field that I was cautious about.  We weren’t worried about the pigs, just the amount of traffic including some very big wagons! The layby was obviously well used because of the wagons. Another look on google earth and I noticed a join between the towpath and road which looked big enough to park a van. But sadly there were large barrels of flowers strategically positioned to discourage such parking. After lunch and lighting the stove we decided to move on to our second choice of mooring. However Tilly was still out!

Coaxing a cat back indoors is hard enough normally, but after weeks of very little shore leave it’s even harder! There’s nothing worse than walking a few paces behind her hoping for that split moment you think you’d be able to catch hold without her sprinting off! Luckily for me a hire boat was just pulling up in front of us. They were hammering in spikes so that they could walk up to see if there was any space on the moorings. I saved them the walk, they pushed off again  and had the whole stretch of rings to themselves through the bridge. Their presence had pushed Tilly back towards Oleanna and then the local farmer pulled up to chat, which encouraged her to jump in through the side hatch, which was quickly closed behind her.

Grand Prix fishing lake

All back on board we pushed off again. The fishing pond by Bittell Reservoir looks more established than it did three years ago, only one solitary fisherman sat round the grand prix pond. The M42 got louder and louder until we bobbed under it then the sound almost vanished straight away.

Ricky rang from Finesse. He was needing a measurement from me and then everything would be ready for their visit tomorrow, well except for one thing. Kris their carpenter had called in sick this morning, very unlike him. Ricky could come out on his own to install the batteries, but the other jobs would then necessitate a second trip. Much better if everything could be done in one day, we agreed. It was decided that we would carry on as planned as Kris might be at work in the morning. If not we’d wake to a text message.

Whithybed Marina

Coming into Alvechurch a new marina looked about ready to have it’s stop planks removed. Full of water, electric and water points on the pontoons all that was missing were boats. Withybed Moorings first applied for planning permission back in 2007 and was to have 75 berths. This has obviously taken time and the number of berths has been reduced to 54.

Around the next bend and there was a perfect sized gap for Oleanna. Just before the bridge and Alvechurch Marina there is a track that comes down to the towpath. We checked the gate and we could unlock the padlock, a perfect place for Finesse to meet us, being able to get their van so close. We just have to hope that Kris is well enough in the morning.

Hopefully we’ll miss the stag do’s heading out this time

It turns out that three years ago Lillian had just been blacked and was put back into the water at Alvechurch. We then headed up to Hopwood where we joined NB Blackbird for the evening. Funny how we find ourselves back in the same places.

Thank you to Tom, Mike and Paul who pointed out that the islands on the BCN are toll islands, where the boats were gauged as to the weight of their cargo and charged a suitable toll. I did know this, I’d just omitted an ! and a .

0 locks, 11.14miles, 1 right, 2 straights, 2 visitors, 1 sofa, 1 tunnel, 3 sneezes, 1 roof washed thoroughly, 2 soaking boaters, 1 mum, 3 baby piggies, 1 noisy mooring, 2 outsides, 3 hours shore leave, 16:54 to Redditch, 1 gate, 2405 long, 59.5 wide, 1 poorly chippie, 2 boaters hopeful for a speedy recovery, 3 batteries sat in Sheffield!

Severn River level at 9am today (at Bewdley a mile upstream from Stourport) 1.44m.

Stourton Top Lock to Merry Hill

The forecast was for sun and it certainly obliged today. We woke to sunshine and blue skies, perfect for a proper boating day.

First job was to give Tilly her worming pill. Mick positioned it in prime position on her biscuits and put down her morning dingding. It and only a couple of proper biscuits were gone within seconds. The easiest pill given to a cat ever and we both still had all our fingers!

With a long day ahead of us we pushed off and soon got rid of our coats as the morning warmed up as we made our way to Wordsley Junction. I’d reread Lillian’s blog from three years ago when we did the Stourbridge flight for the first time. It was a useful read in that some of the bottom gates do not want to stay closed, so cracking a paddle at the top end of the lock will hold them in place. Having said that the second lock caught me out and I had to return to close the gates for a second time.

With few bridges at the bottom gates and short railings I had to walk round to both open and close the gates. As last time, Mick on a few occasions brought Oleanna gently up to the gates and nudged the off side open to save me one trip all the way round. At the forth lock Mick had a go at stepping off on the off side with a rope, to close the gate behind Oleanna. This entailed the rope getting caught on the stone work as our boat made her own way into the lock and Mick frantically trying to free said rope before it ran out. He did succeed  and then scrambled up to the top to hold the centre line as I filled the lock.

We still have to visit Red House Glass Cone, today wasn’t going to be the day. It would be better to do it on the way down the flight than the way up, next time.

So far all the locks had been empty, but the next one was very full. I left Mick to finish rising and went to open the paddles on the lock above. This is the really pretty stretch of the canal. Hanson’s Dock General Stores and the double lock which works similar to The Bratch on the Stafford and Worcester  Canal along with a boat yard which had NB Swan moored on the outside (she’d passed us near Worsley last year).

Looking up the flight from here I could see a chap opening gates on the locks above. There was no boat coming down so I gave him the thumbs up, this would save me quite a bit of walking round. After a while he came down to the lock we were at. A man of few words, but it seemed that he was one of the kindly folk who spend their life assisting on lock flights. After a couple of locks where the gates were open waiting for us I could see that the chap had put on a lanyard. He made sure it had it’s writing visible and he seemed quite proud of it. It said ‘John, Towpath and Lock Operator and Volunteer’. Maybe John has the newly branded C&RT uniform, but I doubt it. He’s not an official volunteer, but we weren’t complaining. He walked up ahead emptying locks and opening gates, he then closed gates on the off side and only twice did he wind paddles with Oleanna in the lock. He took his time and kept an eye on what I was doing, never lifting a paddle before I did.

John said that he helps out most days and has been doing so for ten years. Today we were the first boat through the locks and I suspect the only one. He certainly made our trip up a lot easier, so Thank you John.

We paused on the off side for some lunch before turning right at Leys Junction and then wound our way around Brierley Hill. Now we were on an urban canal, the amount of rubbish both in the water and around it makes me ashamed to be human. We are such a disgusting species! At least the wheelie bin floating by was full of rubbish. The bed of the canal undulated under us as we passed under bridges making our journey a bumpy one.

The bottom of Delph Locks and Dudley canal No1 came into view after about three quarters of an hour. Ahead of us eight more locks. All but one were empty, some with a gate open ready for us. No John on this flight, so a lot of walking around instead. The sun had brought plenty of Gongoozlers out. Many had questions, but few thought of lending a hand.

The bottom gates had better handrails so I was able to push many of them open saving time and steps. Along the six central locks the bywash cascades like a waterfall to the side, as you start to fill the lock the flow stops as the pound level is lowered which gives you a sense of power. Soon Mick had managed to enlist a family to help with gates which was great. But as we reached the top lock all help and bystanders had left us to it. This lock filled very slowly as I could only get one of the anti vandal locks on the ground paddles to open. Once up it was a matter of just pootleing along to the embankment high above Merry Hill Intu shopping centre where we planned to moor for the night.

It now being 4.20pm and we still hadn’t got our Saturday newspaper, Mick hightailed in down the hill to get one. Whilst he was in the temple to retail he stopped off at the EE shop. Yesterday he’d noticed that Virgin are currently doing a deal on a data only sim, cheaper than we are currently paying EE and for twice as much data a month. So Mick wanted to see if EE would match it, the chap in the shop said that they couldn’t to snap it up! We may well do!

Late afternoon we had a visitor. When I say we, I should really say Tilly had a visitor. Paul from Waterway Routes had come to talk to her about suitable symbols on his maps for his feline customers.

It was nice to meet Paul and see for myself his maps. Tom and her say that they are very detailed. Moorings come with different classifications. The ones I wanted to test out, Stourport, Chester, that fantastic field on the Shroppie and Houdini’s field were looked up for me. Official M moorings can sometimes be alright, but sometimes not as in the case of Chester and Stourport! But the other M’s are pretty good, fields tend to be marked by these. I shall insist we moor on Ms from now on! Oh except the Cat Heath and Safety Committee deemed here to not be suitable for me today and that is an M! I think some work still needs to be done for feline moorings. Anyhow Paul has gone away to think of what symbol he can use for rabbit holes and I can inform him of their locations for future updates.

We also enjoyed meeting with Paul and hearing about his planned cruise this summer up to Yorkshire. A new stretch of the Pocklington Canal which has been restored is to be opened and he will be there to record and map it.

24 locks, 5.39 miles, 1 straight, 1 right, 229ft 5 inches risen, 1 tricked cat, 1 other boat moving today, 1 sunny sunny day, 1 helper John, £3.90 for a pint, 1 proper cruising day, 2 geese nesting, 1 weelie bin, 1 duck not enamoured with chips, 1 unlockable lock, 1 high above everything M mooring, 4 mucky hand prints, 2 many fans for one day, 1 visitor, 1 map master, 2 pooped boaters, 1st night without the stove.

Severn River level at 9am today (at Bewdley a mile upstream from Stourport) 1.847m.

Wolverley Bridge to Stourton Top Lock, Stourbridge Canal

So, just as we finished our breakfast this morning this C&RT Notice dropped into our inbox!

The notice says that the river was now open from the next lock down from Stourport to Worcester then closed from there for 17 miles to Upper Lode Lock. Hmm! What should we do?

If we turned round and headed back to Stourport the river there was almost certainly still going to be in the red at the locks today. We decided to give the Lockie at Lindcombe Lock a call. He chatted away to Mick. The flow was still quite strong but we would be able to navigate our way downstream to turn onto the Droitwich Canal, with care. But should we have carried on to Bevere Lock half a mile further south the Lock Keeper wouldn’t let us through to get to Worcester, as the levels were still too high. So either the C&RT notice was wrong or the Lockies on the ground were telling porkies! We decided to believe the chaps on the ground. He said that the level may have dropped enough by tomorrow to get to Worcester or it might take a couple more days, river levels are not an exact science.

It didn’t take us long to make our minds up. We were going to continue going the long way round, if the weather forecasts are correct and there will be little rain then the levels should be fine by the time we reach the river again and we won’t have got bored of twiddling our thumbs.

Last night we spent a bit of time trying to find a suitable place to meet up with Finesse on our route. Heading towards Stratford didn’t come up with anywhere suitable that we’d be able to reach comfortably, but heading towards Worcester gave us two options. So that was our route sorted. The next few days we have to keep up with our plan so as not to fall behind.

We pushed off and soon had reached the next winding hole, we went straight ahead not wavering in our decision. The day was cold and grey again, damp hung in the air even though it didn’t rain.

This stretch will be filled with bluebells next month their lush green leaves appearing everywhere. On we climbed back up the locks we’d passed through three weeks ago. No one was ahead of us which made life easy, each lock sitting empty waiting for our arrival. It was too early for us to have chilled medication as we passed through Wolverely Lock, but I could see a young chap inside with a cone piled high with several scoops!

Today the air was filled with insects, gnats or mossies. At times it was hard to breath without inhaling them! We used to get asked if yellow attracted insects when we had Lillian, but it didn’t. Today dark blue most definitely did! Mick got so fed up with it that he lit a citronella candle and popped it in a guiding light to try to clear a small patch of air at the back of Oleanna.

After Hyde Lock we pulled in, after the house, opposite the grassy field for lunch. A purrrrfect mooring this, if only they had let me out! Tilly eyed up the huge trees, we don’t believe that she’d only be an hour in such a place so she remained in lock down.

On up Stewponey Lock and then a right onto the Stourbridge Canal. Up the four locks.

Between the third and fourth locks houses back onto the canal each with immaculate gardens. Sadly the house with the Aubrietia that floods over the walls hasn’t as yet had enough sunshine. A couple of dots of blue, but not the cascade  that we’ve seen before.

We soon found a suitable spot to pull in, away from too much traffic noise and not too close to Wordsley Junction. Tilly went straight out of course, only to get bullied by a local crow not too keen on her presence.

Tomorrow will be a standard day of climbing up into Birmingham. Plenty of locks ahead of us, at least we’re keeping busy!

10 locks, 6.77 miles, 1 right, 0 about turns, 1 lying C&RT notice, 1 Lockie chat, 0 chilled medication, 1 route planned and we’re sticking to it, 63763436378947364235272892927254 insects, 3 hours, 1 big black feathered bully, 2 many bikes, 4 muddy paws, 1 m mooring.

Severn River level at 9am today (at Bewdley a mile upstream from Stourport) 1.99m.

Yes we are still here!

Rain rain go away ……. oh don’t bother!

The rain falling this morning didn’t inspire us to get up and get going anywhere even though we’d made our minds up to go the long way round. We just didn’t want to get wet. So a leisurely breakfast and phone calls to Finesse took over. If Finesse were going to meet up with us in the next couple of days then we would stay put, if not then tomorrow we’ll head northwards and hope to find a suitable place to meet them.

After our calls weren’t answered I was just sending an email when Ricky called us back, he always does. A date was set for a visit from them next week, weather dependant. The weather is meant to dry up by the weekend, so fingers crossed.

Not sure why we bothered, but we did go to have a look at the river. It seems to be stuck within a band of two inches at the moment and that two inches is still three foot too high for us to navigate down stream.

With the river closed C&RT have taken the opportunity to do some brick work by the steps on the bottom staircase locks. Barriers surround the steps, you could still use the lock, but no one in their right mind would right now.

Treasure Island seemed to have a new inflatable on their arcade roof today (it was new to us but looked decidedly shabby like the rest of the place), a galleon ship with jolly pirates dancing and cannons. We had a walk up to Lidl for a few bits to keep us going until we reach Sainsburys in Kidderminster tomorrow then settled down on board for the rest of the afternoon.

Mick emptied the toilet and took the opportunity to measure the fan that blows away any nasty niffs. Bridget and Storm had said that the fan on Blackbird had lasted just about bang on a year, so we are wanting to get a replacement at the ready. The fan has a constant drone to it, so gets switched off at night. Mick has been looking into getting a silent one from Quiet PC.

Whilst we’ve been here there have been a couple of swans coming and going. The locals have told us that they are Father and daughter, Mum was shot by someone last year. They had been wondering if an incestuous relationship would start between them. Well today I could see them bobbing their heads in unison, a sure sign of romance. Then the deed was done and they both reared up creating a heart between them, so beautiful.

Paul. Thank you for your useful information. Your maps sound like they might be good for me. But please could you inform me as to what sort of M or m are marked here in Stourport, also the basin at Chester and at the massive field by Park Bridge on the Shroppie. Just wanting to check if your Mmms are calibrated for felines correctly. Thank you ,Tilly.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 many days in one place, 2 fair weather boaters, 1 date set, 1 river still 2 fat, 2 cheese twists, 9.2mm fan, 1 romance blossomed.

Yep you guessed it, Stourport!

It rained all night.

With having use of the car Twingo until mid afternoon we decided to return to Droitwich and have another look for places to have a family meal. Thank you to both Debbie (NB Chuffed) and Jennie (NB Tentatrice) for your suggestion of the Gardeners Arms. We had a look at it on line this morning, their menu is vast! Glad I found the plain type version of the menu as the Arthurian version was a touch hard to read. So first we headed there to have a look. The pub has lots of rooms and outdoor areas, most of which were understandably not in use today. If they could relocate it to Bridgnorth it would be an ideal place for Sunday lunch, even if Tom and Jan (Waiouru) hadn’t been impressed with their roasts. A lot of choice, playground for youngsters and most probably a private room for us.

We then headed back across the river and canal to try out our second choice of restaurant from Friday. Bullocks sits at the end of the High Street, the two buildings were built around 1550-1600. It is now a bistro restaurant. Here the staff were very welcoming and not in our faces as much as the place we tried the other night. The menu has variety and the restaurant has a nice feel to it. We decided to have lunch to try out the food and both ended up ordering a fish finger sandwich, well we haven’t had one since Oleanna was being built. I had a gluten free version which meant I got one and a half sandwiches compared to Mick’s  large one. They came with chips and were very nice as they most certainly were not Birds Eye fish fingers!

Decision made, we booked a table. Just have to sort out the Sunday lunch now!

A visit to Waitrose for a few bits and a free newspaper and we headed back to the boat. Our time with our pastel blue friend was coming to an end. Earlier in the day I’d tried to get into a different car, but sadly the door was locked so I had to join Mick if I was going to get home! I was dropped off with the shopping and waved goodbye to Twingo. It’s been handy having a car for a few days, needless to say we won’t be dashing out to buy one!

The river level has gone up slightly today, gaugemaps hadn’t updated for a few hours so we checked the boards. Still about three foot to go. We now have no need to get to Droitwich, not for a month anyway. So thoughts are turning to going the long way round. Should we head to Worcester, hoping that the river level has gone down by the time we arrive? Or should we save the stretch between Worcester and Tewkesbury, (I do like good Tewkesbury!) for our return and head to Lapworth and down the Stratford Canal onto the Avon instead?

We’ll make our minds up in the morning.

Paul (Waterways Routes). Do your maps have suitable cat moorings marked? Tree locations and bunny rabbit holes would be good to know about, as well as areas of friendly cover. If they do I’ll make sure they buy the whole country!

0 locks, 0 miles, 2nd trip to Droitwich, 1 pub with soo many rooms, 2 fish finger butties, 2 pots of chips, 1 pot of tea for 2, 1 booking made, £10 shop for free paper, 0 DK WYS wool for socks (I can sniff a wool shop out at a 100 paces), 1 river still in the RED, 2 boaters making alternative plans, 1 availability check!

Stourport to Stourport

via Droitwich, Beverley and Bridgenorth

Normally when we hire a car we quite often end up with a van, sometimes we hire a van and end up with a car, but on Friday Mick returned with a car which was the actual plan. Only this car brought out his more feminine side. Okay so it was blue, but a Renault Twingo in powder blue is not at all masculine and with all the white trimmed interior! We have spent the weekend hoping that nobody we knew saw us.

Friday evening we headed to Droitwich (by Twingo), which should have been our destination (by boat) a week ago. We were wanting to remind ourselves about the length of stay on the moorings in town, how cat friendly they might be and have a check out of the restaurants. Mick has a significant birthday on it’s way so we want to find a suitable place for a family get together next month.

The canal enters Droitwich from the River Severn then a lock takes you onto a stretch of the River Salwarp, it was in the amber when we were there. The level here is important as there is a tunnel under the M5 which is quite tight height wise on the best of days! Our route may not necessitate limboing under the M5 in May, but you never know.

Fish and chips seems to be very popular around the town on a Friday evening, every shop having a queue, not quite the right thing for a family gathering though. A walk around town to look for suitable restaurants gave us a short list. We decided to try one out that we felt was the top choice, but by the time we left after some very nice food, we had decided to discount it. So it looks like we’ll have to return to check out the next one on the list.

Saturday morning came along with a lot of activity around the basin. Narrowboats were coming down the lock to fill with water and then return, a cruiser appeared reversing with two chaps wearing hard hats. We then noticed that there was a crane returning lots of cruisers to the water after wintering on hard standing. After breakfast it was our turn to move, not far, just over onto the proper moorings where we could plug in and leave Oleanna for a night behind a locked gate.

Once we’d moved, avoiding cruisers we packed our bags for a night away. Just as we were ready we could see that the biggest of the cruisers was descending the top broad lock, so we decided to check on the river and see what was happening before we left. The bottom broad lock onto the river had it’s top gates open and the bottom paddles raised, they were having to lower the pound between locks to get this monster of a boat out of the lock and under the bridge. It looked like there was only a couple of inches to spare width and height wise, good job they had plenty of people around to help.

The level board showed that the river had dropped around 16inches from it’s highest. So we left Stourport with hope that we might be able to move on after the weekend.

The roads round here along with not the best suspension on the Twingo made for a bumpy ride across the country. When we reached the Howden turn off on the M62 it was a very strange feeling to be carrying straight on and not turning to cross over the Wolds to Scarborough. We were on our way to Beverley. Our B&B at The Windmill Inn seemed to have it’s water supplied from the water point at Hillmorton, rinsing shampoo out of ones hair took rather a long time!

A bus ride out of town to an East Riding village with one of the best and biggest ponds in the area. Storm (NB Blackbird) was celebrating his birthday, the village hall was already filling up with a queue of people wanting to pass on their birthday greetings.

It was lovely to see them again and get to meet their family and friends whom we’ve heard so much about. Much of the time we didn’t need introducing as we were recognised from photos from Bridgets blog. We have even been offered use of an address should we need one in the next couple of months whilst we’re around the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal. Plenty of food, booze and conversation until the band struck up, then there was plenty of dancing going on.

The sound of the kitchen extractors just before 8am made sure we knew that breakfast would soon be served downstairs. This did mean that we were fed, watered, checked out and stood waiting for Boyes to open it’s doors at 10am. I wanted to get some curtain lining (I have no idea how the holes happened, one minute I was stood there the next I was facing the other way round and there were these big holes) to do a repair and have some spare should the need arise again!

The bells at the Minster were doing their Sunday morning warm up as we walked back towards the car through the pretty streets. It was a shame we couldn’t stay longer but we had other things we wanted to do whilst we had a car Twingo.

Back across the country to have another recky for Mick’s birthday weekend. This time to Bridgnorth, another pretty town along the River Severn. Bridgnorth sits high on a hill in between the river and the Severn Valley Railway (which will bring us here next month).

A good Sunday lunch was what we were looking for and ease of access from the Station. Peering through pub windows gave us two options for food and both could cater for a group. So we just need to check through their menus and make the decision. With that sorted some chilled medication was in order, I have a painful back at the moment and I needed some medication to help with the final leg in the car, honest!

Back at Oleanna all was well, Tilly had only managed to remove the cover from the overflow on the bathroom sink which was easily mended. Once we’d off loaded the car Twingo it was a walk down to check on the river levels. A little bit disappointing, the flow was a lot less fierce but the level in two days had only dropped by about 5 inches and seemed to be levelling out again. We need it to drop by another meter before we’ll be able to see green on the boards again.

0 locks, 250ft, 1 girlie car, 1 restaurant a bit too much, 1 board in the amber, 48hr moorings, 1 yoghurt pot, 1 board still in the red, 1 humungous boat, 1 very big shoe horn needed, 1 twisted back due to cat litter! 1 dribble of a shower, 1 bus, 1 jolly birthday celebration, 1 very good band, 1 taxi to Old Waste, 7.56am kitchen turned on, 2 cooked breakfasts, 12 bells, 1.5 lining, 1 dead phone, 1 high up town, 2 steaming engines, 2 pubs, 2 chilled medications, £10 meal deal from M&S, 1 fishing heron, 1 transfixed cat, 1 river still very much RED!