Friday 16th August
In the absence of a tv signal we spent last night listening to music and watching two spiders catching flies in their webs round the light fitting. That reminds me, I really must do some dusting!
Today have made very slow progress, travelling only 4 miles and 3 locks from Wolverley to Kinver. This took nearly 3 hours. The canal is very narrow and twisty along here being hemmed in by the red sandstone cliffs. It is really pretty though so it would be a shame to rush through it at break neck speed!
At Debdale lock there is a cave cut out of the sand stone and this is where they used to rest the towing horses over night. There is also a lovely circular spill weir next to the lock cottage here (see photos). We also had to negotiate the very diminutive Cookley tunnel which is all of 65 yds long! It’s more of a long bridge really.
The cottage at Whittington Lock is very attractive and apparently Dick Whittington’s Grandfather used to live at The Whittington Inn nearby! As did Lady Jane Grey who is said to haunt the place. We have decided to visit this pub on the way back.
We are moored downstream of Kinver Lock and when we arrived there were only a couple of other boats here. Now it is jam packed, this is a very popular place by the looks of it.
We walked up to the village which is lovely and has everything you could want including a Spar and a Coop right next door to each other. I resisted the temptation to go in the bakers, even though someone told us their Cornish Pasties were really good. After a wander round we visited Ye Olde White Harte in the centre of the village, it is a Marston’s pub and we had some very good Bank’s Bitter.
Returning to the boat we found Roamin’ Gypsy moored in front of us. We met them when we first moored in Gloucester docks. They usually moor in Saul Marina and were off up to Langollen for a trip. We had a nice chat and will see them for a drink when we get to the marina later in the year.
So as these are only 24 hour moorings come rain (probably) or shine (unlikely) we will have to move on.
