Autumn Tints Cruise Autumn 2022

 Thursday 3rd November - Diglis Weir Entrance to Stourport Upper Basin

Hello and welcome to our November Autumn Tints Cruise.  We are beginning this cruise from the visitor moorings below our apartment as we had a day cruise on the river for Lizzie and Beatrice on Friday as part of her birthday celebrations.  Instead of mooring back in the basin we used the moorings on the river.

We made an early start on Thursday morning because we had a passage through Bevere Lock booked for 9 o’clock.  The weather was wet and grey, the river was flowing pretty fast and we were going against the flow of the water.  There was a considerable amount of fallen trees, branches and general debris heading towards us which we managed to generally avoid.  We arrived at Bevere Lock 10 minutes behind schedule and shared the lock with two other boats from Camp House moorings also heading for Stourport, in their case for winter moorings off the river.  Unfortunately one of the boats had gear problems and pulled over after the lock.

We then had Holt Lock and Lincomb Lock to get through but it was hard going against the river which seemed to get faster as we went further up.  Consequently we lost time and ended up 30 minutes late and then 45 minutes late for each of them.  

However, the sun did eventually come out and we had blue skies and light winds all the way up to Stourport.  We had been watching cormorants fishing as we were cruising along, but I love seeing them sat in the trees drying off before diving in again.

Beautiful reflections in the river, you could be forgiven for thinking it was late summer.  I, however, had got cold and ended up wearing two coats and a pair of gloves! 

We arrived at Stourport and did the sets of double staircase locks up into the Upper Basin where we moored for the night.  We were able to fill up with water from there, empty rubbish and the toilet.  We discovered that the Wi-Fi signal in the basin was poor so it was a quiet evening listening to the radio.  Between 8 and 9pm we were disturbed by marauding teenagers, running around screaming and shouting, jumping on and off the Canal and River Trust workboat moored in front of us and kicking against the doors to the service block.  They didn’t touch our boat and by 9pm it appeared that a parent had turned up and they all disappeared!  

We had a comfortable and peaceful night’s sleep after all! 

13.25 miles, 7 locks, 6hrs 36mins.

Friday 4th November - Stourport Upper Basin to Wolverley Bridge No 20

We woke this morning to sunny skies, chilly but quite beautiful.  This is looking downriver from the wide locks showing the finger post with a myriad of choices of direction.

We waited until 9.30am and moved across to the chandlery where we put on diesel for the cruise.  Conversation with the owner soon got round to the disturbance last night and he told us that he had called the police as they have had a lot of problems with these children.  He said he was quite concerned for us but we assured him that we had been fine.

Outside Stourport is this bridge with a plaque announcing it as Pratt’s Wharf.  This is the start of an old arm off the canal which used to go to Wilden Ironworks a mile further on.  Boats would leave the main canal by passing under the towpath bridge, then immediately drop down through a lock, enter the River Stour at Pratts Wharf, bear right and continue downstream for about three quarters of a mile to Wilden.  It could be tricky to navigate especially when there was plenty of water coming down the river, but it lasted in use until around 1949.  Today there is very little to see, except the outline of the lock beside the river.

Cauldwell Lock heading into Kidderminster, one of the prettiest locks on this stretch of the Staffordshire and Worcester Canal.  Toby is back in his favourite position as boat dog on guard!

The magnificent church as you rise up through the lock in the middle of Kidderminster, an impressive sight with St George’s flag flying in the breeze.

I just had to include this photo, the kingfisher was sitting beautifully as we went passed and just as I took the photo he took of from his perch, still you can see the beautiful colours.

We arrived at our mooring, this time below Wolverley Lock in full sunshine and a wonderful view of the autumn colours along the offside of the canal.

6 miles, 5 locks, 3hrs 6 mins.

Saturday 5th November - Wolverley Bridge No 20 to Kinver

We woke this morning to the sound of raindrops on the roof, quite a bit different from yesterday!  However it soon stopped raining and we were able to get under way to Kinver.  This is our first lock of the day, Wolverley Lock, one paddle at each end of the lock was out of action so it was a slow ride up!  Dave had checked the weed hatch before we set off and all was clear, which is good.

A lovely view of the church in Wolverley, sitting up proud over the river and canal.  It was built of red brick in 1772 to replace a medieval church and it was restored in 1882.  

The land slip beyond Wolverley is still there and boats are requested to go ‘dead slow past the land slip’ - I wonder why they don’t just fix it?  

At Debdale Lock we caught up with a group from a school down the road, out collecting litter, they had found quite a bit and were aiming to return and clear out the cave at the lock which also had a lot of litter in it.  Here they are just entering the tunnel behind us as we emerged out the other end.  A short tunnel, Cookley Tunnel was built by James Brindley (c.1770), it is cut through 65 yards of sandstone and passes under Bridge Road in Cookley village.

At Whittington Lock Toby and I got off the boat and walked the rest of the way to Kinver.  Unfortunately, a hire boat passed Dave on the boat and he became stuck in the mud on the off side of the canal, tilting alarmingly.  They appeared totally oblivious to this and just wanted to know if he had come out of the lock.  He was very tempted to say ‘No, I flew over it!’

We moored on the visitor moorings, no other boat in sight, lunch at the Vine and a walk into the village which was extremely quiet!  

4.5 miles, 3 locks, 2 hrs 30 mins

Sunday 6th November - Kinver to Ashwood Marina

After a very noisy night with lots of fireworks and a huge amount of barking from Toby, we woke a little later than usual!  It was slightly misty and quite damp, but no rain.  The first lock of the day was just ahead of us, so Dave went and set it whilst I brought the boat up to the lock.  

Coming out of the lock we went up to the Kinver services, topped up the water and disposed of rubbish etc.

We passed one other boat coming out of Gothersley Lock but apart from that it was really quiet.  As we passed Ashwood Nurseries the skies darkened and it began to rain quite heavily, so at the first light, open space we pulled over and moored for the day.   

John’s Garden at Ashwood Nurseries is considered one of the finest private gardens in the UK. The private garden of nursery owner and Chelsea gold medallist John Massey, it has a huge plant collection and many innovative design features in a beautiful canal-side setting.  It is always a joy to cruise past the end of this stunning garden.

4.5 miles, 5 locks, 3hrs.