West Mids Meander: Day 12

There was a slight autumnal mist on the water when we left this morning at around 8.30.

It soon warmed up though and has been very hot again.  We went up the locks at Whittington and Kinver, and stopped on the water point.  It’s good drying weather so we wanted to get another wash load done.  The next lock, Hyde, has a cottage with what must be the best garden gates on the system.

Dunsley Tunnel is only 25 yards long.  We’ve been through motorway bridges that are longer.

Above Stewponey Lock there’s a CRT yard and a very nice building.

From the lock I walked up to the Stourton Juntion, where we were turning onto the Stourbridge Canal.  Much to my surprise, there was a boat coming down the bottom lock; they seemed a bit surprised someone would be going up.  Fortunately they were turning right.

Even more surprising was that another boat was coming down — and there was a further surprise because it was Debdale.  It’s a tiny pound between the locks, so as theirs was ready first they ended up waiting on the offside.

We met another boat below the top lock too.  Some of the pounds were a bit short of water, and it was also pretty shallow and slow going at the top.  It was 2015 when we last came this way, and we couldn’t remember much.  It is surprisingly pretty, though, particularly along by Primrose Hill, where there are ponies.

We moored on the rings between the aqueduct and the junction bridge, and walked up the first few locks to the Red House Cone glass centre.  Quite a lot is closed for refurbishment at the moment, but we had lunch at the cafe (ok, but the toasted sandwiches rank third out of the three we’ve had in the past week), poked our head in the cone itself, and looked round the artists’ studios.

Back at the boat, we went through the junction bridge and turned right down the town arm.  We didn’t come down here in 2015, so the last time we did this would have been on a hire boat more than 20 years ago.

Again, the water was shallow and slow, and there are water lilies everywhere, but it’s also quite pretty.  We went right to the end and turned at the winding hole by the Bonded Warehouse, then returned a little way to moor on rings next to what seems to be a fairly new public open space.

We wandered into town and had a look at Stourbridge High Street, which has some nice buildings, but not a lot else to recommend it.  This afternoon a stoppage notice came through saying the Delph Top Lock is currently closed for repairs to a paddle, which are planned for tomorrow.  We’re going that way, so it with a bit of luck it will be fixed by the time we get there.

7 miles, 8 locks.  (130 miles, 165 locks)