Sunday 1st to Tuesday 3rd July from Wombourne to Kidderminster.
Sunday morning dawned with a clear blue sky again, promising to be another scorcher.
M has to go home for three days, so a taxi was arranged to pick her up at 9:20am in Sainsbury's car park, to take her the short drive to Wolverhampton for a train to Reading and from there on to Reigate. The taxi was on time and R waved M off as they left the car park. (note from M: then he did a little jig of joy when I had gone!).
R spent the morning putting a coat of polish on MM's side, before setting off south towards Kinver. Just before Kinver is a beautiful stand of beech trees that we have moored under before and, given the heat of the sun, shade was all important!
On Monday morning, R continued on to Hyde Lock, where he passed the cottage that we very nearly bought three years ago. It was in need of TLC then and sadly it was purchased as a "buy to let" and is still in very poor condition; a great shame, as we would have made it lovely.
The garden, which was splendid, is a shadow of its former self. Happily, the very quirky gates to the front door are still there.
Further on, R took MM through Cookley Tunnel, which always looks intimidating because you approach a cliff with houses on the top and only at the last minute do you see the narrow tunnel through the rock.
Wolverley lock is unusual because it has a large cave cut into the rock beside the lock. No one is sure what the cave was used for or why it was made but today there was another rock there - a banner advertising a local rock concert!
Not long after this lock, R found a lovely mooring with shade from both the evening and morning sun.
Next to the mooring was a small bridge across a river that runs parallel to the canal, with a path that disappears into the distance. Just the sort of path that M loves.
Finally, on Tuesday, it was only a couple of miles and a single lock to arrive at our favourite mooring just outside Kidderminster.
R very much enjoyed single-handing the locks and gently cruising along. Doing the locks solo is very satisfying and quite safe if you take your time and do everything slowly. However, it is hard work, particularly in the current heatwave, so R was very happy to find a friendly Costa next to his mooring!
Over the three days: 14 miles, 15 locks and 10.7 hours.
Trip: 68 miles, 46 locks and 37.2 hours.
M was due back in the evening but was delayed by problems on the trains, so arrived quite late. R walked up to Kidderminster Station just at the time that the penalty shoot-out between Columbia and England was going on. From the cheers and boos coming from the pubs that he passed, it was quite easy to keep track of the score!
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