A Plethora of Psychedelic Giraffes and Lettuce Hating Cobs.

Wednesday 11th July 2018 still in Worcester.
Worcester is a lovely city and we decided to spend the day here.
The trip boat "Edward Elgar" passed by very early in the morning travelling north.

Guy decided that he wanted to join in the "Smiley Breakfast" but was disappointed at the lack of bananas.

Walking into the city, coming across a very colourful giraffe rather took us by surprise.

As we continued, we came across more and more of them and we discovered that the city has a "Worcester Stand Tall" festival illustrated by a whole herd of psychedelic giraffes scattered around the city, each individually designed, themed and painted. This is a small selection:

One of then was designed by Toyah Wilcox. M especially liked the Royal Worcester one (bottom left above).
This city is the home of Sir Edward Elgar and his statue in the city centre seemed somewhat bemused by the sudden appearance of "Robo Giraffe".

The centre of the city is pedestrianised and there is a lovely shady boulevard that runs through the central area. The two ladies bottom right are photographing one of the giraffes' stories, which appeared on each giraffe's plinth.

The municipal building is very splendid with gold encrusted statues of Charles I and Charles II on either side of the main door.

On the other side of the road is an equally important (R says more important) building, which needed to be visited by R while M went to acquire a "few bits" in M&S next door.

The interior of Worcester Cathedral is beautiful, as were the flowers, no doubt from a recent wedding.

The swan food that we purchased yesterday was a great success. The package said that swans also like lettuce. We tried that too and the cobs turned up their beaks at it but the pens gobbled it up! So like men to refuse to eat their greens, said M.

Today: MM had another days rest.

A Fraught Journey, a Bright Sheep and a Shady Willow.

Monday 9th and Tuesday 10th July in Worcester.
What a contrast to the Severn Valley Railway Day (which was a joy); having been home for the weekend, we set out on the train journey back to Kidderminster to get the bus back to Stourport where MM is moored. First bus and train were fine but the train from Reading was cancelled. Undaunted, we took the next train to Swindon, which started on time but arrived a little over an hour late - and it was packed, so we ended up standing all the way! The next train was also an hour late so, instead of arriving in Stourport at just after three, it was six o'clock before we made it back after a total of five trains, two buses and eight hours.  Our reward was a very welcome gin & tonic!

On Tuesday morning, we decided to treat ourselves to breakfast at "Blossoms", the little café by the last lock - but it was closed! Fortunately, we found the "Stourport Bakery" where we received a warm welcome and an excellent breakfast.

Walking back to MM, we saw this  lovely mosaic on the pavement celebrating the history and heritage of Stourport.

We let MM go from her moorings - again with the kind help of Peter, Pam and Pauline. We were sorry to bid farewell to them; they've been very kind. Two pairs of staircase locks take you down from the basin on to the River Severn.

Beside these locks is a permanent fairground, which epitomises the paradox that is Stourport-on-Severn (or "Birmingham-by-the-Sea" as it is sometimes known). It can't decide if it's an historic canal town steeped in history or a kiss-me-quick resort full of kebab shops and pubs.

Leaving the bottom lock on to the River Severn. Note the water level meter on the right, which shows that the river level is at least a foot below normal.

As we left, we passed the once famous "Tontine Hotel", which is now apartments. It was so named because the partners who owned it agreed that the last surviving one of them would have full ownership - such an agreement is called a tontine.

Thomas Telford's bridge - a fine example of his work and the only bridge between Stourport and Worcester, a distance of 12 miles, so a long detour by car. It's easier by boat!

One very bright sheep - cooling its feet in the river, standing in the shade and eating fresh leaves!

The Severn is very quiet and pretty, but you do get the same tree lined view for mile after mile.

Finally, we arrived in Worcester and found our favourite mooring under the shade of a willow tree that has grown considerably since we last moored under it. It draped itself over us almost lovingly...

Even better, it kept the bedroom cool and provided a lovely view from the bed, enhanced by the water reflections dancing on the ceiling.

Being out in the sun all day, we got very hot, so we went to the little café close to the moorings where we found that they sold swan food - and also people cooling food in the form of ice cream. Another good day!

Today: 12 miles, 7 locks and 3.9 hours.
Trip: 84 miles, 57 locks and 47.4 hours.

A New C&RT Logo and Emergency Babysitting.

Thursday 5th July in Stourport.
Thursday morning found us still moored in Kidderminster where we received an emergency request for baby sitting this afternoon and evening, so we walked up to the railway station and M took the train back to Oxted via Reading. R walked back to MM and started off again, heading for Stourport.
The first lock is Kidderminster lock and the bottom gates were leaking very badly, in fact so badly that the full lock emptied in less than half an hour (and that is not the worst that we have seen). A terrible waste of precious water, especially given the current near-drought conditions.

Recently the Canal & River Trust has spent a great deal of money (which it doesn't have) on a "rebranding" exercise, changing the old logo, which featured a swan and canal bridge, to a new logo that is a circle with a weak reference to water - it is supposed to represent "well being".

The old logo is on the left and the new one on the right.
Needless to say, we were not impressed with the C&RT expenditure priorities nor with the logo itself, so R wrote to both the C&RT and Canal Boat Magazine to express our annoyance at expenditure on, what looks like, a pure vanity project. R also looked at the leaking lock gate photo and decided that the new C&RT logo was missing something: a stream of water pouring through the hole in the middle of the logo to symbolise all the poorly maintained locks on the system. It will be interesting to receive C&RT's response in due course.

The trip down to Stourport went without any problems and R moored MM in the centre of town in a shady spot.

 

As it was still morning, R decided to take the bus back to Kidderminster (there is a bus every 15 minutes) and then catch a train back to Stone to pick up the car, which was still at Aston Marina. R then drove back to Stourport so that he could drive back home the following morning.
As soon as he got back, he took MM down through the last lock into Stourport basin. This lock is next to "Blossoms", a cafe that we have been into several times, but unfortunately by the time R got back it was closed.

R had booked MM into the marina in the basin as he has to go back home tomorrow morning. Getting MM in was a very tight fit between a row of boats, but the local residents, Peter, Pam and Pauline, were very helpful in getting her safely into her berth.

Tomorrow, R will drive back home but we expect to be back on Monday, ready to go on to the (non tidal) River Severn on our way down to Worcester and beyond.
Today: 4 miles, 4 locks and 6.3 hours (including power).
Trip: 72 miles, 50 locks and 43.5 hours.

The Severn Valley Heritage Railway.

Wednesday 4th July on the Severn Valley Railway.
We decided to spend a day doing one of our favourite things - playing steam trains.
The Severn Valley Railway between Kidderminster and Bridgnorth is acknowledged to be one of the finest heritage lines in th country.
Walking towards the station, we passed this handsome former carpet mill built in 1864; it has now been converted into a Premier Inn and a branch of Debenhams. So nice to see this fine old building given a new lease of life.

Kidderminster's two railway stations (the old and the new) sit side by side. The "old" station is permanently set in the Second World War, complete with an unexploded bomb in the forecourt, which everyone seemed to take for granted.

We bought our tickets in the period ticket office. 

The line is a popular destination for groups of school children and there were at least three school parties there today. One group was seated in front of a representation of a 1940s house interior complete with a gentleman demonstrating a mangle to wring the laundry.

Another group was seated in front of a shop full of old familiar brands of goods and there was a third group having a talk about the blitz, gas masks and black-out precautions.

We had a quick visit to the tea room, bedecked with union jacks, to buy some water, as it was getting very hot.

Finally, it was time to board our train and, as ever, we walked up to check out the engine.

Our very splendid locomotive was called "Taw Valley" a 4-6-2 West Country class engine built in 1946 in the Brighton Works.

Later, we saw her being coaled up with the help of a tractor and fore-loader, which filled her tender with a dozen huge buckets full of coal.

At Highley, they have a cafe, which provided us with lunch. We sat on the verandah and watched the luncheon special steam past by.

There is also a splendid Engine House Museum containing some of their reserve engine collection, some of which are runnable and some of which are awaiting further restoration. The original "Gordon", that inspired the blue engine in Thomas the Tank Engine, lives here; sadly its boiler failed inspection so it would need a massive effort to get it running again.

M was thrilled to find this old Royal Mail coach.

Inside, it was complete with the beautiful wooden sorting racks and postal sacks.

Our locomotive for the final leg back to Kidderminster was the "Bradley Manor", a Manor class 4-6-0 engine built in 1938.

We bought a card depicting "Tornado" visiting the Severn Valley Railway to send to Lucas and Rory and posted it in the postbox under the watchful gaze of Sir Rowland Hill, founder of the "penny post" in 1840 and a son of Kidderminster.

A summary of the joys of steam train travel!

Today: MM had a well deserved rest.

M Goes Home for Three Days and R continues Solo.

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!