Monday 29th May
We're getting quite consistent in the time we're starting up: a quarter past seven again today. A couple of hours cruising into Kidderminster, with just an occasional lock. Bacon butties for breakfast, with the vegetarian option being fried egg, plus toast all round. The bread, from Arthur's cheese stall, was very good. I detected a hint of ginger in this one.
The weather this morning — touch wood! — is beautifully sunny and bright. Hardly any clouds at first, though a few were gathering menacingly as we approached Kidderminster. Here we were treated to a landscape of brick-built factories and chimneys, plus a rather impressive parish church. This was on a hillside overlooking the canal, and was framed attractively by trees.
After this, we went through a winding section of canal, pretty narrow in places, but also very picturesque. There were a couple of sharp bends with an overhanging rock face on one side. This was heavily weathered sandstone, reminding me of 'Toad Rocks' at Tunbridge Wells, where I used to go rock-climbing with the scouts. I was steering during this stretch, and it was rather tricky. At one of these bends we met a boat coming the other way, but fortunately we were going slowly enough to avoid a collision. The canal was also very shallow in places, and I managed to run us aground on one occasion, manoevering to avoid another oncoming boat. There have been quite a number of boats coming in the other direction today — certainly more than on previous days.
We stopped for lunch at the Vine at Kinver. There was a good choice of beer — though to June's disgust there was no 'real' mild. They did, however, have Nick's favourite beer: Timothy Taylor's Landlord. I had some beer called Enville's, made by some people who originally made honey, but who branched out into beer. It tastes like what I imagined mead to be before I discovered it had a strange bitter taste which I didn't like it at all. This Enville's, in contrast, is very nice indeed. We had lunch in the garden, and luckily we got our order in just before a large group arrived (this is a Bank Holiday after all).
The Vine at Kinver
At the Vine, the toilets were a subject of considerable controversy — points out of five varying between two and three and a half. The low points were for cleanliness, the high ones for interest. Arguments along these lines are a feature of our holidays. My impression is that the women are more influenced by aesthetic considerations than the men, whose approach tends to be more utilitarian.
Stewpony Lock
Under way again at a quarter past two. There was rather an interesting kiosk at Stewpony Lock, advertising 'souvenirs, gifts, canal-ware, clairvoyance and healing.' There was also a notice board displaying various newspaper cuttings about this 'internationally renowned clairvoyant.'
An Interesting
Combination...
There was also an unusual circular-shaped sluice, which I'd never seen anywhere before.
A Remarkable Circular Sluice
Quite heavy rain for a while, but it soon cleared up. Fairly uneventful for a while after this, and I had another siesta. When I woke up at five o'clock, we were turning right at what turned out to be Wordesley Junction. To my embarrassment I'd slept through four locks! During that time we'd also taken a right at Stourton Junction.
As we were negotiating Wordesley Junction, problems became evident with the rudder. It felt rather strange and awkward to move. We took up the weed hatch, to see if there was anything interfering with the rudder. No sign of anything. As I was groping under the water, Nick said, 'Can you feel anything?' At that moment, the inspection hatch, which was propped up behind me, fell over onto my head. 'I can now!'
When we looked at the tiller movement more closely, it began to look as though we were suffering from the same problem a woman we met yesterday also reported: the rudder lifting out of the 'cup' in which it is supposed to sit. The tiller is supposed to go from side to side, but not up and down as well, which ours had started to do. Alan and Nick struggled with it for a while, lifting it up and trying to put it down in the right place — but it wouldn't go back properly. A phone call to the boatyard followed, at about five thirty. I'm writing this as we wait for the engineer to arrive. He said it may be up to an hour and a half before that happens.
He didn't take all that long, in the end. He arrived at about twenty to seven and only took a couple of minutes to fix it. He did say that this was something of a record for him and that it usually takes much longer — on one occasion, thirty five minutes. He removed the tiller handle and was able to manipulate the rudder assembly much more easily this way. He lifted it right up and after a bit of fishing around, so to speak, he managed to locate it in the right place. It is quite a small hole that you have to aim for and, considering the weight of the thing you're manipulating, it's not surprising it can take a long time to get it right. Having seen it done once, though, I think there is a reasonable chance that we could do the same ourselves if it happened again.
We carried on into Stourbridge, mooring in the 'Basin' at the dead-end of the canal at about seven fifteen. Then we went into town, looking for food and drink. The whole place was remarkably devoid of life — very few places open and hardly anyone but ourselves around. We did find a remarkably good, rather down-to-earth pub called the Cottage Inn, selling a good range of beer surprisingly cheaply. They served a jolly good dark mild called Highgate and two quite decent bitters from the Wyre Piddle Brewery. These were known as Piddle in the Hole and Piddle in the Wind, and there were quite few other real ales.
Finally we went back to an Indian restaurant we had seen on the way into town. This was excellent, with the dishes being a definite cut above average as regards individuality and character. I had a really good tandoori fish dish, for example, and the balti dish that Penny had tasted like real balti — not just any old curry served in a balti dish. The old chap who seemed to be in charge reminded me a little of pictures of Abraham Lincoln, though he didn't look stern like old Abe — and the other waiters were a very friendly lot as well.