Kinver

Here I am Rune

Distance  1.8 miles

Total 3482 Locks  199 Tunnels

Running total mileage 5041.5 miles

A short cruise today but we had some domestic stuff to attend to which took a bit of time. Probably should have gone on a bit further since the weather forecast for the next couple of days isn’t that good. I can see us cruising down to Wolverley and then mooring up there about lunchtime as rain is due to move in tomorrow afternoon and continue throughout Wednesday. If that turns out to be the case we’ll hang on and travel into Stourport on Thursday.

Stourton

Here I am Rune

Distance  3.2 miles

Total 3479 Locks  198 Tunnels

Running total mileage 5039.7 miles

Well, we stayed in Stourbridge for quite a bit longer than originally planned, but then our plans are always flexible. We eventually had effectively a couple of weekends there as it was very convenient for shops and I took the opportunity to have a couple of swimming sessions as well.

We are back on the move but only as far as Stewpony Wharf which is just beyond Stourton Junction, although it means that we are now onto a different canal once again, the Staffs and Worcester. It was only during this summer that we last travelled down here but on that occasion we moored at Kinver, I presume that these moorings were probably full at the time. There is a water point here that we will take advantage of tomorrow then move on as far as we feel like, but limited by the reduced daylight hours.

Stourbridge

Here I am Rune

Distance  4.9 miles

Total 3475 Locks  198 Tunnels

Running total mileage 5036.5 miles

So we’ve spent 4 days at Merry Hill completing a variety of shopping (including some Christmas Shopping) and today, with good weather forecast it seemed a good day to be moving on towards Stourbridge, our intended mooring for the week-end. Being Autumn however and now the clocks have gone back, it was a bit of a race against time to get here in daylight, a mission we rather failed on. I suspected that we might since there are 24 locks to get through and with an 11am start and a break at 1pm for lunch, we managed to clear the locks in reasonable light but had to come up the Stourbridge arm in darkness. It isn’t that onerous since we travel through tunnels and it doesn’t get much darker than that, it just makes finding the mooring a bit more interesting and also trying to avoid where anyone has let their dog foul.

The intention is to remain here until probably at least Monday unless there is any reason why we need to move on.

Merry Hill

Here I am Rune

Distance  7 miles

Total 3451 Locks  198 Tunnels

Running total mileage 5031.6 miles

So, after just over three weeks in Hawne Basin, we are now back on the move again probably for about a month until just before Christmas. It was a good day to be moving, slightly chilly but sunny and all in all it was good to get back out onto the canals again.

The mooring for tonight is at Merry Hill, principally so that we can get a bit of shopping tomorrow, not sure how long we’ll stay here, see how it pans out.