River YoYo

Aka River Severn!   Whilst we were in Stourport the river was up and down, up and down ---- in the red, amber and green depending which hour you looked!!   So, in the end, we turned around and are now making our way back up the Staffs and Worcs Canal to turn right at Stewponey  ---- then 60 million locks up into Birmingham.


Stourport is a funny sort of place.   The High Street is a bit old-fashioned with a big Co-op and Tesco Metro at the end and then Lidl on other side of the canal.    Then down at the bottom end of the High Street are cafes, sweetie shops and fish ‘n’ chips as you get nearer to the River where the permanent funfair is next to the canal basins.    We have always really liked Stourport but talking to other boaters, some love it, some hate it.   I can understand why - it’s certainly different!


Talking to one single-handed boater who we helped up the 2 x 2-staircases in the basins -
He had left Worcester on the River that morning and what should normally take about 2.5 hours had taken him about 5.5 hrs going against the flood water coming down from Wales.     Before that he’d been on the River Avon at Tewkesbury tied to scaff poles and a tree and couldn’t get off his boat for 5 days unless he wanted to swim!


We are now back at Kinver waiting for the rain to stop and the sun to come out - seems like it’ll be a miracle if it does.    Arh well - last year we didn’t have a Summer, this year we aren’t having a Spring.   We are still having to have a fire in the evenings - madness in the middle of May.    As you’ll see from photo below - even Foxxie is still curled up in her bed with extra covers on.   Poor thing - she has been losing her winter coat like crazy these last couple of weeks and is obviously feeling the cold now!


Since last blog we have done … 10 miles and  9 locks
Total since Setting Off ….. 1748 miles and  1359 locks