Swindon to Whiitington Lock.

Hi Friends.

After the excitement of yesterday and our Domestic Alternator deciding to call it a day, we had lunch and then took a stroll around Swindon (Not the Wiltshire one), it has three pubs, a Londis, hairdressers, post office, so is great if you need a few items, but that was all it had to offer. Swindon had an Iron & Steel works from the 15th century which produced mainly “Bar Iron” and later hot rolled steel sheets.The Iron & Steel Works finally closed in 1976 and on the site is now a large housing estate.

I was grateful for a decent nights kip and woke quite refreshed. I was up early, so took Paddy off for his walk along the towpath as always. I did not bother with lighting the back cabin stove, because it was pretty warm already. We set off at 7.50 am, leaving Alan and Sheila on NB Aliss fast asleep. They had moored in front of us over night. Sheila is a talented artist in the making, she showed me some of her painting, which were very good. A lovely couple who we ill no doubt meet again.

We arrived at Greensforge Lock and Keith got chatting to one of the BW guys, he very kindly gave Keith a telephone number for an electrical place in Kidderminster, where we may be able to get a new alternator. We spent over half an hour nattering the BW guys, two who drive 2 hours a day from Derbyshire, just to dredge the canal. I have to say though they are doing a wonderful job. We said cheerio to them and headed off. I put the generator on to charge the batteries and do a wash at the same time. There were not many boats on the move.

This section of the canal runs past walls of Red sand stone. Most of the canal has been carved out of the rock, which is very pretty. We were negotiating the aqueduct over the Rover Stour, only to then find a boat coming around the very sharp 90 degree bend, as we were already across the aqueduct, we had no where else to go and the other boat kept on coming, so we did brush along side them as we passed, but it was not our fault, their steerer was coming in a little to hot.

The Stourbridge canal leaves at Strourton Junction. This weekend is the Russell Newbury Rally at the Bonded Warehouse Stourbridge, we had thought of just turning up, but at £30 we decided against it this time around, as I could not see paying £30 to find ourselves right at the back of the moored boats. Maybe one year we will attend when we have booked in properly.

At Stewponey Lock it has it very own Toll House, which is no longer used but is preserved for all time and well looked after as are the BW buildings which stand next to the lock.
We passed under the charming Dunsley Tunnel which is all of 25 yards long and is carved out of the rock. I can only imagine how long it took to bore this tunnel.
There are some beautiful lock cottages on the Staffs and Worcs, this one at Hyde Lock is lovely. Its garden gates are made to look like lock gates.

There was no room to moor at Kinver, so we had to give it a miss this time.

The last lock for the day was Whittington Lock, where we moored below the lock on a very quiet mooring, which was empty.

Just had lunch and we are now trying to contact people about a new alternator, so wish us luck. Now to see if we have a telephone signal.

Chat soon xx