We expected a cold start to the day and we were right!
The fields alongside our mooring were covered in a light coat of frost and a mist hung over the canal. Rain which fell during last evening collected on the stern seat and then froze - what you see here is ice! Our mooring ropes were also frozen stiff.
Although there was initially some bright sunshine, most of the day was grey with occasional drops of rain and even some hail(we have drops of rain, flakes of snow but what do we have of hail - stones?) However, the air temperature warmed up quickly and we were never uncomfortable.
We also discovered that we had moored with 10% of the boat in Staffordshire but the rest still in Worcestershire!
Above Whittington Lock we saw two old buildings now converted into homes but their names suggest a more interesting past. The first is called The Nail Mill and the second The Old Mill Cottage. The 1887 OS map shows a significant irons works on the river beside the canal lock but by 1903 this has disappeared and only these two buildings are shown. Wikipedia records that there were several different uses for the mill at Whittington, depending on demand but that making nails was its last - (last nail in the coffin?) There is also a reference to a connection with the famous Dick Whittington (of panto fame) but alas this seems to be just a local legend - probably as trues as most panto scripts!
It was time to turn around today and head back the way we came - especially if we are to have time to go via Worcester. But we did want to call at Kinver for a newspaper so we passed on the first winding hole before the village.
Below Kinver Lock, Christine left to walk to the shops, leaving Mike to work up the lock and visit the service block just beyond.
Although our Nicholsons guide does not show any winding points until Stourton Junction, the Waterway Routes map held out the hope of turning just above Hyde Lock. Although it was tight, we managed and immediately went back down the lock we had just filled.
We were now going back over familiar territory - and we calculated quite finely the timing back at Debdale Lock so that we would make the afternoon window to pass the landslip. In fact, as we arrived just on one o'clock a boat ahead of us came to say that the padlock had been removed and they were told to descend the lock and set off at 1.45.
We had planned to use the hour as a lunch break but this new plan meant that eating was divided into parts so that we could re-set the lock after that boat had finished with it and then move on into the lock ready for when they left. In the event, as we made ready they set off so we were able to continue on after them, the final part of lunch on the move.
One of the Upper Lea Cottages had a garden shed with an interesting message
The sky was cloudy as we passed the landslip and so with no sun in our eyes we could take a better look at the damage. More of the road has collapsed that we had thought yesterday and it is now closed to traffic. The nearby houses and cottages have to take diversions.
We continued on towards Kidderminster - just occasionally some blue sky tried to appear! We stopped briefly below Kinver Lock for Christine to pop into the large Tesco as we needed some more milk and grated cheese for tonight's lasagne.
Just after leaving the town we came under the new Link Road which we think opened since we came this way in 2014. It is so 'successful' that there was a long queue of very slow moving traffic over our heads.
Down through Caldwall Lock and then Falling Sands and we were beginning to look for an overnight mooring as time was pressing on. We knew from looking on the way up that all the places marked on our map for mooring have trees between them and the tv satellite signal so we took almost the first available, just before the entrance to the Pratt's Wharf link to the river (see yesterday's blog)
10.7 Miles - 11 Locks
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