Hedgerow Jottings: Beautiful Churches Along the Way

Such a week in our country’s history cannot be captured by my scribblings. Others have spoken eloquently of her years of dedicated service, of her warmth and love of family. I saw a woman of strength that never shirked her duty even when faced with difficult times. I have watched many hours of footage this week and have been reminded of the beautiful girl she was, and I watched until, at last, that lovely sense of humour was allowed to shine through. How fortunate I feel to have been born into the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

The last time I wrote we were travelling south along the Staffs and Worcester Canal, hoping to get measured for our new cratch cover. I am happy to report that the Lady Aberlour is, at last, wearing her splendid new cover and we are finally water tight. In the nick of time, it would seem, for the mornings are turning chilly and I am once more required to deploy my elbow and prod Carl to get up and light the stove. The log basket needs filling, so I am wood spotting to find suitable deadwood to add to our logbox. We do have central heating, a diesel heater called an Eberspacher, which is very efficient when it's working but the flipping thing has gone on the blink now that we are miles away from the Battery Boys. They are the lads who fitted it for us and who service it, when necessary. We should have had it serviced when we were there in August, having the new fridge fitted but we didn’t and now it won’t fire up, so annoying!!

Shiny new windows in the new cover

Now that the topside of the boat is so smart, Carl is catching up with the less obvious places to paint. There is a small space at the pointed end (bows) with a lift up lid. Inside are the two gas bottles that supply the cooker and they have to be hauled up and off the boat in order that Carl can reach the floor of the gas locker to remove the rust. It’s a very small space, even for Carl and he came up coated in dust and sweat, clutching a bag of rust, like he’d found gold. Today is day five of the Gas Locker renovation, I will be glad when it’s done as I cringe with fear every time I hear those gas bottles clinking in case they or Carl fall in. So far, so good!

Stourport Mooring

We arrived in Stourport on a dreary day, found a space on the visitor moorings in the basin and collected our rucksacks for a trip into town. Stourport is charity shop heaven, if you like that kind of thing, which we do. Tricky tagged along, looking glum as usual and was most put out to find that she wasn’t allowed into most of the charity shops. She is used to going in with us and being made a fuss of,so she wasn’t happy to be sitting outside, especially as it began to rain heavily. We sheltered under a nearby scaffolding until the sun came out and we sloshed off down the High Street in search of something hot to warm us up. We would have liked to have stayed in Stourport longer but my phone pinged with a message from Keith (the cover maker) to say he was ready for us. We were surprised as we had been let down so often by the previous man that we had completely lost faith and expected to be hanging around for weeks waiting. We arranged to be there on Monday morning and set off back along the canal, pottering slowly, enjoying the sunny interludes and shivering in the chilly morning mists. We moored outside Tescos in Kidderminster, very handy for the town centre as it turned out. We joined the Saturday shoppers thronging through the street market and called into M & S for something tasty for tea. It was fine and sunny so we carried on through Kidderminster Lock and took another photo of the very splendid church that overlooks the canal. There are visitor moorings along here but we prefer somewhere quieter, so we moved on through Wolverley Court Lock and tied up.

Kidderminster

St Mary and All Saints Church, Kidderminster

Tricky developed an itchy ear last weekend so I rang the vet in Kinver and got an appointment for Monday afternoon. It was a good walk from the canal and quite a warm afternoon although showery. By the time I arrived, I was wringing wet, the sun came out and my waterproof jacket made it’s own thermal climate. I was cooking slowly but couldn't really start stripping off in the tiny room that passed for the Vets Consulting Room - it was very intimate for 3 adults and a little dog. When we were finally released and presented with the bill, I broke out into a different kind of sweat! It was such a relief to find out that Tricky just needed some drops and Janet, the vet, was really kind about Tricky’s terrible haircut (I’m worried that it hasn’t grown out and poor Tricky still looks like a mutt). On the way back through Kinver, I glanced up at the church that stands high above the town and thought it would be nice to stroll up and take in the view. Carl strode up the steep gradient carrying the rucksack of shopping while I puffed along behind, pushing Tricky in her buggy and trying not to alarm Carl with my wheezing for breath . The church was just closing as we arrived but they took pity on us and stayed open long enough for us to get the guided tour from one of the flower ladies. I was thankful that I hadn't climbed that hill to find the doors locked.

Kinver Church - Etched Glass Doors

Kinver Church Stained Glass Window

Kinver Church

We have enjoyed our trip down to Stourport and I’m sure we will be making it part of our regular cruising route as the narrow locks are so much easier than the broad locks of the Grand Union. We have a few weeks left before our autumn cruise is over so we turned onto the Shropshire Union and moored with a long line of other boaters. It was a late afternoon by the time we arrived and Carl bashed in the pins to tie us up and we were lulled to sleep by the owls hooting.

Moonlit Mist

Beautiful Morning for Chugging

We nipped to the Co-op in Brewood then chugged to a spot where we could get full sun on the panels and get a good charge ready for the funeral today. Tomorrow, Radio 2 will be back to normal - did anyone else really enjoy the more subdued programmes? No shrieking or rap, just really good music. I watched for most of the day, singing along with the hymns and I said my own goodbyes as the lone piper played from aloft.

That's it for tonight, I'll write again soon

Love from

The Floating Chandlers