Rocks and River

Tuesday 3rd April 2018
Having turned round and called back into the basin at Stourbridge, we soon got underway heading down the short Stourbridge arm back to the junction with the canal. Here we turned left making the difficult turn under a very narrow bridge before setting off down through Stewponey down to the junction with the Staffs and Worcs canal. It was a lovely morning, there were a few light showers when the sun came out there was a real warmth, a fine but typical April's day.
The canal meanders down the valley of the river Stour, a raging torrent following the Easter rains, through some beautiful scenery, before reaching the top of the four locks that drop the canal down to the junction. The locks were quite busy with a number of hire boats making their way up from Stourport, fortunately for us they were all coming up the locks easing our progress as they left all the locks full and in our favour.

Stourton Junction

On reaching the junction we turned left again heading down stream towards Kinver, our target for the day. The Staffs and Worcs canal is at its best around here, the wharf at Stewponey lock is a fine example of canal architecture with its small hexagonal Toll House now converted to a small shop.

Toll House

We soon passed the lock making our way down the valley, the valley sides here are cut into soft red sandstone, with steep cliffs to the left and the meandering river to the right. We arrived at the short but dramatic Dunsley Tunnel with Dunsley Hall sat at the top of the cliffs overlooking the canal.

Dunsley Tunnel

Continuing along the canal we soon arrived at Hyde Lock and the outskirts of Kinver, there are a lot of moored boats here but these are all away from the visitor moorings so we continued down through Kinver lock to moor just below. Here we noted the amount of water flowing down the system flowing down from the plateau on which Birmingham sits.
Kinver 
This is our second visit to Kinver, we passed through here a couple of years ago and always wanted a second visit. The village nestles beneath the red sandstone ridge providing a natural shelter from the westerly winds. The church, built in the local stone, stands way up on top of the ridge over looking the main street keeping watch over its congregation.
Kinver has always been a popular place for visitors, due mainly to its unusual houses carved from the sandstone. The houses are now in the care of the National Trust having been rescued from decay and are an interesting place to visit,they also have a tea room in one of the restored buildings.

Restored Rock House

The last inhabitant left the houses back in the sixties, prior to this the residents realised the potential of their homes so set about selling refreshments and souvenirs to the hoards of visitors who came here from the black Country.

Awaiting Restoration

We were told by one of the local guides that there are some large caves in another part of the village, these were carved and extended to provide an underground factory, producing parts for aircraft and vehicles during the war. He told us that the Luftwaffe were aware that these were hereabouts and heavily bombed that part of the Black Country trying to destroy the works. Kinver also had a large iron works at Hyde although there is no trace of this now.

The view from Kinver Edge Dudley Castle is in the centre of the horizon

We continued our walk from the houses up to the top of the ridge, there is an incredible view point at the top with views down to Worcester Cathedral and the Malvern Hills to the south, and Dudley and its castle to the northeast.
Back into the village we went to explore its range of  shops and pubs, again another place well worth visiting if you are ever in these parts.

Views of Kinver

Thursday 5th April
A coolish morning but stunningly clear blue skies and bright sunshine, birdsong all around, spring has truly arrived! We set off to travel the short trip down to our next stop at Wolverley passing through pretty countryside, made all the better with the fine weather. We followed the course of the river Stour still in full spate, a reminder of the rain we have recently experienced. Our journey took us through a couple of locks and we were sandwiched between a couple of hire boats making thier way back to base so we tied up and helped them through the locks as we were taking our time and were not in a rush. We soon arrived at the moorings above Wolverley Lock, this lock is overlooked by a pub unsurprisingly called the Lock and its beer garden right on the edge of the lockside.
We took a stroll down into the village and up to St Philips church, like Kinver stood high up on a sandstone rock overlooking the village. Wolverley is a charming little place, again it has houses built into the sandstone. It used to have a large hall, now demolished, only the gatehouse remains.

Scenes of Wolverley

We made our way back up to the Lock and decided to have lunch, sat outside in the busy garden in warm sunshine.
The next morning brought slightly more cloudier weather but it thankfull remained dry as we made our way down to Stourport and the river Severn. Ou route took through a couple of locks before arriving at Kidderminster and its lovely church overlooking the town lock.

Kidderminster Church

Unfortunately this town has a terrible reputation and we had been advised to stop there only for a short while to do shopping, we decided to press on, thankfully without incident, soon leaving the town behind travelling through the woods into Stourport.

River Severn in flood

We were relieved to find that there was plenty of mooring space in Stourport, we were concerned that there would be a lot of boats there waiting for the flooded river to drop back to safe levels. We dropped through the lock into the impressive basin to take on water etc before making our way back up to the five day moorings to wait for the passage along the river to Worcester to re-open.
Having walked down to the river it looks as if we may be at Stourport for a few days.