Saturday 16 June 2012

Stourport cruise

So here we are aboard. We have done far less cruising or even just being aboard this year. Mainly due to family stuff. We are both ready for a break. We have decided to complete the Staffs and Worcester this time with a destination of Stourport. From there it will depend on the river Seven. If it is nice and gentle we will hop on and go down to either the new Droitwich canal or to Diglis basin and do the complete Worcester & Birmingham canal. One thing is it will be a gentle cruise, maybe trying the CC rule of target arrival after the previous nights moorers have left and before the 2-5 pm ( usually us) arrivals. I am told the Staffs and Worcester is a lovely canal. We have only ever gone as far as Autherly junction before so this will be new territory for us. Especially is if we venture into Gas Street basin and out the other side to Fazeley. We have another crew mate for this trip - Tamsin our cat. She normally stays at home but we thought she might like the companionship on the boat this time. Plan B is she gets collected if it is too much for her. Our other crew mate Leia is in boat mode already under the dinette and in front of the fire. Yep we lit the fire because it is blowing a real gale out side with rain included. Tomorrow is supposed to be better. I'll move up onto the Fradley moorings when some boats have moved on while Rachel sees her dad. Just nice to be on board again.

3 comments:

Halfie said...

Have a great trip, Nev.

Adam said...

Staffs and Worcs is a lovely canal, particularly beyond Autherley Junction.

On that section, there are good shops in Compton, including a Nisa Local that is an unexpectedly upmarket deli! At Wightwick, the National Trust property Wightwick Manor is just a short walk away.

There's a lovely offside mooring immediately above Dimmingsdale Lock -- but there's not much room there. We liked the moorings at the top of the Bratch, opposite the cricket ground - and stopping there means you get a good opportunity to look around before going down yourself.

Kinver is well worth a stop as it's a nice town. There's a little Tesco at Cookley, on the road above the tunnel. Good shopping at Kidderminster - Sainsbury's above the lock, Tesco below, both canalside. Lots of other shops near Tesco.

In Stourport, decent moorings above York Rd lock - not many visitor moorings in the basins themselves.

Have a great trip - hope you'll be blogging every day!

Nev Wells said...

Adam,

Thanks for the information, shops and moorings are the constituent parts of a good cruise. I will certainly try and update on progress and thoughts of the canals we cruise on.

Halfie, hope so.....