Monday 7th April 2025

We are blessed with the weather! Today we have almost completed the Wolverhampton flight,  which comprises 21 single locks.  Starting off early from the Black Country museum in Dudley (should be on everyone’s UK bucket list!) we gently cruised lock-less for two hours until we reached the top of the Wolverhampton flight.  We saw a few run down factories and a lot of rubbish in the canals.  There were also some nesting birds on the canal including a swan that someone on the towpath told us to look out for.

For some reason I keep thinking I’m going up the flight, but R assures me we are on the top of the plateau not the bottom! We find a local Sainsbury to stock up on fresh food (looking ahead on the map, there don’t seem to be very many supermarkets around.  And certainly no laundrettes,  which could become an issue!) and contemplate whether to do the lock flight today or tomorrow.  I walk partway down the flight,  depressed to see that none of the locks are set in our favour,  so we are going to have to fill them before we then empty them.  Perhaps we should wait until tomorrow when our energy levels have been restored…. but upon returning to Naomhog I  meet up with another boat following in our wake,  with 3 or 4 people on board.  I suggest they go ahead of us and cheekily ask if they mind opening the top paddles once they are through the lock,  so that as we arrive behind them,  the lock is almost full of water.  They readily agree,  so decision is made.  We set off about fifteen minutes later and whistle through 17 locks, thankful for the kindness of strangers.  We have stopped shy of the final 4 locks as we found a beautiful mooring spot next to a large park. We did have to walk the towpath with a windlass to shut the paddles of the remaining locks that have been prepared for us. We will start afresh tomorrow,  with a couple of random locals accompanying us,  although I’m not sure for how long, as they will have to get themselves home and they may not have thought about the logistics.

I was at about lock 10 when a guy started chatting me up (his words, not mine – I told him I thought I was a bit old to be chatted up but he didn’t bat an eyelid when I said I was 63 and he admitted to being 44!) He’s never been on a narrowboat and wanted to come aboard today.  As all we were doing was a flight of locks I suggested it might be a bit boring,  but he could join us tomorrow.  Could he bring his wife? he asked. Of course,  I said. So who knows if they will appear,  but I have a sense of deja vu,  as I did this once before and got unknowingly high on someone else’s spliff! That wasn’t far from here.  There’s something about the midlanders that mean they are not shy of coming forward!

We had a lovely time going through Birmingham on our boat,  enhanced by good weather and fortified by R’s aunt,  who had us to stay in her house,  walking distance from where we moored the boat.  A big bed, a bath, a washing machine and plenty of victuals – what was not to like.  Birmingham is such an interesting city to go around,  especially if you are accompanied by locals who know the history!

Last week we met up with friends who live near Kidderminster- they’ve known R longer than I have.  And they have a VW camper van called Beryl, so they are almost as eccentric.  It’s great when we get together because we all feel 21 again and act accordingly.  They wanted to take us to a local pub, The Bathams Delph at Brierley Hill, where the beer is  amazing (it’s a micro brewery and has been in the same family for four generations) and the pub is renowned for its homemade faggots and mushy peas. The last time they’d been, they had got into trouble for sitting at a local’s table, so we were a bit uncertain as to the reception we would receive.  Nothing but kindness – when we asked for food we were told it was cold only as the faggots were due to be made the following morning,  ready for lunch time.  Expressing our disappointment,  the landlord said that he had 3 portions left over in the fridge and we were welcome to them.  He didn’t want any payment.  He was just glad to oblige! And I have to say they were delicious and my opinion of mushy peas has been reframed!

Our journey has been punctuated with a return to London for Mothering Sunday (a treat to be cooked for by daughter C) and this last weekend a whistlestop trip to Belfast to attend a thanksgiving service of one of R’s many cousins.  Quite a palaver mooring the boat somewhere ‘safe’, near a train station that connects to an airport.  Then hiring a car, finding a bnb, only having a small hold bag because Easyjet charge so much for a larger one! Having put R down as the named driver of the hire car I was told that included another surcharge because he wasn’t the originator of the booking.  The Hertz girl took pity on me and said we could have an automatic car at no extra charge.  It was also hybrid.  So as we started off R said ‘look, the petrol isn’t full’. We returned to Hertz to complain and it was gently pointed out to us that indeed the petrol was full – we were looking at the battery gauge!! Neither of us had noticed and felt right twits.  We had time to stop for a coffee so pulled into a garden centre which happened to sell shoes.  I was so grateful because the only suitable footwear I had on the boat was a pair of boots which I  discovered  were split along the seam.  A bit of super glue the day before sort of helped, but I happily bought a new pair of shoes and disposed of the boots.  En route to the airport we had a message that bright colours were welcomed,  by which time all we had packed were dark sombre clothes! The service itself was both poignant and sad,  interspersed with some very funny anecdotes, so laughter and tears were mingled together.  As the sun shone all weekend  we were also able to appreciate the beauty of the emerald isle. Thankfully I managed to return the hired car in the same condition that we received it – always a bonus!

Sitting here,  fortified by a glass of sherry in memory of my mum (a day late, but I missed out yesterday owing to the fact I had to drive the hire car!) I am struck by the peace and silence.  Plenty of twittering birds and afew chattering voices as people are out for their late afternoon stroll, but only the occasional hum of a car in the car distance.  We are moored up next to a large woodland park and it feels like we are in the middle of nowhere.  No doubt R will get a fire started soon in the woodburner because as the sun goes down, there will be a real chill in the air.  I need some warmth for my sourdough starter,  which I’m managing to keep alive but have yet to make an actual load of bread! Instead of throwing away the daily portion of  discarded starter (sour dough officinados will know what I’m talking about!) I  have been indulging in a sour dough crumpet so nothing is going to waste!

Home feels quite far away as we venture into the upper reaches of Shropshire,  where buses are more prevalent than trains and food shops and other necessities seem few and far between.  We have little knowledge of this area of England and are excited to explore it but also a little nervous that we may run short of vittals.  Definitely feeling out of our comfort zone, but then that’s what adventure is all about!

Our forward plans have had to change. We were hoping to go north by way of Manchester,  but now both the Bridgewater canal and the Macclesfield canal have breeches, so the only route north is on the river Trent. I’ve had enough of rivers for the time being!  Who knows where we may end up.  For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, (maybe you missed my previous blog!)  a breech is a little like someone letting the bath water out of the bath – you end up with an empty pound.  In fairness, the breech is actually the side of the canal collapsing but the result is the same.

PS 8th APRIL: As we were finishing the Wolverhampton locks we actually got stuck in one – R just could not fully open the gate for me to navigate through.  I had to get the boat pole out and fish around to see what the blockage was.  I had visions of us being there for hours,  which just reminded me how little control we actually have of our journey timings! Fortunately there were a couple of CRT men at one of the previous locks we’d been through so I went and got the calvery and we were released!

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