Shiralee Cruise 2011 #17

Wednesday 13th July.

Although overcast the weather doesn’t look at all threatening, so we will probably go on to Worcester. Last time we passed through, coming in the opposite direction, Sheila walked into town for shopping, so I didn’t see much of the place. This time though I shall make every effort to give it the once over.

Yesterday as promised, Santanu called me, albeit about an hour later than planned. To cut a long story short; you must surely be getting a bit tired of this saga; it seems we have a conflict with Sky. Although my messages are passing through ‘Three’, it seems the failure is with those sent to Sky addresses only.

When ‘Three’ bounce a message as undeliverable, their message lists all the addresses to which the original message was sent. But, they put the problem address at the top and this is the address that fails, not, as I thought, all the other addresses too.

I’ve carried out another couple of tests for their techie and, when he calls again today, I’m hoping this will be an end to the matter.

Meanwhile we’re off to Worcester and from there, possibly to Gas Street Basin in Birmingham as we’ve been told it is well worth a visit, with lots of free museums, five day moorings and a great, big city to explore. Wow! Let’s go Boo – Boo!

Thursday 14th July.

Yesterday we moved the 12½ miles from Stourport to the racecourse at Worcester. The trip took us through three manned locks. We left at 08.30 and arrived at 12.30. I think this must be the longest single trip we have made since leaving Mercia, but then we were on a river and rivers do not have much by way of moorings between towns. Still, the weather stayed fine and dry, with just a light breeze.

Soon after we arrived we took a walk into town and, when we returned and she had a chance to read the paper, Wifey noticed we had actually arrived on race day. This was an evening meeting with the first race starting at 6.30 pm. Having delayed dinner until much later than usual, we ambled up to the road next to the track and took a few photos of the first race.

Later in the evening we were treated to canoeists and scullers racing up and down the river and snapped a few of them too. Phew! All that exercise fair wore me out.

Unfortunately we’re once again in a poor reception area for digital TV, but we did manage to watch Top Gear on analogue, although that was a bit iffy too, so it was down to some more reading, but that’s OK with me.

This morning at about 08.30, after Sheila popped off for a paper and some milk, we made our way to Diglis Basin in Worcester, which entailed about a mile of river, followed by two locks. Once again, after a cuppa, we took a walk into the town for the rest of our shopping and found M&S had their ‘Dine for 2 for £10’ offer on and, quite as you would expect, we availed ourselves of this magnificent offer. I don’t know how they do it but, a main meal, accompanying veg, a sweet and a bottle of wine, all for £10? Marvellous! We’ve only ever come across this once and thoroughly enjoyed it. We still have the wine from that last visit.

Tomorrow we’re off up the Worcester and Birmingham Canal and will cover 30 miles and go through 58 locks – not in one day, I hasten to add!!. Piece of cake! There are 30 locks in the Tardebigge flight alone, and they all have to be done at one go, no mooring in between. Should be fun, but first we have to decide where to stop for the weekend.

Friday 15th July has dawned with a clear sky and not a ruffle on the water, but then it is only 5.30 in the morning. By the time Wifey surfaces there will be a light breeze at the very least.

Here in Worcester we are at least 40 miles from the point at which the Severn starts to widen out as it meets the sea, so why do we have so many seagulls here? I mentioned a couple of days ago, how I was unimpressed with the town, one of the reasons for that remark was the amount of bird droppings everywhere. The traffic noise doesn’t help either, but, then again, this is a pretty big town with lots of history and has many visitors.

Given the fact that we tend to avoid big towns and cities, I suppose we’ve been spoilt over the past five years. Goodness knows what we’ll make of Birmingham. I know we’ll be mooring up in Gas Street Basin, which is quite big and pretty much divorced from the big city noise, but it could still be hard on the ears. Never having visited England’s second largest city, it’s a must that we give it the once over whilst we have the opportunity.

Back at the ‘Bird in Hand’ a few days ago, I told you about the rowdy neighbours and the fact that they kept us awake until 2.30 am, when the Police finally turned up. Yesterday evening, in total contrast, a holiday boat turned up and moored behind us. On board were a couple of Dutch or German tourists, accompanied by a bunch of teenagers. ‘Here we go again’, I thought, but no, on their return from a walk into town, the older couple stopped by our boat and explained, that they had some teenagers on board and, should they disturb us too much, we simply had to ask and the would tone it down. In the event all we heard was a bit on guitar strumming and humming and soon after we retired they too quietened down. It’s rare to receive such consideration from British holiday makers.

Hopefully I shall soon see an end to this Outlook saga. After a short conversation with Santanu, the techie from ‘Three’, yesterday afternoon, along with a few more remote tests, he assured me that the matter would now undergo a thorough internal investigation. For the time being then, this subject is now closed.

A final point I would like to make though is this, having answered the questionnaire on screen that follows every session, why then do ‘Three’ insist on the ‘randomly generated’ telephone call that follows in the evening? So far I have had three of these calls. I have already answered their questions regarding how well I thought those sessions went, why badger me with more questions?

Later…..

We managed to get an early start on the next stage of our cruise and left Diglis Basin at 07.30. On our last trip this way, which saw us coming into Worcester from the Worcs and Brum canal, we moored up at Bridge 21, so we intended doing the same on the way to Brum. Unfortunately and unsurprisingly, the powers that be have treated this canal with the same disdain as the Staffs and Worcs, very little has been done to keep the towpath clear of weeds. I have no doubt this will be a problem all the way to Birmingham. However, just past Bridge 21 and about 30 yards short of the next lock we managed to find some shorter weeds to moor up against.

With the care and maintenance of our waterways being turned into a charitable affair, I don’t hold out much hope for pleasant cruising for the foreseeable future. Indeed it’s looking more and more like, ‘take care of your own problems folks. Never mind that you have paid in excess of £700 a year for a licence, we don’t give a damn’. Before we go off next year we’re going to invest in a cheap, electric strimmer.

I know I must come across as a bit of a whinger, but we have been sorely disappointed in the Staffs and Worcs already, and that looked like they had stopped the grass cutting right after we passed through three years ago. This moan does not apply to some of the other canals. Indeed, nobody can fault the Shroppie and all the other canals we’ve travelled this year, so why the bloody mess on these two? It really is a disgrace and, I have no doubt the people responsible will rollout the ‘ cutbacks’ saw. Lazy, more like!

Saturday 16th July.

Today started out dry but with heavy, grey cloud cover and we decided to make our way to Tibberton, just two miles away through seven locks. After the first lock the remaining six are walking distance apart, without mooring space in between.

Had we had a second cup of tea before leaving we would have stayed dry but, as it was, we left at 08.30, passed through the first lock and, for the remainder of the trip we were given a good soaking. At about the 4th lock along the way the heavens opened up with a vengeance and gave us a good drenching.

Waterproof and shower proof coats just aint what they used to be! Ours are so useless that when we get back to Mercia, we are going to pay a visit to Derby or Burton and purchase a couple of real, genuine, Bedoin waterproof coats, and at least calf length ones.

This reminded us of the time we passed through Bingley Five Rise locks on the Leeds and Liverpool, when we calmly awaited the arrival of a boat coming down, before we made our way up. On that occasion, no sooner had we entered the bottom lock of this staircase that the rain came down like stair rods, which we had to bear with our usual fortitude until we reached the top, at which point the sun came out and remained out for the rest of the day.

We will stay here until Monday morning, when we’ll head off for the Droitwich Junction Canal, stopping off at Hanbury Wharf for a gas bottle and to top up with water. After that it will be through eight locks and two miles to Droitwich, where we’ll stay for a couple of days. From there it is another six miles and eight locks along the Droitwich Barge canal to the River Severn. These two canals have recently been re-opened, so we’re quite looking forward to exploring new territory.

When we leave the barge canal we’ll moor up at Worcester Racecourse again and then come full circle to Tibberton, then on to Birmingham. Well, that’s the plan anyway.

Sunday 17th July.

This morning started out with heavy cloud and quite cool. With our batteries a wee bit low on power, even though the engine was running for two hours yesterday evening and we didn’t watch telly, I was unable to run the heater. I therefore had to wait until 08.00 before I could do so, by which time we had already eaten breakfast and we didn’t need it.

We haven’t even seen a Sunday paper since we left Mercia, much less read one, so why Wifey decided to get one this morning, I have no idea. I have to say that even though the price of the Mail on Sunday had been reduced to just £1 – no doubt as a result of the demise of the N.o.W – it really isn’t worth the money. Half of the main newspaper is full of holiday ads and the rest is pure gossip and crap. Even with the pages of puzzles and the strip cartoon, this newspaper is no better than the rest. A total waste of money as far as I’m concerned and I shall ensure Wifey doesn’t bother in future.

Just for a change, since we had already paid a visit to The Bridge Inn on our last visit here, we decided to give the Speed the Plough pub a go instead. Talk about quiet. This place can’t be bothered doing food on a Sunday, consequently, from midday until about 1 o/clock we were the only customers. The Lounge bar is full of clocks of every description, all of which were left behind by the previous tenants. Thankfully none of them was working otherwise we would have been driven potty by the constant ticking. The Guinness was a wee bit expensive at £3.40, but that has become the norm of late.

Tomorrow we’re off to the Droitwich Canal. First we need to stop off at Dunhampstead or Hanbury Wharf for a gas bottle. If we can moor up at the start of the Droitwich we will do so and continue onto the canal in the morning. Otherwise, having purchased the gas bottle, we’ll continue on to Droitwich and stay there for two nights.

Monday 18th July and we’re still awaiting the arrival of summer, rain yesterday and more rain this morning. We are supposed to be off to Hanbury Wharf this morning but, if this weather carries, I’m afraid we’ll have to stay here another day and outstay our welcome. Neither of us fancies another soaking and if push comes to shove, Tibberton will have to put up with our company for another day.

Meanwhile I’ll close this blog and post it.

Have a good week and take care.

Dave, Sheila and loyal pooch.