Poor Internet connectivity here, so today’s update will be photo free. We set off back up the Staffs and Works this morning. Oh, dear, looks like the engine room is filling up with water, and the bilge pump is not working. We stopped in Kidderminster to visit Tesco (more Nanny State hoppity hop hop) and to manually bale out the bilges. I will never badmouth a bilge pump again. There was a mixture of sunshine and rain today. The second…
No, the title is not a comment on the Brexit vote today. We finally managed to score some of the non alcoholic beer that Nick recommended in the comments. Hops! Hop hoppy hop hops! Hoppity hop hop! I now have hop scented steam coming out of my armpits. So many hops you don’t notice there isn’t any alcohol. Good stuff, but a bit on the hoppy side. In other beer related news, here’s the recipe for Butter Beer that is…
Today we visited another stately home and garden. This is Hanbury Hall, home of the Vernon family from the early 1700s until the 1960s. Thomas Vernon was a successful London lawyer, and to show off his wealth he built this fine place in the country. The true aristocrats looked down on the nouveau riche, though, and Vernon and his ilk were referred to as “Red brick gentry”. Hanbury did not have the oak panelling of older homes. The wood panelling…
This morning we set off towards Stourport, through the town of Kidderminster. The church in Kiddy looks impressive from the canal. In the center of town, an old warehouse converted into a Debenhams department store provides an equally impressive view. Such is the nostalgia for the old utilitarian warehouses that line the old canal wharves that new blocks of flats (US: apartment buildings) beside the canal are constructed in the style known as Warehouse Vernacular. So, if Britain votes to…
After a rainy morning where we stayed home, we made our way down a short but fascinating stretch of canal from Kinver to Wolverly. The local rock is red sandstone, and in some places the navvies who cut the canal with pick and shovel left it overhanging the water. Through this section we were chasing a party of schoolkids paddling outriggers, but they pulled over to let us go by. Then they got to chase us through a tunnel with…
About a mile out of Stourbridge, we hit countryside again. There were fields on either side of the canal rather than brick walls or housing estates, and the bridges were free of graffiti. You could tell that there were towns nearby, though, as there were fields of ponies for the gymkhana crowd rather than sheep, cows, or sugar beet. The canals are full with all the rain we have had, which makes the low bridges seem extra low. We were…
It turns out that our management contract for the boat included contents insurance, so assuming the deductible is not that big we should be able to get some money for the stuff that was stolen. Alex and Clive are also working on a way to improve the security of the locking system, so we will soon have that sorted. Today was a monster day for locks. First the Delph locks, a flight of nine. Here Paula demonstrates the technique for…
In more than fifty years of James Bond movies there have been all sorts of chase scenes: cars, fire engines, speedboats, space rockets, scuba gear, helicopters. However, I don’t recall there ever being a James Bond movie with a canal boat case scene. That’s possibly because their average speed is a brisk walk, and you can outrun one without difficulty. However, there ought to be some sort of warped Bondian logic that would make a canal boat chase make sense,…
A man was traveling the world. In Africa his camera and equipment was stolen, which upset him a lot. In Tibet he managed to get an audience with the Dalai Lama. They talked about his trip and he mentioned the theft, among other things. He was still upset about it. At the end of the audience, he asked for a blessing from the Dalai Lama, and the Dalai Lama smiled and said, “Get over it.” We’re trying to accept that…
This morning we visited Winterbourne House and garden, and this afternoon we headed into Birmingham. First Winterbourne. It’s an Arts and Crafts house built in the early 20th Century for the Nettlefolds family, who made their money in the screw business, and went on to become the “N” of GKN. The uneven roofline was deliberate, to echo old houses with sagging roofs. Inside it is very light and airy, and had all sorts of modern conveniences like a dumb waiter…