Cookley Saturday 26 December 2014

Last night we had our Christmas dinner onboard by candle light.

This morning a boat went by before we were up so it looked as if we were in for a busy day, it also meant the locks were against us.

At the first lock we came to, Hinksford Lock the land owner adjacent to the lock has been doing a lot of ground works building a bank about a meter high all the way along his boundary with the canal.

The morning was very overcast and dull with occasional drizzle, but as the day progressed things got much better and by mid day the sun was shining.

I am sure at Rocky Lock you use to be able to see into the caves on the off side but the entrance is now full of soil, whether this is the action of man or a Badger I don’t know, but as you leave the lock you can see how it cuts back against the rock on the offside.

We stopped to fill with water at Greensford Bridge lock, we had met a boat earlier but he must have only done one lock because now they are again against us, so each one has to be filled before we can use it.

There is an interestingly named place just before Stourton Junction, its Devil’s Den and on the offside there is a boathouse cut into the rock, several years ago British Waterways decided to fit locked doors on the entrance so you can no longer see in. There was a bit of controversy at the time as to whether they had the right to do it, but the locked doors are still there.

We had bit of a problem at Stewponey Lock and I grounded on something trying to leave the lock, we just creped forward with lots of revs on, I must remember to take a run at it on our return.

Dunsley Tunnel at just 25 yards long is quite interesting. At one end there is a bricked section but it soon changes to solid hewn rock. This photo is taken looking back at the bricked entrance, the other end is just rock. We planned to moor after another couple of locks at Kinver visitor moorings and we did stop and tie up, but then we checked the map for tomorrows journey and working on the same sort of length of day we would end up at Kidderminster, not one of the best areas to moor in, so after a bit of late lunch we set off again doing just one more lock and going through Cookley Tunnel, this one is slightly longer at 65 yards and has a road and a row of houses on top of it. I wonder over the years how much stuff has been dumped into the canal from the back of those houses. We have moored on the 5 day visitor moorings between the south of the tunnel and Debdale Lock.

Today’s Journey  

9¼ miles, 2 tunnels, 1 Junction, 8 Locks in 5 hours.