Stourbridge

A nice quiet night last night at Merry Hill, I don’t know how many boats they are expecting for the floating Market at the end of the month but all the visitor moorings are reserved. about a quarter of a mile. Just before we set off a hire boat went by so we were in no hurry to follow. CRT were refixing a broken foot board on the third lock of the Delph Flight and worked us through that lock, of course all the rest were against us. So far it had stayed dry, we continued on under Brettell Lane Bridge, this time we had taken the flag mast down, its a good job its made of plastic conduit as coming the other way it had to flex well. As you approach this bridge from the other direction its a large rectangular modern bridge with this on the side of it.(taken into the sun).
As we passed Farmers Bridge I said, anyone fancy Fish and Chips and we pulled in on the mooring rings there for lunch. The chippy has a very varied menu from pies, burgers to fish. It was now that it started to rain and yet another hire boat came by so we knew the Stourbridge 18 would all be set against us. One of the offside gate beams is getting a bit poorly, I wonder if C&RT will claim vandalism when it falls off.Another sight you don’t often see on the tow path is a horse, but this one was going much more sensibly that most of the cyclists we saw.Something completely new to me at the bottom lock was mushrooms that grow underwater, these were half way down the lock wall, white with a very thin stem, the heads were about 5mm in diameter.Once clear of the locks it was hard left and down to the end of the Stourbridge Arm to wind, again not the tidiest job as the wind picked up down the arm and stopped the bows coming round. We left the basin and the long term moorings and picked up the end ring of the visitor mooring and a stake for the back end.

Todays Journey 24 lock, 7 miles in 4.75  hours.Map courtesy of Waterway Routes https://www.waterwayroutes.co.uk/