Friday 29th July

We pulled away from the bank rather gingerly this morning but all was fine :-) We didn’t have far to go before we got to the Stourton Locks at the junction with Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. These locks are so pretty as the people who live adjacent to them have kept them really nicely. Once we were on the Staffs & Worcs we noticed much more traffic – we had rather got used to the Stourbridge as being our own! We stopped at Kinver and walked into the town for lunch. I was rather disappointed as the canal guide had rather waxed lyrical about it – it was pretty but I’ve seen prettier! After lunch we pressed on through some lovely countryside and passed some beautiful houses – there must be a lot of money in the area. After Whittington Lock the canal became rather dark – the day was dull anyway but I found it rather oppressive and came down below :-( We soon arrived in Kidderminster and passed (yes passed!) a Sainsburys in quite a large retail park, very close to the canal and then onto Kidderminster Lock. The lock there is very strange as you descend down into the bowels of a roundabout! I was doing the lock (I did quite a few today as most of them have little bridges crossing them which makes it easy for me) and it seemed really strange watching the boat disappear! After the lock we came across an old warehouse which Debenhams have taken over and completely renovated it along with a rather nice glass extension. We then found a Tesco even closer to the canal and again, PASSED it! We weren’t too sure where we were going to stop for the night and at 6.30pm (the latest we’ve still been going) pulled over just under a bridge – we had had enough!