Down to Kinver
So last night we were all set for some pub research but rain intervened and it just didn’t happen. Before then, we had dinner, slow cooked braised steak which was delicious. I had threatened to sample some while Sue was showering but decided to wait instead.
After dinner and before we intended to walk to the pub there was a knock on the side of the boat, puzzled I opened the back doors and slid back the hatch. I was greeted by a man who said, “You must be George, I’m Roly – a friend of Paul and Elaine’s”. I recognised the name immediately and remembered that Roly’s wife, Bev had witnessed Caxton’s bill of sale last year at Aston marina. We chatted for a few minutes and discovered that like us, they are heading towards Stourport. It was a lovely gesture and hopefully we might see them again in the next few days.
By the time the rain stopped we just couldn’t be bothered to go out so we watched a film on the television instead.
We were up and about reasonably early this morning and managed to set off by 7.45. We planned to use the services above Greensforge lock but that didn’t go too well. The elsan was blocked (a perfect start to the day) and the water tap leaked badly. By the time I reached the lock, Sue was talking to the chap who lives in the cottage above the lock. He has owned a beatifully preserved working boat for fifty years and it is moored at the bottom of his garden, next door is a lovely canalside pub – what more could a man want? Well, in his case, a lot more. His wife has cancer and I’m sure that he would trade everything for her health and wellbeing.
We pressed on and reached Kinver just before midday, emptying the cassettes, descending the lock and tying just below on the visitor moorings. We walked up to “The Vine” and had lunch before walking into the village for a look around and after short stops at The White Hart, the butcher shop and the cafe we returned to Caxton on the canalside for a few hours.
At six thirty we decided to return to The Vine for Dinner and enjoyed two really good main courses with a bottle of wine before we returned to our floating home for the evening.