Acton Trussell to Stourport (15 April 09)

We have moved on since the last email. After our night in Acton Trussell, we've overnighted: - between locks 34 and 35 between Penkridge and Gailey - By the Fox and Anchor pub at Coven - Between bridge 49 and the Bratch locks (a beautiful flight that looks like a staircase, but isn't) - Below Hyde Lock (great spot with lambs jumping and chasing each other across the way) - Just above Wolverley Court Lock - and tonight in the basin at Stourport-on-SevernThe Staffs and Worcs is a stunning canal in this area, with sandstone "cliffs" that border, and sometimes overhang, the canal. There have been lots of boats out because of Easter weekend and the local children being off school and available for a family holiday. Ann was helping some hireboaters work their first lock today and that's fun, at least when it's a group who wants to listen.So we say goodbye to the Staffs and Worcs tomorrow and head down the Severn to Worcester. We'll be there until Friday when my brother arrives from the States. Worcester is an interesting spot, so we'll have fun exploring that area for a couple days. The 2 days in Worcester will come in handy for another reason too. The boiler on our central heating system developed a leak, which, much to my consternation, was not rectified by some simple tightening of the associated fittings. Alas, it appears to be an internal leak in the water jacket, or heat exchanger. This is a gas Alde heater that we specifically chose when building Rhapsody because of the unreliability of diesel heaters. Luckily, the boats hired out by Viking Afloat at Worcester also use Alde heaters and one of their engineers has agreed to fix ours for a relatively good price. Good thing because a new unit approaches £1000. That all takes place either Wednesday afternoon or Thursday and viola!, my brother arrives on Friday. We're staying nice and warm with the coal fire, but it is a little more difficult to keep the fire going overnight when we have guests sleeping 5 feet from it.Stourport is a real "boaty" area with lots of nautical history. Our plan was to lock down onto the river and spent the night on the floating pontoons. Luckily, before we commenced the locking operation (two sets of 2-lock staircase locks), Ann noticed that all moorings on the pontoons were full. So we're "breasted up" in front of the old Tontine Hotel in the basin.OK. Small world time. Today we were coming out of a lock in a beautiful area just south of Kidderminster and I noticed a boat waiting to go up that caught my eye. It was Ubique! We chatted for a minute as drifted past each other. Nice folks, and I really like his blog and style of writing.The weather continues to be quite good. The pattern seems to be that the forecasters tell us how awful it's going to be and then it turns out to be pretty good. Maybe it's a mental game to make us feel good and we're all just participants. My only wet feet have been from the morning dew, so there won't be any complaining here.More soon.All the best,John (and Ann) http://www.canaljunction.com/canal/severn_avon.htm