Previous Year : 1996 The Bona Boater's Trips Following Year : 1998

1997 - The Stourport Ring.

Crew : John & Chris, Ernie & Jennifer, Pete, Dave, Colin, Stan.

Boat : Gloucester [the same boat that we had in 1992]

From : Dartline Cruisers, (now Anglowelsh) Tardebigge.

Route : Tardebigge > Birmingham > BCLM > Wolverhampton [w] > Hawne Basin [w] > Gosty Hill > Brierley Hill > Stourbridge Town Arm [w] > Kinver > Stourport > Worcester > Tibberton > Stoke Works > Alvechurch [w] > Tardebigge.

Coverage : 111 Locks and 98 Miles.

Notes : Dartline Cruisers had just been taken over by Anglowelsh, although the boat was still in Dartline livery. We went to The Black Country Museum and took the trip into Dudley Tunnel. Stan had to leave us on Tuesday, and Ernie hit the bottom cill entering Worcester basin causing a minor water leak from the hot water tank.

Saturday 17th May

Evening : Birmingham. We left the boatyard and headed straight to Birmingham. We moored near the NIA and went to The Prince of Wales for some beer, Regards to Broad Street for a curry, then back to The Prince of Wales for some more beer.

Sunday 18th May

Lunch : The Black Country Museum. After "touring the loops", we went to The Black Country Museum. Unlike on our first visit in 1992, we did now know that we could moor behind the Museum. Unfortunately when we got there, we found there was no room to moor on the museum side of the canal, so we had to moor on the opposite side. Some members of the crew managed to persuade the chap on the tunnel trip boat to open the gate over the Tunnel Portal, so they were able to get into the museum the easy way. Several other members of the crew had to walk the long way round to the front entrance of the museum to get in that way. Eventually, we all met up in The Bottle and Glass. After several pints, we took the trip into Dudley Tunnel, where we saw the Singing Cavern, the film about how the area was formed geologically, and saw the demonstration of 'legging'.

The Black Country Museum

There was nowhere to moor on the museum side of the canal..

...so we moored on the off side.

Some of us were able to get into The Museum over the Dudley Tunnel Portal, but the remainder had to walk the long way round to the main entrance.

We did all eventually meet up in The Bottle and Glass where we had a few pints...

...before emerging burbling and blinking into the sunlight.

Evening : Wolverhampton. After leaving the Museum, we headed for Wolverhampton. Here, Pete winded the boat in the entrance to the old BW yard with just inches to spare. We went for a curry then went to The Great Western. We came back to the boat to find that there was a rather noisy nightclub very close to where we'd moored. It wasn't open when we arrived, but if it had been, we'd probably have moored a bit further away.

Monday 19th May

Lunch : Gosty Hill. We left Wolverhampton for Birmingham. We took on water on The Netherton Tunnel Branch before passing through Netherton Tunnel. After leaving the tunnel, we turned left at Windmill End Junction and went down to Hawne Basin where Ernie did a smart winding manoeuvre in the basin entrance. We came back up the arm and moored up just beyond Gosty Hill Tunnel and went into The Boat Inn for several pints of Banks's Mild. On leaving The Boat Inn Dave took over the steering, but as usual he had not been taking any notice of where we were, and on reaching Windmill End Junction, instead of slowing and turning left towards Stourbridge, he went straight across the junction at full speed - and on into The disused Boshboil Arm. Luckily, Pete noticed the junction go past his window, and was able to tell Dave to stop but only just in time.

Water on The Netherton Tunnel Branch. The tunnel portal can be seen in the distance.

Evening : Brierley Hill. After leaving Gosty Hill, we headed for Brierley Hill and descended Delph Locks. Pete did a smart reversing manoeuvre to moor in the side-pound of Delph Bottom Lock. All the more impressive as there was a 'nice peoples shiny boat' there already. He reversed in without touching it, even though he was being watched intensely by the 'nice people'. We walked up the hill and ate at The Black Horse, which was now selling Enville Ale - we all remembered this beer from the 1992 trip. We then went on to The Vine aka Bull & Bladder for the rest of the evening.

Tuesday 20th May

Lunch : Stourbridge. At the bottom of Stourbridge locks, we turned down The Stourbridge Town arm and moored at the end. We took the train from Stourbridge Town to Stourbridge Junction for 40p, though Stan used his 'priv' to get it free. We then went to The Seven Stars opposite the station approach.

Evening : Kinver. We left Stourbridge and arrived in Kinver, where we went to The Plough & Harrow. This was where Stan had to take his leave of us as he was heading back to York. He got onto the bus while Jenny & Chris waved their hankies and sobbing ...or at least pretending to..

Wednesday 21st May

Lunch : Stourport. No one recalls whether we had a pub stop or not. We then locked down onto River The Severn and headed for Worcester. On arrival at Worcester Ernie misjudged the turn into Worcester basin and gave the boat an almighty bump into the cill of the lower lock to the basin. This bump moved the calorifier [hot water tank] by about an inch, and started a minor water leak, which we would need to get repaired later in the week.

Evening : Worcester. We went to a restaurant, Thai or Indonesian or something like that, which had an insanely hot sauce on the table. Despite the dire warnings, we all still had to try it - and we all regretted it.

Thursday 22nd May

Lunch : Tibberton. We stopped at Tibberton and went into The Bridge for several pints of Banks's Mild.

Evening : Stoke Works. We moored up at Stoke Works and first went into The Boat and Railway for some beer. We then walked through the village calling in at The Butcher's Arms for a couple more before going on to The Bowling Green where we eventually ate.

Friday 23rd May

Lunch : We set off for Tardebigge. No one can remember whether we stopped anywhere on the Tardebigge flight. We did call into the boatyard on the way past to advise them of the water leak, which they were able to fix very easily, and they were grateful that we'd brought it to their attention before turn-around day on the Saturday. We think we got some brownie-points for that...

Afternoon : After leaving the boatyard, we continued on past Alvechurch, and winded the boat in the junction with disused The Crown Meadow Arm. We then returned to Alvechurch, where we moored up.

Evening : Alvechurch. We went for a Chinese. It advertised deep-fried seaweed. Some of us tried it and thought it was OK. Dave did say that it is often just deep fried cabbage rather than actual seaweed. After the meal, we went to The Swan where we had bought Dave the five pints of mild in 1992 - though unsurprisingly, thanks to The Token we didn't have to do that this time.

Saturday 24th May

Morning : As we had been moored overnight at the boatyard, we were able to have a bit of a lie-in. Once the boatyard staff had arrived at 9am, we were able to begin unloading.

Previous Year : 1996 The Bona Boater's Trips Following Year : 1998