Today we head to and through Kidderminster, and onwards to one of the most beautiful canals on the network, with its stunning protruding sandstone, which was unfortunately ruined for us when we cruised it a couple of years ago and we swore to never return. We also have some very exciting news, but it comes with one big problem…

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    Hello and welcome to Taylors Aboard. Im Josh and I live on a 70ft Narrowboat with my Parents, Diane and Andy. Together we travel the beautiful waterways of the UK, with the ultimate aim of seeing them all. from crossing the hugely impressive 85m tall Pontcysyllte aqueduct, Battling the great river Thames on red boards to travelling through the centre of ancient cities like Chester. So subscribe to our channel for a very unique experience that you won’t find anywhere else.

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    [Music] p [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] right here is a map of the canal Network everything in red is what we’ve cruised we are here a stat and W can now in between kinster and starport so we’re going to be making our way up towards and through kinster through a few locks there then there’s a couple more as we get towards cookley a beautiful stretch of canal lovely Sandstone before reaching console where we might more up or continue going in total about 6 miles and six locks this right here may look like a junction and it is it’s the old W and Iron Works Branch back in the 1660s attempts were made to make the river star navigable from the seven to Star bridge but they soon fell into disuse but in 1840 a short section of the sty was made navigable to allow boats from the canal to reach the various industrial premises of the river at Wilden including an iron works and saw mill there was a lock immediately through that bridge and onto the river where You’ go Downstream and it probably was quite difficult to navigate and and it remained in use until 1949 immediately when we get our falling Sands lock we got like a 90° Bend welcome back everybody hello we just came through one lock uh just cuz I set off at uh 10 to 9 we didn’t have a very good night last night first I first I mentioned the boring stuff uh yeah I went for a first cycle ride yesterday on the bike which is which was fun I a nice Old Railway it’s called the Boley to heartley railway harbury sorry um raway in uh starport it’s an old line there beautiful line really enjoyed it this is what is now known as the starport branch and it was part of the original route of the seven Valley Railway dating from 1862 a very interesting thing I read about this cutting here is this third of a mile and 60t deep cutting it would have actually been simpler to build a tunnel of that length and that depth but this would not have created sufficient spoil to build the large embankment required in the Star Valley Beyond which is where we just went over that Viaduct The Cutting was created by an unusual method of driving a tunnel with shafts through the hard sandstone and installing rails dropping the softer upper material down the shaft and into the wagons to avoid lifting it it’s all this stunning red local Sandstone I love it it’s honestly like cycling a band Canal you know just like cycling the top off on the shops Union put without the canal so in a way you’re almost experiencing new canals cycling old Railways like this and that’s why I like doing them cuz it’s he’s just think this could be converted into a canal if uh if canals were that big but they’re not can’t even restore canals that used to be there let alone turn old Railways into canals but pipe dream that is like Wonder it’s not out the question though is it because obviously old uh canals that weren’t doing very well got bought out by Railways and their their beds turned into Canal uh Railways yeah the canals got converted into Railways like uh herrier and glosser and other canals but why can’t they go the other way you know I think the biggest problem is Railways do have a gradual gradient that is probably the biggest problem I like I am slightly going downhill obviously Canal needs to be very flat so you can’t just slap a canal on it or there be a massive current on it you probably could build wheels and locks and stuff but uh that cost Millions my God if I was still doing landscape photography that would be a shot with the sun setting out oh God that’s beautiful that’s it’s the sort of scene I like to see in England you know that’s why I love I love England even though you know the weather can be bad but got a lovely Oak Farmers field like that I just can’t be it such a beautiful beautiful shot there is this side we got a lovely old rape seed field not many rape seeds growing which is a shame cuz it’s just beautiful I absolutely love this time of year it’s my favorite time of year okay in retrospect that might be mustard sadly for obvious reasons this Railway comes to an end the the vuck is gone and uh I think that actually joins to the main line of the Railway I don’t know what line it is you know me I’m not into Railways as much around canals there far more Railways than but uh busy main road goes through here and likely to Vehicles that’s why they removed the spider but yeah like I said it goes to a main line so I didn’t think anyway but um that still enjoyable love these ccle right 3 miles 3 miles back uh yeah then I went back repaired R Spike repaired the puncture reped the the uh brake lever broke again it’s super glued back it’s super glued on cuz the Plastics s ages ago and uh also stuck a couple of new grill uh grips on you not with it both it’s raining at the moment I don’t know why supposed to be um River 7 still dropping uh there’s a few on green now but Upton and up Upton down upstream and upt and diglas downstream are still on red those two take forever but um we could have got away we’re just waiting there actually because that’s what happened last night we’ve actually we’re waiting for some good news guys and we’ve got some good news as you know Amy and Libby are both pregnant Amy was due 17th of May and month yeah so she went into Laver yesterday she was taken into hospital because of high blood pressure and so 4 weeks early and um cut a long story short she had to have a emergency c section and be put to sleep so but we’ve got a bonny little boy called Noah and he is7 3 oz so he would have been a right Whopper if he went full term that she bless her she’s on oxygen and um her blood pressure still high at the moment so she’s not in a good way at the moment and she hasn’t met him yet so and he’s had to have a little old chest x-ray because when Amy had scans for a pregnancy they couldn’t check on his heart so fingers crossed everything’s going to be fine but but I couldn’t be with cuz it was a Thursday and the the worst day dad works on a Thursday now and it was wait till Sunday but we’re all going down on Sunday so yeah we’re going down H Sunday and uh so no doubt Josh will put some bit of Vlog and see him baby no and everything probably be on the camp van try cuz probably do some camping stuff over there as well yeah I think cuz she’s at a C-section I think she’s going to be in for a few days so in hospital so some good news for a change guys yeah yeah it’s brilliant news it could have been a bit more convenient but uh you can’t choose when the baby’s going and it was an emergency really cuz our blood pressure was so high just annoying is it we’re stuck on that for like two months for ages now we’re free yeah we we got to stop again no news on Libby yet she’s still going strong at the moment so um so yeah we’re going to go down so M day me and Dad are going to stay there till Thursday and then we’re going to come back dad’s going to work the weekend then we’re going to go back down and pick Mom up and well I’m going to go I’m going to go down for a couple of weeks yeah we’re head heading into kinster today through kinster about six locks and up to cookley um more just in cookley there’s a nice spot of some parking uh just before just in between kid insta and star uh ston um we’re not going I was thinking about going away to ston today but um I don’t know I think I might make a few mistakes guys cuz I was absolutely knacked I W I was up all all night really Amy messaged me again at 3:30 say she’s going down for emergency but my best friends with her Judith so that’s good someone’s with her all right let’s get through love how this has got like three Bridges one big one there a metal one and you can cross the lock Gates yet sometimes I didn’t even pick these things on lock so there’s a bridge nearby Al I don’t know what that is is that uh I can’t remember the name of them but getting onto a horse you know might be that but they didn’t really ride horses on the canal they pulled them didn’t one of the best and most attractive things about this canal is the ruding Sandstone that you always see there’s loads of it along here it’s very fast this one [Music] oh God bloody shopping TR you got to watch out for those buggers around there this was once the industrial heart of kinster as you can see by the multiple little old branches that used to once run to Old factories now been replaced by shops and [Music] Retail where’s the drivethru for the canal well I want one anyway [Music] [Music] [Music] you can M there on the offside and it’s probably the nicest place too more in kinster but then again look at the graffiti and there’s a bench there you never want or more near a bench in a town if you need anything though SS bra is literally just on the other side of the toe path [Music] [Music] I’m so Mercy by [Music] [Music] hey look at that for timing doesn’t get any better than [Music] that that’s good timing God this bloody lock fied fast got four paddles on it work out well it was great to see Steve from slow boo through Britain here always lovely coming across Steve it’s just a shame one at the Lock WR more lovely Sandstone here it just gives this canal such character this is such a lovely secluded house here and a little cut in for an Naro and then we go for another Sandstone cutting here this would have been a big slab of sandstone to cut through cut the way through Sandstone any yeah still not cancel aren’t even going to repair it looks like you could probably Mo on the offside here and people probably have but I believe that’s probably on my fishing club over there we’ve now got an extremely tight Bend as the canal winds its way around the Stow Valley past a huge bit of sandstone it’s not durable is it put it in reverse look at it from that way yeah Jesus even [Music] you go in it is that the one yeah I think that’s the one and this is the fascinating Deb Dale lock and possibly one of my favorite locks on the canal Network so far love this lock it’s got so much character I mean even part of the Chamber of the lock here is just made up pure Sandstone it’s got one of these beautiful overflow wears but most interestingly it has a Sandstone cave now why would they waste time and manh hours digging out this cave well there was a very good reason for it actually apparently it was a stables for the horses and there’s enough room for about four horses in there but if you think about it it probably was cheaper to dig this out then build a standalone brick stable the only thing is though how did the horses get over from the topa side ask someone this is cookley tunnel it’s only 65 yards long but cut for a huge chunk of sandstone I bet this Sandstone was getting on Bloody James brinley’s nerves and that’s a view from behind as you can see there’s literally houses built directly on top of the tunnel one of these yeah I didn’t mention I H still alive yeah so we made it to the where we were going to more actually now um but I’ve decided that we’re going to go all the way to ston today the STD otherwise we’ve got to do really really long cruises through biringham and I don’t the next Cruise will be like 9 miles and 23 locks when we get back so now we can cut that down cut that down a bit yeah can’t we but um yeah we got to got through Kima um we don’t really like Kima for very obvious reasons if you watching the channel for ages yeah if you watched us from the beginning um that’s where kimra is where we got Tabitha taba was killed by a greyhound her so if you watch if you’ve been watching us for a long time it’s a bit of a sad place so we don’t really want to walk more such a beautiful spot there as well she’s we’ve um we buried her there so but yeah but if you obviously you would know if you only been watching a little while but we just want to get through that Josh don’t we I just hope we don’t see the woman yeah really don’t we see the woman um so yeah it’s about 4 more miles and eight more locks but it’s a lovely turn out lovely now yeah beautiful this is the thing with the staff and was we did love it it’s absolutely beautiful that ruined it for us that that happened like two years ago now but unfortunately I’m going to end the video here because I edited the whole thing and it ended up being about 50 odd minutes long so I’ll cut it in two anyway so I’ll see you in part two guys thanks for watching Love like subscribe I’ll see you next timebye [Music] [Applause] [Music]

    18 Comments

    1. Well done, Josh, you've topped 6k subscribers! Some lovely scenery today. We stayed at a campsite near Wolverley in our van and helped a few boats through the lock while we were there about five years ago. Now we are headed that way on our own boat!

    2. Hi Josh and Diane, great video and outstanding drone footage.
      You are a gifted pilot and have an artistic leaning.
      That shot with ploughed field, tractor and magnificent oak with great light was superb.
      Have you ever thought of doing a few drone tutorials. I’ve just brought one and I’m sure there are plenty of other people out there that would benefit from your knowledge.
      Just a thought, but could be a key into drawing viewers into your two channels.
      I know there are loads of tutorials for drone flying but reckon yours would be special.

    3. Top side of the lock in Wolverley is a nice spot ,with the pub & tea room behind looking out towards the church .Born in Wolverley spent many days helping boats through the locks ,nice to see the views from on the water .😊

    4. Glad to see you back safe in the canals again. It looks so beautiful along there. Whizz past the nasty place. We all feel for you. Hope Amy and Noah are getting along ok now. Xx

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