The Glass Festival in Stourbridge in August

Thanks to the person who posted the link to this festival in Stourbridge!!!!
I've been doing my calculations and it looks like we'll be able to attend by
boat! We've been down through the Birmingham area a number of times by boat
on our holidays during the summer but never that particular loop of the
canal system. So, after many pages of careful calculations I have proved
without a doubt to my husband that if he drives the boat (the hard job, you
know...) while I do all the locks, then we can stay for Wednesday and
Thursday of the show before heading out on the Friday of that week to get
home before school starts.

I'm SO excited about this. My husband is very artistic and I know that if
he gets the chance to see all this glassworking in action and the chance to
feel some beads and see them being made then he'll get as interested in it
as I am. Then we'll win the lottery, buy a second boat to use as a studio
and that's all we need to be eternally happy!

Well, I'll need a hot bath each night as I've just committed myself to some
serious hard work getting from Birmingham to Yorkshire by boat in a week.
It will be worth it though!

When it's closer to the time for the festival, if anyone else from here is
attending, I'll post some info on contacting us if you're interested in a
quick tour of what it's like to live on water. No, not walk on water,
although the canals are pretty shallow. :-)

Thanks for the great welcome to the group and the help in finding info.

-Su

--
My Floating Needle blog at:
http://www.floatingneedle.co.uk

How close to Chesterfield do you get.
Shirley




In message , Su/Cutworks
writes
Thanks to the person who posted the link to this festival in Stourbridge!!!!
I've been doing my calculations and it looks like we'll be able to attend by
boat! We've been down through the Birmingham area a number of times by boat
on our holidays during the summer but never that particular loop of the
canal system. So, after many pages of careful calculations I have proved
without a doubt to my husband that if he drives the boat (the hard job, you
know...) while I do all the locks, then we can stay for Wednesday and
Thursday of the show before heading out on the Friday of that week to get
home before school starts.

I'm SO excited about this. My husband is very artistic and I know that if
he gets the chance to see all this glassworking in action and the chance to
feel some beads and see them being made then he'll get as interested in it
as I am. Then we'll win the lottery, buy a second boat to use as a studio
and that's all we need to be eternally happy!

Well, I'll need a hot bath each night as I've just committed myself to some
serious hard work getting from Birmingham to Yorkshire by boat in a week.
It will be worth it though!

When it's closer to the time for the festival, if anyone else from here is
attending, I'll post some info on contacting us if you're interested in a
quick tour of what it's like to live on water. No, not walk on water,
although the canals are pretty shallow. :-)

Thanks for the great welcome to the group and the help in finding info.

-Su


--
Shirley Shone

Shirley wrote:

How close to Chesterfield do you get.

Erm, umm... lol, I had to look Chesterfield up! I blush to admit that even
after almost eight years I still can only envision places in relation to the
canals. Derbyshire isn't that far from us, in American terms of distance.
:-)

Unfortunately the closest we'd be by boat wouldn't be very close as we're
going from Todmorden to Manchester to Wales (up and then back down
again!)down the Trent&Mersey past Middlewich
and then to Birmingham and Stourbridge. The closest to you looks like
either the Macclesfield canal or the waterways to Lincoln, which aren't on
our trip plan this year. We can't get to Sheffield easily because of the
boat's length, there are some sections of canal that are too short for us.
I don't think we'd run over a car in the canal like in the beginning of 'The
Full Monty' but we have found some... erm.. interesting, yeah, that's the
word, interesting things in the canal. I've looked at the site for the
Chesterfield Canal Trust, it looks like they'll be getting that done in the
future, but I'm not sure if the dimensions will allow us to travel there.
If they do, you can expect us on your doorstep one of these years before I
get too old to work locks. We'd have to work our way down the River Trent,
which can get intimidating with the shipping on it!

Here's a link to the trust site if you don't have it.

http://www.chesterfield-canal-trust.org.uk/index.shtml I love that the
local name for the canal is the 'Cuckoo Dyke'. I've only heard a cuckoo
once, are there many out your way?

-Su

--
My Floating Needle blog at:
http://www.floatingneedle.co.uk

Shirley Shone wrote:
How close to Chesterfield do you get.

And how about Hereford?

Helen wrote:

And how about Hereford?

LOL, the first image that popped into my head was the cattle.

Hereford... umm... 'paging through the canal books and looking at the map'

Closest I can find is the derelict Hereford and Gloucester canal. It is
being restored down to Hereford, but it may be a while.

http://www.h-g-canal.org.uk/whereis.htm

The closest we'd be is in Stourbridge itself, at the festival. We'll
eventually cover the canals as they're restored if they get done while we're
still young enough to do locks. Oh yes, locks. Anyone really wanting the
full boat experience can join us as we depart from the lovely Stourbridge
festival area and face the leisurely ascent along the Stourbridge 16 lock
flight. Yup, 16 of them. At an average of 4-5-ish per hour, it will take a
while to depart lovely Stourbridge. Feel free to volunteer to watch and
shout encouragement! I figure you have about three hours to spend. When I
say watch, I really mean help. Normally I do the locks on my own while the
husband drives the boat and amuses the son.

It looks a lovely site, there are pics of the area on the BW website:
http://tinyurl.com/2c4gb
the canal descends right into the heart of Stourbridge, dropping around 145
feet over the stretch. It looks gorgeous, with a number of glass works
along the canal. I've put a call in to the Stourbridge Navigation Trust to
sort out some moorings, as a 70' boat isn't something you just show up with
and hope for space!

Again, the offer's open to anyone who gets in touch with me beforehand to
have a look at our home while we're at the festival. I'm sure that while
we're there moored up we'll get the usual number of people knocking on the
hatch and trying to order a '99' or tea for one please.

Oh, yes, if anyone else is curious as to how close I may get to them, have a
peek at this page:

http://www.waterscape.com/waterwaysguide/index.html

-Su

--
My Floating Needle blog at:
http://www.floatingneedle.co.uk

I have booked marked that site and yes Macclesfield would be the nearest
to us. About1.1/2 hours ride away.
My DH say we have seen the canal there but I do not remember it.
Shirley



In message , Su/Cutworks
writes
Helen wrote:

And how about Hereford?

LOL, the first image that popped into my head was the cattle.

Hereford... umm... 'paging through the canal books and looking at the map'

Closest I can find is the derelict Hereford and Gloucester canal. It is
being restored down to Hereford, but it may be a while.

http://www.h-g-canal.org.uk/whereis.htm

The closest we'd be is in Stourbridge itself, at the festival. We'll
eventually cover the canals as they're restored if they get done while we're
still young enough to do locks. Oh yes, locks. Anyone really wanting the
full boat experience can join us as we depart from the lovely Stourbridge
festival area and face the leisurely ascent along the Stourbridge 16 lock
flight. Yup, 16 of them. At an average of 4-5-ish per hour, it will take a
while to depart lovely Stourbridge. Feel free to volunteer to watch and
shout encouragement! I figure you have about three hours to spend. When I
say watch, I really mean help. Normally I do the locks on my own while the
husband drives the boat and amuses the son.

It looks a lovely site, there are pics of the area on the BW website:
http://tinyurl.com/2c4gb
the canal descends right into the heart of Stourbridge, dropping around 145
feet over the stretch. It looks gorgeous, with a number of glass works
along the canal. I've put a call in to the Stourbridge Navigation Trust to
sort out some moorings, as a 70' boat isn't something you just show up with
and hope for space!

Again, the offer's open to anyone who gets in touch with me beforehand to
have a look at our home while we're at the festival. I'm sure that while
we're there moored up we'll get the usual number of people knocking on the
hatch and trying to order a '99' or tea for one please.

Oh, yes, if anyone else is curious as to how close I may get to them, have a
peek at this page:

http://www.waterscape.com/waterwaysguide/index.html

-Su


--
Shirley Shone

Shirley wrote:

I have booked marked that site and yes Macclesfield would be the nearest
to us. About1.1/2 hours ride away.
My DH say we have seen the canal there but I do not remember it.

That's the problem with derelict sections of canal, they don't look like
much. Even in water they're hardly ever more than 4' deep so when they're
dry they look like a big ditch.

If we make it up the Macc, I'll be sure to let you know but it's not on the
cards for this summer as we're dragging my sister around to see the sights
for two weeks. She'll either go back to the US loving the canals or hating
me!

-Su