We had a really nice evening with Helen and Andy last night. We were collected at 5pm, had great food and great company, and were late back because we all watched Emma Raducanu winning the US Open tennis. This morning, we set off at about 8.15, entering our first lock since Thursday. Alongside the lock, on the clubhouse, the Longwood Boat Club has a couple of boards showing how long it will take to get to various places.
Most of the Rushall Locks were in our favour. A couple of the pounds were low, but not too bad, and at lock six one of the bottom gates wouldn’t open fully. By opening and closing the gate a few times, whatever was behind it moved enough so that we had enough room to get out of the lock. Towards the bottom of the flight, a couple of CRT guys turned up to check the flight. They knew about the gate at six, and the low pounds are routinely low, so they’re well aware of the problems on the flight.
Below the locks, some way off, there appeared to be a boat or two in the middle of the canal, but not getting any closer. It turned out to be a pair of work boats, which seemed solidly in the middle not adrift, with just enough room to get past on the offside.
At the end of the Rushall Canal, we turned left onto the Tame Valley Canal. The junction is really tight, and it’s a job to get round. Shortly afterwards we met a boat going the other way — a significant event in these parts. The A4041 bridge is having a lot of work done on it. The next one is Chimney Bridge, a very tall bridge named because the pillars look like chimneys.
After that deep cutting there is a high embankment, with glimpses of the Birmingham skyline in the distance, and aqueducts high over roads. When we got to the Perry Barr Locks, a CRT man was running some water down to refill empty pounds, and he asked us to wait a few minutes. The delay was minimal, though, and we were soon on our way down.
The top seven locks in particular are quite pretty and are easy to work. There were plenty of walkers, runners, and cyclists, and seeing a boat is clearly a novelty. I even roped in some onlookers to open and close some gates. At one lock I pulled a tyre out of the water, and a traffic cone which was stuck in the paddle recess.
Alongside, the Alexander Stadium is being rebuilt for next year’s Commonwealth Games, along with lots of other facilities.
We had time for lunch in the long pound between Locks 11 and 12. At the bottom lock a dad and two children said they’d been waiting an hour for a boat to come along so they could see the lock in action. Shortly after the lock, the canal passes underneath Spaghetti Junction — and coming from this direction you get the full experience, with something like eight different bits of road at different heights for about a quarter of a mile.
We then came to Salford Junction, where we joined the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, and finally left the duckweed behind. Here the Saltley Cut of the Grand Union also joins.
Through Bromford and Minworth it began to rain, lightly at first and then more steadily. We followed a hire boat down the three Minworth Locks, so they took a little more time than they might have done. We stopped for the night at a place we’ve used before, just after Wiggins Hill Bridge.
12 miles, 25 locks. (195 miles, 222 locks)
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