North West Passage: Day 27

I always worry the day after an oil change -- the engine smells more oily, and I fear lifting the engine boards to find oil everywhere! We were up and away by ten past seven, wanting to make an early assault on the Wolverhampton locks, as rain was forecast later in the day. It took about half an hour to get to Autherley Junction, where the Shropshire Union has a stop lock before joining the Staffs and Worcester.

There's half a mile to Aldersley Junction and the start of the Wolverhampton 21, and the canal is crossed by some big railway bridges.

We arrived at the lock landing at the bottom of the locks, and I got off to open the gates. About thirty seconds later a boat arrived from the opposite direction, also going up the locks. Adrian had the job of the tight turn into the lock. The camera tells me it was 7.53.

The locks were empty, so we had a good run up the hill. The pound between locks 18 and 17 was as least a foot and a bit down, with lots of mud showing.

Just a few feet later, Adrian came to a complete halt, with the boat aground in the middle of the pound. I ran some water down from above, not so much to raise the level of the pound, but because the wave created helped lift the boat over the obstruction. It took probably ten minutes to get into the lock. A couple of locks later we met a boat coming down, they said they'd started at 7am. All in all, it's a rather scenic flight in an industrial way. We haven't done these locks since 2011, on Debdale.

At Lock 13, the nearside top paddle isn't just out of action, most of it isn't even there! It's supposed to look like the one the other side.

The top couple of locks needed turning for some reason. At the top one, the row of cottages isn't looking as picturesque as usual.

The 21 locks took two hours and 50 minutes, which we thought was pretty good going. What's more, there had only been a bit of drizzle, no proper rain. That was to change as we made our way towards Tipton. At first the showers were light and brief, but eventually it properly rained. In addition, there was an awful lot of weed in the canal, and it felt as it we were wading through treacle. Usually a burst of reverse would clear the weed from the prop, but eventually we needed to stop for a visit to the weed hatch. I pulled up under Factory Bridge, so we could at least do it in the dry. We turned right at Factory Junction, staying on the Old Main Line, then at Dudley Junction turned towards the Black Country Museum. A tug made the turn just ahead of us and must be deep draughted as it struggled through the narrow entrance. Then they needed to reverse into the museum arm for an event this weekend, which meant winding up the lift bridge.

We had to wait while all that happened, as that's also the winding hole. It was also pouring, and we were soaked. Eventually we turned, and because the moorings were full ended up in the only space, outside the secure area, but with three other boats. Once tied, we went straight to the Dudley Canal Trust's new building for lunch in their cafe. This was still being built when we were here two years ago.

After lunch we did the tunnel trip on the electric trip boat. There was a bit of excitement, as we could see the light of a boat coming through the main Dudley Tunnel. This tunnel is only for unpowered craft, and they are supposed to book a passage. As we returned to the visitor centre, they were preparing their tug to go and see what was going on. I went back later, and even the tug hadn't reappeared. When we got back to the boat we were still soaking, so we needed a change of clothes and we finally lit the fire to try to dry things out.

Finally, we've been thinking about our mums the past few days. In Adrian's case, his mum came with us on several Debdale trips, and covered most of the Shroppie; places such as Market Drayton bring back memories of New Year's Eve there with the canal freezing, and she came here to the Black Country Museum, where we left her sitting outside the coal mine while we went down. And it would have been my mother's birthday today, so obviously she's been on my mind.

10 miles, 22 locks. (329 miles, 195 locks)

Going West: Day 15

The day started with an early morning visit to Sainsbury's just down the embankment from our mooring, as Adrian needed milk for his cereal. I was on the doorstep waiting for it to open. We set off in drizzle at around 8.45, through the Waterfront development.

We soon came to Blowers Green Lock, which is a deep one at 12ft. Above is Park Head Junction -- where the Dudley No1 and the Dudley No2 canals meet. Straight ahead, three more locks take you up to the entrance to the Dudley Tunnel, which only unpowered craft can use. We turned sharp right -- very sharp, it's really doubling back on yourself, onto the Dudley No2.

I was surprised by the number of boats we passed, particularly hire boats. We'd crossed with one at the lock, and saw a few more before reaching Windmill End. The canal takes a long arc round Netherton Hill to get there. At windmill end, the final remnants remained of the weekend's Black Country Boating festival. We passed AreAndAre, but there was no sign of Barry and Sandra; by the time we came back, they'd gone. Windmill End has some great names, like the Bumble Hole Arm and the Boshboil Arm, and there's the Cobb's Engine House up on the hill, with its tall chimney. At the junction, we turned right, which is actually remaining on the Dudley No2 canal.

All along this canal are rather attractive metal information boards, some just giving miles (shaped like the Cobb's engine house at Windmill End), others fascinating facts, like the one about elephants from a circus frolicking in the canal in the 1900s. I particularly liked the toll man writing graffiti on his own office at the narrows at Rowley Stop.

The highlight of the route we were on is undoubtedly the Gosty Hill Tunnel. It's wide enough for just one boat; apparently the old boat men used to disappear into their cabins and let the boat take itself through.

The headroom starts reasonably enough, but the roof then drops dramatically. Then it lowers again, before opening up again. The far end is another low bit. Whenever we go through tunnels I think of Grace and Matthew (my second cousins once removed), who've come through Blisworth and Braunston tunnels with us; I've a feeling they'd had enjoyed this one!

At the far end, it was chucking it down with rain. The canal opens out, but with big brick walls, which were the site of the Stewarts and Lloyds tube works.

Our destination was the current terminus of the line, Hawne Basin. There's a right turn under a tiny bridge to get in, but the basin itself is home to a lot of boats. They also sell diesel at excellent prices -- at the moment it's 49p per litre, domestic.

Having filled up with diesel and water, and bought an 'I survived the Gosty Hill Tunnel' brass plaque we set off back again, having lunch along the way. We really enjoyed the trip down to Hawne Basin, and it seems a very friendly boating community there. Turning right at the junction, we were immediately into the Netherton Tunnel, which could hardly be more different. At more than 3000 yards, it's six times longer than Gosty Hill, and not only is it wide enough for two boats, there's even a towpath down both sides -- at one point we were overtaken by a cyclist.

We took about 40 minutes to get through, and would have been quicker had we not caught up with boat and had to go a long section on tick over. Once out of the tunnel we passed under the Tividale Aqueduct, which carries the Old Main Line from Birmingham to Wolverhampton. At the end of the Netherton Branch we turned left onto the New Main Line, and then went up the three Factory Locks. At the top we turned left to Tipton, and then continued to the Black Country Museum arm. We winded and moored up on the far side, in the on,y space long enough; even this is really only half a space, as part of it is designated for Operational Mooring, whatever that is.

The Stourbridge and Dudley Canals have been new waters for us (apart from a diversion up the Stourbridge Town Arm on a hire boat more than fifteen years ago), and we've really enjoyed them. The Stourbridge and Delph flights we did yesterday are a delight, and the whole area is a lot greener than you might expect. As I say, it's also been gratifying to see so many hire boats using these canals.

15 miles, 4 locks. (197 miles, 177 locks)