To Crick: Day 11

A very long day by our standards these days!  We set off at 8am, turning right at Old Turn Junction and going under Broad Street, or Black Sabbath Bridge as it’s now been christened.

Then it was through Gas Street Basin and the narrow of Worcester Bar, which is the start of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal.

We stopped at Holliday Wharf for water and to get the washing machine going, and then set off again about 20 minutes later.  The next section is accompanied by the railway, with mostly West Midlands Trains going to all sorts of places, but also Cross Country services, including one from Plymouth to Edinburgh.

At Edgbaston you get glimpses of the University with its tower, and it’s been interesting to follow the rebuild of University Station, which was just a shell when we passed a few years back, and has developed ever since.

Nature has also disguised the new aqueduct just beyond here, and today a heron was sitting on one of the railings and stayed there as we went past.

When we got to Selly Oak, we moored up opposite the Sainsbury’s.  The moorings are in a kind of winding hole (there’s actually another one a hundred yards further on).

We did a shop for the next few days, and also picked up a new smart tv we’d ordered from Argos.  It’s smaller than the current one, which fits better, and the smart aspect means we should be able to stream things without having to download them.  When we had brought everything back to the boat, it took two attempts to get out of the mooring.  The first time, the stern got a bit caught in the mud on the offside, and the wind blew the boat pretty much back to where we’d started.  The second time, I knew not to go so far back.  Before long we were at King’s Norton Junction, and turning sharp left onto the Stratford Canal.

The first feature is the old guillotine lock, which nowadays you just go straight through.

Then come Brandwood Tunnel.  The sign at the portal says it takes 16 minutes to go through; we did it in four.

While there are miles and miles without locks, there are lift bridges, including the electric one at Shirley.  A boat was coming the other way, and the lady said she’d stay there while we went through too.  So they came through and then it was our turn.  Probably because of a road closure nearby, no cars were held up.

The North Stratford always seems like a bit of a slog.  It’s pretty slow going and there aren’t even that many bridges to tick off.  And today, lots of the canal had big branches floating in it.  It looked as though someone had done a lot of cutting back and just dumped everything in the water.  I managed to get one branch off the rudder while we were going along  but we also made a brief stop so I could get more off the property.  We had lunch on the move as the miles ticked by, and eventually we reached the two lift bridges at Hockley Heath.

We got to the top of the Lapworth flight, with plans to do the first four locks and stop in the long pound.  at the second lock, there was a big log in the lock, and although i tried to keep an eye on it and Adrian brought the boat in very slowly, the swirling water meant it disappeared and the boat stopped, seeming wedged.  Using the pole, I knocked the log loose, and then Adrian reversed out while I pushed the log out of the lock and kept it to the side while he went back in again.  We have reported it.  Things were simpler and the next couple.

We moored up at gone 4.30 — and have got a chicken in the oven for a midweek roast!

18 miles, 4 locks. (74 miles, 58 locks)

Autumn Cruise: Day 8

It chucked it down with rain yesterday evening, just as more boats arrived in the Oozells St Loop.  But apart from the rain on the roof we had a very quiet night, for the centre of a city.  It was still lightly raining this morning when we set off at just after 8, through Old Turn Junction, Broad Street Tunnel, and Worcester Bar.

We only went as far as Holliday Wharf, where we stopped at the water point.  While the tank filled we got some washing going, and popped to the little Tesco at the Mailbox for perishables.  It’s not the fastest tap, so it was getting on for 9am before we set off again.  There’s now a bridge over the canal from the new University Station.  I was surprised it wasn’t more finished — but I’ve looked back at when we passed last year, and the station building was just a shell then.

At King’s Norton Junction we took a sharp left onto the North Stratford Canal.  The Junction House has emerged from the wrap it’s been under since being burnt out, but there still seems to be quite a lot of work to do.

The guillotine lock still has plenty of graffiti.

It was a while before we saw any boats coming the other way, but when we did the shallowness of the canal made even passing each other a challenge.  In addition, the weather alternated between raining and sunny, and it’s been pretty chilly all day.  We lit the fire yesterday evening and got it going again this morning, so at least it was warm inside.  We held up three or four cars at the Shirley Draw Bridge.

There are quite a few long sections of permanent moorings on this canal, so going can be a bit slow.  But we soon got to the two lift bridges, which Adrian worked, and then the start of the locks.  We did the top four and moored in the pound below, as we’re seeing Bob and June this evening.

18 miles, 4 locks.  (115 miles, 81 locks)

West Mids Meander: Day 5

We set off pretty early again, at about ten to eight.  A boat had come down the locks last evening, mooring up when it was almost dark, so we wanted to take advantage of the locks being empty.  After we’d gone up six or seven locks, a couple of volunteer lock keepers arrived, and radioed back to their colleagues that we were heading up, so then began opening gates for us so each lock was set.  Once you get to the ‘thick’ of the locks, there are great views down the hill to Warwick Church.

The first boats we met were in the lock by the old buildings.  One of the lock keepers had made them wait for us to come up.

A couple of lockies stayed with us right to the top, so we did the 17 locks in two hours.  We’d wanted to stop for water, but a boat had just arrived on the water point so we carried on.  Shrewley Tunnel was very wet at the far end, but at least it’s quite short.  In fact, even from the bridge before it you can see right through.

It had been a rather grey day so far, but as we crossed the Rowington Embankment the sun made a brief appearance.

We stopped for water at Turner’s Green, and found the tap to be a very fast one.  I also checked down the weed hatch and removed a piece of branch that seemed to have got stuck in there.  As we approached Kingswood Junction, an Anglo Welsh boat was just coming out, and we had a little pause while he got round the corner, before we could make the turn.

Along the Lapworth Link, I dropped Adrian off and he set the lock off to the right.  The gap to the left is the way to go if you want to head down towards Stratford.

A boat was coming down the next lock and left it open for us, but we then found we were following a boat up.  We stopped for a brief lunch break after six locks, where there are decent moorings.  The next few locks are all in a line and very close together, and there’s really not much room to get past downhill boats.

We made good progress up the locks, stopping after Lock 6 (our fifteenth of the Lapworth flight) at about 2.45.  We are meeting Bob and June who used to have Autumn Myst for dinner this evening at The Navigation down near the junction.  

8 miles, 32 locks.  (55 miles, 81 locks)