In all kinds of weather

There were a lot of locks ahead of us today, so it was a reasonably early start.  Ian had to return his hire car first, so he trundled off at 8am and we were ready to let ourselves out of Stourbridge basin at 8.45am.
It was a beautiful morning with the sun shining brightly as we made our way back along the town arm to Wordsley Junction and the Stourbridge 16 (locks).

lovely autumn colours and reflections again

Redhouse Glassworks

about halfway up the first flight of 16 locks

Fens branch

At the top the Stourbridge locks, before turning to Brierley Hill, we went along the Fens branch (because you can) and its on the map, it was again pretty and we saw a kingfisher, but couldn't snap it. We also couldn't turn around at the very end so had to reverse back then carried

on to Delph locks.

bottom of Delph locks

looking back down the locks

As we approached Delph the weather suddenly changed, it clouded over, the wind turned chilly and it started to rain.

Nevertheless we carried on, not sure which areas are safe round here.

At Blowers Green junction we decided not to go up the 3 locks to Dudley tunnel as it was still quite wet and cold, but we did walk up......

the approach to the tunnel

tunnel entrance

The Dudley tunnel can be navigated by arrrangement with the Dudley Canals Trust. No engines are allowed so you have to leg it or be towed by electric tug. Headroom is just 1.89metres.  We shall go through to the Birmingham Main Line via Netherton tunnel.
We got to Hawne Basin at 4.45pm so it was quite dark, but we were helped to a free mooring space for the night.
11 miles, 25 locks, 1 tunnel