Well we made our escape from Birmingham after just a couple of days! The call of the quiet country canals lured us out of the city. Although the weather has turned colder, it has been dry and bright and so off we went. Yesterday we left our moorings in Brindley Place after visiting the nearby Sainsbury's, going round the Oozel Street Loop, back onto the Main line then turning off onto the Icknield Port loop. There are plans for a huge redevelopment of this area, so it may look very different round this stretch soon. Back on the Main line we made our way up to Factory locks at Tipton, then turned off to the Black Country Museum moorings for the night. The museum is closed at the moment, so no chance to look around this time. We walked up into the centre of Dudley, past the zoo and the castle up on the hill. Sorry no photos!
Today we tackled the Wolverhampton 21, taking us down to the Staffs and Worc. Canal at Aldersley Junction.
Top lock
Wintry trees
Access tunnel
Railway viaduct
Bottom lock
Back in June we worked this flight with an enthusiastic crew of 9 enabling us to work the 21locks in just 1 hour 22 minutes.
Today it was just the two of us, and with the locks against us, it took us 2 hours 40 mins to get to the bottom. We did meet another boat on the way up, so a couple of locks were set for us.
There was still a couple of hours daylight left so we carried on - turning onto the Shroppie and have moored in Brewood for the night. A good days cruising, tying up at 4.45pm. The days are getting longer!
Friday
8.5 miles, 3 locks
Saturday
12 miles, 22 locks, 2 tunnels
No comments:
Post a Comment