Tag Archives: Birmingham Main Line

The Grand Tour

Day 109 – Up The Junction

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We had nine junctions to contend with today, usually we’re lucky if we get one! The weather forecast wasn’t looking great, so we cast off nice and early (well 8am, that’s early for Toby!). We were following Fred from nb Chyandour’s suggested route to Birmingham and it worked a treat.

Three locks, I steered and Toby operated the locks, he’s still in training though and forgot the handcuff key – thank goodness we’ve still got the fishing net on a pole to hand things over.

The canals were lovely and wide with so much greenery, and we had it all to ourselves in the main. We’re so pleased we made the decision to come this way, quite a few boaters we’ve passed on our travels have tried to put us off, I’m glad we stuck to the plan. It’s not often you come across a fork on the canal network, we stayed right.

We went under the M5, the bridge is quite impressive. Some of the graffiti we saw along the canal banks was quite a work of art.

On the wide sections of the canal on the New Line into Birmingham, there were islands in the middle with narrow channels either side, these were once the home of toll houses, and now long since disappeared.

Birmingham high rises seems to appear out of nowhere. We made the last or our turns at Oozells Loop and took the advice of Neil and Chris on nb Comfortably Numb, and moored at their favorite mooring off the main line. It’s a great little spot, we were lucky to get in, Toby got off to see if there was space, a boat turned in from the other direction so I pushed on the throttle and kept to the right making my intentions clear that I was having that space! The other boat carried on past us, so it all worked out.

We went for a walk in between the showers up as far as Gas Street basin, if you’re hungry, you’re not short of places to eat.

It’s fair to say we both got the munchies, so with a spoon each, we tucked in to some crumble and watched the first episode of Bake Off.

The Grand Tour

Day 108 – The Hanging Gardens of Dudley

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This morning we said farewell to Tim and Sam on nb Plan B, who we’d had a drink with, out on the canal side yesterday evening. They surprised us by giving us a handful of cooking apples; they had a massive carrier bag full of them from another boater they’d met.

I took Eira out for a short walk in the morning and found some blackberries. Sarah couldn’t resist making me a crumble from the later 🙂

I also took the chance to explore the entrance to Dudley tunnel, which Sarah had been around earlier. They have guided tours, which we booked onto for the afternoon. You can also arrange to have your own boat towed through by a tug, but we’re not going that way…not this time anyway!

Before we went on any jaunts, we needed to do an oil change, so we made the most of the cooler weather in the morning to get that done. It all went slickly, naturally!

The tour was very interesting. Sarah and I went on separate trips, so we had one of us on the boat to look after Eira. We had tried leaving her on her own, but she wasn’t having any of it and would have disturbed the neighbourhood for miles around with her barking if we’d both left her, she wouldn’t settle for some reason.

There are big open spaces in places, where the roof has been mined out. There are also some large enclosed caverns, one of which they use for putting on concerts, pantos and the like. The area in the photo below is jokingly known as the Hanging Gardens of Dudley.

The network of tunnels goes on for miles, including a lower level, but most of it is closed off now as it’s unsafe or flooded. In fact, a portion of the trip is through a much more modern tunnel adding in 1989 to allow for a round trip, avoiding a now unsafe part of the network.

In the old days boats were “legged” through the tunnel by men lying sideways across the boat with their legs ou the side, pushing with their feet along the tunnel wall. I got to have a go, but sadly no photo as Sarah wasn’t there with me. When they weren’t legging the boats along, they would pole them by sticking their boat hook in the ceiling and pushing on it, or pushing on a boat pole off the bottom. The bricks were all hand made and different sizes and colours, and took a bit of a beating from all the boat hooks being stuck into them.

In the afternoon we did a pumpout – a boat moved on last night, so we moved to the other side of the basin so we were in prime position. It’s a great little mooring spot, with a grass area for Eira and the toilet block and water tap all close to hand – and all secure and locked up after the museum closes at 5pm.

The Grand Tour

Day 107 – A Blinder Of A Day As Temperatures Peak

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A misty and chilly morning at 7.30 when we cast off, we had doubts as to whether it would warm up as predicted. We retraced out steps, turning left at the junction and back on new territory. In three hours, we only saw one moored boat and a handful of runners and dog walkers.

We turned at the junction towards the Black Country Living Museum and had everything crossed that there would be a mooring, yey, we got one! You can see how close we are to the museum, it worked out perfectly. A number of the scenes from Peaky Blinders are filmed here, our timing couldn’t have been better with the latest series airing this weekend.

With it being the hottest bank holiday on record, it was certainly busy.

We saw steel being shaped at The Foundry….

….and chain links being made. So good were the chains from Birmingham, they were asked to make the anchor and chain for the Titanic.

We’d heard the fish and chips cooked in beef dripping at Hobbs and Sons were legendary, so we got in line and queued (along with everyone else!) for 40 mins, and boy they were worth the wait, absolutely delicious.

There was a street of shops including a tobacconist (I overheard some interesting conversations with parents and little ones as to why they don’t exist anymore – or maybe they do, we just call them vape shops now), a dispensary, a sweet shop (rhubarb and custard sweets duly purchased) and a bakery.

The Grand Tour

Day 106 – The Wolverhampton 21

We were up at 6:30 this morning, and off by 7am, so we could hit the Wolverhampton flight before the day got too hot – with the forecast set to rise to 30C and full sun later, even I can get out of bed early!

One little stop lock to warm us up, a right turn at Autherley Junction and then left at Aldersley junction, and then we were onto new territory for us.

We started with lock no. 21, and soon met a cyclist coming down who told us that one or two pounds up around lock 9 had been emptied overnight by some jokers. Shortly after we saw the CRT man working his way up the locks – we understand they check every day because empty pounds are such a common occurrence.

The good news for us was that every lock after the first was set in our favour, and by the time we got up to lock 9 any issues had been resolved, though one pound was rather low.

We passed two boats coming down, and saw another three up at the top near the services, where we pulled in for water just to keep things topped up. The water was incredibly clear, with lots of weed growing on the bottom. It feels like not many boats come through this way, which is a shame as we quite enjoyed it.

Taking advice from Fred on nb Chyandour, we turned off our route at Horseley Fields Junction and turned left up the Wyreley and Essington as far as Wednesfield. Here we found a lovely mooring on bollards by the retail park, with some trees offering shade. Sarah turned us around and we moored up for the rest of the day.

Sarah went to Sainsbury’s for supplies, whilst I left the boat but stayed near to check Eira was ok. After some initial whining, she calmed down once she saw I was still around, and then when I moved out of sight again later she was fine. We’ve not left her alone on the boat before, so it was good to know she seemed ok.

The three of us then chilled out in the shade, a glass of pimms for me (cheers Barry!) and a cup of tea for Sarah. I followed the cricket on the phone, and was delighted when England just squeaked out a win, to bring the Ashes level at 1-1.

We’ve only seen one other boat on the Wyreley and Essington all day, and that was moored up. No need to worry about anyone going past too fast!

A quick update on the bread from yesterday. It could have done with a bit more time in the basket to prove at room temperature, but as we had the locks coming up it went in as it was. The bread is tipped out of the basket, and slashed across the top to give room for expansion. It then gets 20 minutes in the oven (most people would say 30 mins, but Sarah likes a thinner crust). The first 10 mins I have a tray with some water in the bottom of the oven to add steam, and then take it out and turn the loaf around for the last 10 mins.