Here I amRune
Distance 11.8 miles
Total 884 Locks 45 Tunnels
Running total mileage 1284.4miles
Today’s trip took far longer than originally anticipated,
that was mainly due to the time it took to get from Deepfields Junction to
Bradley Workshops down the Wednesbury Oak Loop. I had been warned previously
about the amount of weed that is encountered on that section of canal,
apparently because nutrients from old mine working leach into the water
providing nitrates that cause an explosion of weed growth. The problem however
wasn’t the weed (although there was quite a lot) but the lack of depth of this
section of canal. How on earth they carry the lock gates out on workboats I
really don’t know since for the final half mile to the workshops we were
dragging the bottom of the canal. The side effect of doing that is you tend to
pick up any rubbish on the bottom of the canal (mainly plastic bags and the
like). Having now completed the trip, if I’d known what it would be like
beforehand I don’t think I would have bothered.
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| Bradley Workshops, where they take old Lock Gates to die.......... |
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| ...........and build new ones |
The other aspect of the trip however was that we completed 3
tunnels in a day which might be a record (although in fairness it did include Coseley tunnel twice!). Although we have now entered March the temperature hasn’t
really improved much. The wind as I was travelling along the New Main Line
today was what I have heard described as a ‘lazy’ wind, it doesn’t go around
you it goes straight through, and it was bitterly cold.
The plan for tomorrow is to head towards Birmingham city
centre, possibly via Engine Arm since we are in need of some more (free)
kindling.
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