Hopwas

Here I am Rune

Distance 5.8 miles

Total 1052 Locks 58 Tunnels

Running total mileage 1413.9miles

A fairly steady little jaunt today from Curdworth through to Hopwas, a mere 5.8 miles with no locks. We did take the opportunity to catch up with a little ‘housekeeping’ on the way so we stopped to top up with water, empty the toilet cassette, empty the rubbish and take on some fuel (only about £30 or 47 litres but at a good price!). Also passed an interestingly designed bridge at Drayton Park (near to the Theme Park) which I remember from the last time we passed through here back in 2004 (my god, 11 years ago now!).

Drayton Manor bridge now........

.........and how it was 11 years ago

Upon arrival at Hopwas the mooring that I’d chosen for the night was empty but within 20 minutes of arrival it had suddenly filled so we were lucky we arrived when we did. The first boat that pulled in behind us we heard approaching from probably half a mile away since it was a classic boat powered by a Bolinder engine similar to the one we had seen (and chatted to the owner of) at the Black Country Museum. I think my general impression of such engines is similar to my views on thatched roofs, very nice for others to have but I’m not sure that I’d want one since getting about is a bit of a challenge. The guy at the Black Country Museum was relating how he ran his engine, to begin with you start it with a blowlamp and when it fires up you cannot guarantee that it is going to fire on every stroke so it has an irregular thumping sound when it runs. On his boat there wasn’t a reverse gear either, to go backwards you actually reverse the drive of the engine involving some careful timing with how you reverse the engine. Since the reverse gear is the principal brake for a boat I’d feel happier knowing that when I throw it into reverse it IS actually going to go backwards rather than it just may go into reverse.

Not sure of the plans for tomorrow yet, we may press on towards Fradley Junction, or we may not.