Hawne Basin

Here I am Rune

Distance 12.4  miles

Total 4311 Locks  278 Tunnels

Running total mileage 6,570.8 miles

 

Today was just a simple,straight run back to Hawne Basin, although we did take a short detour through Icknield Port Loop to have a look at the housing developments there (it’s a while since we have passed that way). I have to say that the design was easy money for the Architects, they are just a load of boxes, but if they are affordable it would be a bonus (the advertised price said starting at £195.000 so these days I suppose that is ‘affordable’ near to a city centre.

The rest of the trip was a bit ‘same old, same old’ since I’ve done it quite a few times. There was a bit of a ‘rush hour’ though as we moved off out of Birmingham, with 5 other boats all moving off at the same time, we made quite a convoy.

The plan is now to remain in the marina until somewhere about  6^th or 7^th of August and then set off on another excursion.

 

Birmingham

Here I am Rune

Distance 8.7  miles

Total 4311 Locks  275 Tunnels

Running total mileage 6,558.4 miles

 

Not having been down that way for a little while, we took the Old Main Line route into Birmingham, it wasn’t a bad choice since it was quite cool for the section that passes under the M5 motorway which was also totally clear of weed. There is a lot of plant growth along the canal up to that point though, although not much to hamper a narrow boat except if you wanted to get into the side to moor up since it is lily-beds all the way. I was amused by the only place we saw some fishermen, travelling along the canal with it’s weed growth the water is now exceptionally clear and looking down into it you can clearly see loads of fish. The only place we passed any fishermen however was in the dingy waters below the M5 with the roar of the motorway a constant background noise. It’s not somewhere I would have chosen for a quiet afternoon’s fishing.

Coming down the Smethwick Locks was the only issue of sorts. To begin with we were ‘warned’ of a drunken boater in the bottom lock, the boater who was giving us this information was already on his phone to CRT (not entirely sure what he hoped they were going to do). As it turned out it was just an elderly gent who was single handing through the locks, not very chatty, but that is his choice, whether he was drunk or not was never established. For me a far greater issue was as I went into the second pound going down and was heading towards the lock mooring. Everything came to a grinding halt with the boat slightly leaning as we had run aground about 6 - 8 out from the bank. After several attempts at getting off, which simply resulted in either the bow getting stuck even firmer as I pushed the stern out, or vice-versa I had to request the crew let some more water into the pound to lift me off the mud.

We got into Birmingham about 3pm and as we had been told on the way, the moorings are relatively deserted. We have moored at the end of Oozells Street Loop and there is only one other boat moored here. There are two moored on the Main Line outside of the Arena and Cambrian Wharf moorings are deserted.

Plan is to stay here until at least Saturday, or Sunday if the weather is bad, then head back to the Basin.

 

Tipton (Black Country Museum)

 

Here I am Rune

Distance 9.6  miles

Total 4308 Locks  274 Tunnels

Running total mileage 6,549.7 miles

 

After setting off quite late (about 12.10pm) we managed to fulfil our intended course, down the old main line, up and back the Wednesbury Oak Loop to Bradley workshops and then onward to the Black Country Museum moorings.

 

The Oak Loop was a bit challenging, partly because of lack of depth (I understood it had been dredged in recent years) and partly due to thick weed growth. On two sections we hit weed that was so thick it brought the boat to a halt but then, once we were past the halfway winding hole (also choked with weed) the weed seemed to reduce but then so did the depth so it eventually took us an hour and a half to travel 1.8 miles, so 1.2 mph average! Curiously it only took us an hour to get back from the workshops to the Old Main Line, so I suppose we’d ploughed a furrow through the weed and followed it back.

The Black Country Museum moorings were full when we got here but the occupants of a boat called ‘Reckless’ invited us to breast up alongside them, it seemed a reasonable thing to do,so we have.

 

Tomorrow we’ll set off for the centre of Birmingham, the guy off ‘Reckless’ assures me that there were plenty of moorings when he left there today, hope the situation will be the same tomorrow.