Lapworth

 

Here I am Rune

Distance 10.54 miles

Total 5055 Locks  378 Tunnels

Running total mileage 7,644.39 miles

 

Would be fair to say that today didn’t go exactly to plan, but that is one of the perils of the canal.The intention had been to get to Shirley Drawbridge by about lunchtime and finish at Earlswood for the day. At first it looked as though our plan was going to be cut short at the drawbridge, which has once again been hit by some incompetent muppet in a car. Having been told by CRT that the contractors weren’t coming until tomorrow to fix it I was just preparing to go off on the bike on another mission when a CRT guy turned up and said he’d be opening the bridge to let the boats here through. Since we’d managed to be first in line from the Kings Norton direction we took fullest advantage of this. The issue is that they are only coming back at noon each day to let boat traffic through. So the leisurely potter to the top of Lapworth gained a bit of urgency. Instead of getting there tomorrow as planned, we pressed on today since we have an Elsan cassette to empty. Moored up and then took the cassette down on the bike trailer, so we are now all good until next Tuesday, when we should be back in Birmingham. Could have emptied it at Lady Lane Wharf except they charge £10 for the service, which is somewhat extortionate.

We’ll need an early start tomorrow to get back to Shirley Drawbridge by noon.