Hawne Basin

 

Here I am Rune

Distance 11.9 miles

Total 5056 Locks  390 Tunnels

Running total mileage 7690.2, miles

 

Rather pleasingly, everything seemed to work OK on our ‘shake-down’ cruise, even the Espersbacher heater. When we went into Birmingham the only boat we saw on the move was a trip boat as we approached Birmingham, but at least on the return trip there were three boats on the move. One about a mile behind us as we left Birmingham, one that we passed travelling in the opposite direction just before we reached the M5 bridge and one about a mile ahead of us when we reached the turning for Brades Hall.

Once again there was quite a bit of diesel pollution around Engine Arm overbridge, for long enough for me to get sick of the smell of diesel. It had cleared by the time we reached the turn off for the Walsall Canal.

Not sure of current plans yet, we’ll probably stay in the Basin for this week until the work party weekend next week (if there is one) and then decide where we will be going.

Birmingham

 

Here I am Rune

Distance 11.9 miles

Total 5056 Locks  387 Tunnels

Running total mileage 7,678.3 miles

 

So, for our first cruise of the year, we go for our old favourite another cruise into Birmingham. It is more of a ‘shake-down’ cruise to make sure that everything on the boat is still working OK, and since I gave the engine a full service before we left the boat for the winter, it ran like a dream today. I’m always a bit wary over the period that we leave the batteries since we don’t have solar to keep them charged, but they are fully disconnected whilst we are away and don’t seem to have suffered.

We are only in Birmingham until Saturday as tickets have been bought to see Torvill and Dean ice skating tomorrow night before we return to Hawne Basin for a maintenance weekend (of which we will only be part of half of it!).