Birmingham

Here I am Rune 

Distance 11.7 miles 

Total 5346 Locks  442 Tunnels

Running total mileage 8068.6 miles

 

So, first trip out since June and where do we go? The good old faithful, Birmingham. In fairness we have a few things to do whilst here so will probably be here for a week or so before going off for some pottering around. We need to be back in Hawne Basin by 3^rd October so we’ve only got 19 days to play with, and if 7 or so of them will be in Birmingham, that drops it down to 12 days. Anyway it was just nice to get out on the boat again.

For once it was quite busy from the basin out to the other side of Netherton Tunnel as the Boat Festival was just finishing at Bumble Hole, and the place was rammed. Going through the tunnel there were two boats ahead of me travelling in the same direction and one behind, and we passed one coming the other way. Quite ‘sociable’ really because usually I’m on my own in the tunnel.

We had a variety of warnings about Gorsty Tunnel but had a pretty average passage through, clattered a few bits of wood but otherwise a passage of 19 minutes is pretty much par for the course, I have on occasions taken 25 minutes or more to get through, and even longer when I’ve got stuff wrapped around the prop. Checking through my cruising notes I find that was the 56^th time I’ve gone through Gorsty Tunnel, is there some award for that!!