Walsall Town Centre

Here I am Rune

Distance 0.3 miles

Total 791 Locks 35 Tunnels

Running total mileage 1210.4miles

Well I decided to do the full Walsall Town Arm which is why we have only done 0.3 miles today. Irritatingly the wind had completely turned around from yesterday and increased in strength but the turning around wasn’t too bad. We are now moored in  the centre of Walsall which I’m hoping will be OK for a Wednesday night, not sure whether it would be particularly quiet on a Friday or Saturday night though. No particular plans for today just a bit of lounging around and tomorrow we’ll haed towards Ryder’s Green locks but may stop at Willingsworth hall Bridge which, according to out sheet from The BCN Society has moorings nearby.

Walsall Town Arm

Here I am Rune

Distance 2.7 miles

Total 791 Locks 35 Tunnels

Running total mileage 1210.1miles

Today just shows that you can’t rely on the weather forecasters. It was due to be raining today according to the forecast but in fact after an early shower it was a very pleasant day’s cruise though to Walsall Town arm. The 8 locks of the Walsall flight went altogether rather well although one began to empty before we had opened any paddles, which I always find slightly worrying! The final turn from the bottom lock into Walsall Town arm didn’t go as well as I would have hoped since the wind was blowing strongly down the arm which prevented us from completing the turn but, as the saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat, so instead of cruising forwards up the town arm, we cruised up to our mooring in reverse! Might try turning around tomorrow to go all the way up the arm, but couldn’t be bothered with the faff of it tonight!

Sneyd Junction

Here I am Rune

Distance 5.1 miles

Total 783 Locks 35 Tunnels

Running total mileage 1207.4miles

Back along the Wyreley and Essington Canal as far as Sneyd Junction today, a fairly comfortable distance of only just over 5 miles. In pleasant winter sunshine for a lot of it, it was the sort of day that makes being on the boat such a pleasure. Unfortunately a lot of days recently have been just very dull and miserable, can’t really say that I’m much of a fan of this time of year, can begin to see the benefits of hibernation!

We stopped here (with the permission of a gent from CRT) because there is a bit of a shortage of mooring places on this particular section of canal. The next available mooring would have been at Walsall Top Lock, and I have to say that there are better moorings than that. Sneyd junction is OK but a little bit too close to the M6 motorway so we can hear the constant roar of traffic from here.

Tomorrow the plan will be to get through Walsall locks and moor in the town arm.

Bentley Bridge Moorings

Here I am Rune

Distance 8.3 miles

Total 783 Locks 35 Tunnels

Running total mileage 1202.3miles

Today we passed the 1200 mile marker on our tour of the canal system, since there are supposedly 3000 miles of navigable waterways we should have completed over a third of them, but we haven’t! Today’s trip brought us from the Black Country museum up here to the old Bentley junction mooring again, where we previously moored back on 22^nd November. This time we came by way of Coseley Tunnel to take advantage of that section being temporarily reopened. The difference in time between the Coseley route and the route that we will probably take to get back to the BCN Old Main Line (via Walsall Canal) is about 2 days! The trip along the Coseley cutting is quite pleasant as it is through a country park although from Deepfields Bridge to Horseley Fields junction there is a lot of decaying industrial land. We tried a trip up the Wednesbury Oak loop but since we were outside of office hours the winding hole at the end was not available so we had to turn around about halfway along and come back again.

The plan at the moment will be to stay here tomorrow and then move off on Monday towards the Walsall Canal.

Black Country Museum

Here I am Rune

Distance 6.3 miles

Total 783 Locks 34 Tunnels

Running total mileage 1194miles

As planned we have reached the Black Country Museum moorings which gives us a good start for tomorrow up through Coseley Cutting  and tunnel. Last night’s mooring was good value even though it was only intended to be a lunch stop! The stop was at the Engine Arm above Smethwick Locks and the source of the interest was the fact that the kindling wood was free and you could have as much as you want (although you have to cut the wood up yourself). We now have enough kindling to last us until the end of the month!

Engine Arm, Smethwick

Here I am Rune

Distance 3.7 miles

Total 783 Locks 33 Tunnels

Running total mileage 1187.7miles

So into the New Year (and have a happy one!) and we are now back on the move. Once again a change of plan so that now we are heading back towards Wolverhampton. It’s not that we are in love with the place but we’d like to go up through Coseley Cutting and Tunnel and since they are due to close it again on Monday we need to get through it before they do. Once we are back into Wolverhampton we’ll go around the Wyreley and Essington Canal only this time coming down the Walsall Canal which we only touched on last time around. The plan for tomorrow will be to get to the Black Country Museum moorings which will give us a good start on Saturday morning up through Coseley.

The photo is of our visit to Birmingham Library which has a terrace that gives a brilliant view over the city, photo is showing the Christmas skating rink and  Ferris Wheel. 

View from the top of Birmingham library