As forecast , today remained dry and and at times it was quite sunny and warm although by late afternoon it was definitely autumnal chilly.
We were off in good time leaving our overnight stop outside the National School for High Speed Rail behind us.
We retraced our route to the junction where we turned left onto the BCN, heading for the 13 Farmers Bridge Locks. Just before Barkers Bridge we saw this unusual building. Looking at maps it seems that it is or was a textile factory.
The start of the flight is almost invisible - almost all of the lower two thirds of the flight are buried under buildings.
In some ways it looks as if the canal was threaded carefully through all the buildings - except that, of course, the canal came first!
Developers have become increasingly tempted into dense rep-use of former industrial land to create more and more apartments. Workers on this site told us that each will be sold for over £400,000 with an annual service charge of £10,000. Not 'affordable' housing, then.
This printing works remains somewhat incongruous amongst the surrounding apartment blocks.
The last few locks are rather more open - even a few trees insist on intruding into the landscape.
The pounds between the locks are very short and when another boat comes from the opposite direction it takes some skilled steering to dance round each other.
Just an hour and a quarter after arriving at the bottom lock we were out of the top at Cambrian Wharf and moored at the service block.
Just above the locks is the former toll house - an information board tells that at the busiest 5000 boast a month passed through here and gas lights were installed so that 24 hour operation was possible.
Whilst Andrew completed the usual servicing, Mike and Christine walked up to the nearby bridge and around to Austin Court, a conference and wedding venue owned by the IET, which is the organisation that Joanna now works for.
Back at the boat, Christine walked a short way along the towpath (passing the back of Austin Court) to where a group of volunteers ere working on a small herb garden. One of the group explained to here that it was created last year on a patch that was just rough ground. He readily gave here a bunch of herbs for our culinary use.
At Old Turn Junction we turned left towards the Worcester and Birmingham Canal.
At Gas Street Basin we left the BCN behind and headed out of the city along a route which the later railway followed very closely.
We passed though the short Edgbaston Tunnel where the towpath has recently been widened to cope with the pedestrian and cyclist traffic which is much greater than the boat traffic! Although this means that it is now one-way working rather than two-way, it is unlikely that many boats will be inconvenienced.
Alongside the huge Birmingham University site, a micro business (ie one man) is trying to develop a business that he calls pod boats which are very small and correspondingly cheap. They can either be towed behind a standard boat as an extension (or store room) or perhaps used in some places as very compact living accommodation. He was inspired by reading about the effects of a disaster in Haiti.
As we neared Selly Oak we saw the spot where the Lapal Canal originally joined the Worcester and Birmingham. We were a little puzzled as we knew that a new Sainsbury store development is also helping to restore the first part of this disused canal. However, the old junction heads straight into one of the new buildings on this site. The puzzle was solved later when we discovered that the canal is being diverted a short distance to come out alongside the next road bridge.
Shortly after we pulled onto the visitor moorings close to the Battery Retail Park so that we could do some shopping at the nearby Sainsbury. As we had an unfortunate experience ten years ago when shopping from here only two of us went, leaving one on guard!
When the shoppers returned we had our lunch but set off so that most of us had our food 'on the run'. It was a short run to Kings Norton Junction where we turned right onto the northern part of the Stratford Canal. Just after the junction we passed through the former guillotine stop lock, used to control the flow of water from one canal to the other.
This photo is just because it looks interesting!
When the shoppers returned we had our lunch but set off so that most of us had our food 'on the run'. It was a short run to Kings Norton Junction where we turned right onto the northern part of the Stratford Canal. Just after the junction we passed through the former guillotine stop lock, used to control the flow of water from one canal to the other.
This photo is just because it looks interesting!
The next section is largely tree-lined and, as autumnal colours develop, rather pretty.
Before long we arrived at Shirley Drawbridge which, as it is a busy crossing, is fortunately mechanised. Quiet a good haul of waiting cars - at least 17! It did give Mike a brief concern as nothing happened when he first pressed Close. Eventually it decided to respond but the button did feel a little precarious.
We continued perhaps a little further than we might otherwise have done so that we could reach a mooring that was sufficiently open for a tv signal. Earlswood Motor Yacht Club is based at Lady Lane Wharf and their moorings extend some distance along the feeder arm from the Earlswood Reservoir, built in the 1820's to feed the Stratford Canal.
After passing under the M42 (yet again!) we found the spot we were seeking, just before Hockley Heath and moored. This leaves us only a short distance before the top of the Lapworth Locks and an even longer almost continuous set of locks down to the River Avon.
16.3 Miles - 13 Locks
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