Walsall Basin

 At 10 am we all gathered for a walk up the Bradley Arm led by the chair of the Bradley Canal Restoration Society, Dave Pearson. We got to the end before it started to rain and walked back to the boat in showers. By the time we arrived back at the moorings some of the boats  had already set off, it just so happened that the people on the boat outside us and the people of Scorpio, the ex-working boat moored on the outside were also walking with us, so we were all able to set off at at 1245hrs. in the now steady rain.

We had a good but slow run with a couple of boats ahead or us getting badly fouled props, one so bad he was towed to Walsall basin and we then spent 2 hours helping him get a mattress off his prop

Last time we visited the route of old Bradley canal are there were lots of ponies tethered  with chains and left to graze the grassland, it seems the local Council have had them all rehomed, there also use to be some on the canal bank, but today we only saw this mare with foal. The canal is subject to graffiti  some  unofficial like this face on a  bridge and some professional which probably cost a lot of money like the one on the wall as you turn into the Walsall Town Arm.

Last time we came down the Walsall canal I sheared a brass hull penetration off the boat, this is what caused the problem, I got too close to the side and this hard steel edge chopped it off like a big chisel.

 The basin is now packed with boats and there are 7 of us outside on the arm.

5¾ miles no locks in 2¾ hours