After wandering around the site saying goodbye to people this morning, O and using up the rest of our beer tokens ( a good system, when you book in you buy a card for £10 that is worth £12 at the bar, that gives the boaters, the only people who pay to attend a bit of discount) we set off at 1330 hrs. It was a short reverse back past 2 boats and under the bridge to the main line of the Dudley No.2 canal and then passed the moored boats to Netherton tunnel once more.
Once clear of the tunnel it was down to Dudley Port Junction to turn right onto the New main line and into Birmingham. We passed under the M5 yet again that crossed on this flyover right beside an aqueduct carrying the Old Main Line.
At one point we actually pass under Smethwick Rail Station as it built on this bridge.
We did have another tunnel to pass through, this one is Galton Tunnel, it is parallel to Summit Tunnel and like that one concrete lined, very high and only slightly longer at 130 Yards.
Next on the agenda was the aqueduct that carries the Engine Arm over the New Main Line, you may remember we crossed that on Wednesday.
At one of the old Toll Stations, these were situated in the middle of the canal with just a 7foot channel for the boats to pass each side. It there working days there would have been a building on the island for the toll collectors and lock gates at each end of the channels to stop the boats to be gauged. we found a boat stuck in the offside channel so we took his front rope and towed him clear.
It seemed he half expected to get stuck as he was planning to speak to CRT about getting them dredged out and the vegetation cut back.
I think it strange that here we are in the middle of the Country yet we have seen several Cormorants which are considered to be a coastal bird, these ones were on top of the factory roofs.
We came up this section of the New Main Line on Wednesday and then there were workmen carrying out repaired to the north arch of the Avery Rail Bridge.
Today being Sunday they were not at work so we could pass through the arch and see what they had been up to, it also gave us a short respite from the weather. Did I mention it was peeing down again. Anyway it looks as if they are putting some new bricks into the arch.
It wasn't far from here to Ladywood Junction which took us back round the Oozells Loop and as luck would have it there were only two boats moored here, so we have moored just a boats length ahead of where we were on Tuesday night. We hadn't been here long when a forth boat arrived and tucked in behind us, so now its all full.
I have been running on about New and Old Main Lines. Originally the Main Line running from Birmingham west was quite twisty and as Birmingham grew and the canals got even busier it was decided that this needed straightening to improve efficiency, so the New main Line was cut. For the first third of its travels out of Birmingham it mostly obliterated the Old Main Line apart from some loops, but from Smethwick Junction it ran sort of parallel to the old main line but 20 feet lower as the Old Main Line climbed three locks to the Wolverhampton level, so where the canals needed to cross one went below the other. Below is a map from Waterways Routes which I have coloured in the two lines, yellow for the old and red for the new. If you click the map to enlarge it and look closely you can also see the abandoned loops just outlined on the map.
Today's Route
No comments:
Post a Comment