Lovely quiet mooring last night, I don’t think I have seen Birmingham so quiet even in the winter.
We set off round the loops, first the Oozells Loop where we were moored then out onto the main line as far as Icknield Square Junction to do the Icknield Port Loop. They are really getting on with the new
housing in this area now, but they have left a bit of open space between the canal side flats and the old buildings.
It looks a lot different as soon as you get past that green corrugate wall.
C&RT have had one of their rubbish clearance boats 
given a make over so it looks more like some of the walls around the canals. On the point of rubbish, 
some time ago I am sure C&RT said they were reducing the number of rubbish bins around the system to reduce the amount of rubbish about. I saw a couple of these concrete basses along the 
Main Line and wondered what they were for, guess what, more rubbish bins, we saw them along the main line and around the Soho Loop. I wonder if 
they have made arrangements to have them emptied regularly or if they will overflow like the dog poo bins. I have never been down the Soho Branch as I thought it was private mooring only, but I may
look on my way back as there is nothing to say “No entry”.
After the Soho Loop it was back on the main line to Dudley Port Junction, the old toll islands are getting very overgrown with saplings, so it wont be long before their roots destroy the brickwork and that will be the end of the islands.
Our original plan was to go to Tipton for the night and then Hawne Basin tomorrow for diesel and pump out, on reflection this seemed a silly idea as we would need to come back to Dudley Port Junction to go through Netherton Tunnel. so we decided to go through the tunnel today and moor at Windmill End for the night and run down for a pump out in the morning. Did I mention it started raining on the main line. I steered holding a brolly and didn’t get too wet, we stopped for lunch at the entrance to the tunnel and it was fine as we entered the tunnel, but by the time we reached the other end it was raining again.
Tonight we are attempting to get an Indian meal delivered to the boat, we will see how it goes.
11.5 miles in 3.5 hours with no locks.
Map courtesy of Waterway Routes https://www.waterwayroutes.co.uk/
1 comment:
You are welcome to go along the Soho Branch on your way back. You will find an overhanging tree just where you need to swing the stern to the right as you turn left but I'm sure you'll manage it. We went down there to check my map data a few days ago, then just reversed straight out using our bow thruster to steer. There is room to wind but there was too much wind blowing the wrong way to try that.
There are services at the very end. There's a visitor mooring too, but you can't get off the mooring to reach the outside world. The two arms off to the right are full of moored boats and I've never ventured along those.
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