Bentley Arm W&E

The weather forecast for today was rain, and they weren't wrong, although it wasn’t as heavy as I expected, but at least it was warm. After about 10 minutes we were at Aldersley junction entering lock 21 of the Wolverhampton flight.

Some of the locks were with us and some against, now and again even the rain stopped for a short time. Something that is always good to see on the 21 as you approach a lock is water coming from the bywash, it means the pound above is the correct level, there have been a lot of problems this winter with the flight being drained overnight, but today all was fine, only 2 to 3 were down a little bit.

Everything was well greased and worked well, even the anti vandal locks worked with only 2 faulty on the whole flight. Much to our surprise we met a boat coming down at the half way point, this meant all the rest of the locks would be with us. Some time ago CRT but little signs by every lock warning of falling from a height.

Today most of them have disappeared and just the posts remain. I can’t think why anyone would want to pinch them.

Some of the locks still have to original stone by the bottom gates giving both lock number and date.

One lock even supports an Ordinance Survey datum mark on the stone work. I often wonder how accurate these are today and how much the ground has moved since the marks were made.

Not a particularly fast run up the flight as things were a bit slippery in places with soggy leaves etc. so it took us 3 hours and twenty minutes. Once clear of the flight we carried on to Horsleyfields Junction where we had to turn left, as the canal ahead is still closed following a fire before Christmas. You can just see the gable end of the old industrial building standing there looking rather unsafe.

We were now on the Wyrley and Essington Canal. A short way from the junction is an old gauging lock, the gates long gone, but its a great spot for collecting rubbish round the prop, today we came through clean. A spot that always demands a photograph is going under the polished stainless steel bridge arch where you get a reflection of the boat as you pass under. A selfie with a difference.

We arrived at The Bentley arm and tucked in for the night right beside the Nickelodeon pub. Since we have been here the wind has freshened and is quite gusty.

Todays Journey

4¼ miles, 21 locks in 4¼ hours