First job this morning was a visit to the Bumble Hole Visitor Centre to deposit some paper back books and of course to buy a few more. Then it was off down the Dudley No 2 canal to Hawne Basin and the Coombeswood Trust to fill with diesel at 83p/lt.
For a long time the road was closed where in passes under the railway because an old bridge on the towpath over a disused arm had collapsed, Its finally been repaired and the road reopened. (see earlier blogs of this journey for photos)
To get to the basin you have to pass through the Gosty Hill Tunnel some 900Mts long. CRT give the average time to traverse a tunnel, I normally do it in about half, but not this one, CRT says 10 minutes and it takes me 10 minutes to do it.
I do wonder if there are any more of these left on the system, It is where they dragged Narrowboats out sideways to work on them and then slide them back in. Maybe they are something that need preserving.
Once filled with diesel we were on our way again back through the tunnel. The roof height of this tunnel changes many time and at its lowest my hat scrapes the roof if standing up straight.
There are two pictures in the tunnel, not many people photograph this one as you are almost out of the tunnel when you see it.
Most people photograph this one as you are going it, I took it looking back as we were coming out, all three photos show how the roof height changes.
As we made our way back to Windmill End Junction a spotted the back end of a butty going past, so we would be following them through the tunnel. It turned out to be Leo and Scorpion two ex working boat which I believe are owned by CRT so not the fastest trip through, probably the slowest as not only was I following them, but we also met to flats being pushed by pusher tugs, the flats had no lights on them but both had LED work lights pointing straight ahead mounted on the pusher cabin tops. We then met a private boat once we were almost through, thankfully they had a standard filament light.
At the Tividale Aqueduct the pair took the right hand channel slowly, waving me through the left hand one. The manoeuvre could have been completed much more quickly if there hadn’t been 8 fishermen, four each side of the aqueduct on my side. I did wonder if we were going to get a jumper as we passed through.
Down to the New Main Line and turn right towards Birmingham. A short way down here on our right a lot of water is being pumped from somewhere, it was running like this when we passed the other day as well.
Directly ahead of us lie the new Heat and Power incinerator that is under construction beside the old main line, but I don’t expect they will feed it with waste transported by water.
The Engine Arm Aqueduct looked very fine in the afternoon sunshine, its quite interesting the way the waterways criss cross around here with the Birmingham level being 20 foot or 3 locks lower than the Wolverhampton level.
At the entrance to the Icknield Port Look I spotted these two seats the other day, but was too slow to get a photo, they have some kind of plaque on them, but they look like kiddies seats.
Last time we were this way this block of flats was just a steal skeleton, now it has a show house open, mind you the far end is not finished.
We turned into the Oozells Loop at Ladywood Junction meeting the trip boat in one of the wider parts, passing under Sheepcote Street bridge there is a hole in the bridge, it looks almost like a flue or chimney but I don’t have a clue what it was for.
We are moored in exactly the same spot as two nights ago, in front of the same boat, but we are facing the other way. We have been here on three separate nights now, its a 4 day mooring, I wonder if I will get an email from CRT for overstaying .
Today’s Journey
15 miles with no locks in 5¾hours
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