Holliday Wharf, Birmingham to Black Boy Bridge 69
15 miles 5.5 furlongs 30 locks
Cumulative: 52 miles 0.25 furlongs 92 locks
on the Farmers Bridge flight
I got up at 0650 to buy milk and a paper from Tesco. Only partially successful: no Times. Should have got something for my sore throat, but forgot. Lit stove. Under way at 0730. It had been cold overnight, as evidenced by thin crusts of ice on some puddles. From Holliday Wharf we passed through Worcester Bar and Gas Street Basin; then turned right at Old Turn (Deep Cuttings) Junction to start down the Farmers Bridge locks. At the top we saw that the old toll office, still used by BW, was open. We stopped and chatted to the lock keeper, who was just about to start a litter pick of the flight. As we worked down the locks, we found that he'd set every lock for us, including opening the top gates! What service! And he'd done a great job with his litter picker.
Many of the overflow weirs are circular or semicircular, some underneath buildings.
At one point there were signs of an old arm leading off to the left. This warehouse is directly in line and looks as though the arm went right into the building.
passing the BT tower and neighbouring buildings
Towards the bottom of the flight there's a marvellous mural, depicting European countries and their contributions to society: the leaning tower of Pisa, the Eiffel Tower, Stephenson's Rocket etc. Not that you can see much from this shot!
At Aston Junction we continued right on the Digbeth Branch and down another six locks. Here we encountered Ashted Tunnel. This has a towpath with railing, and a gradual bend. It also has a roof which comes down to say "hello" on the offside. Adam had warned us about this, but we still ground to a halt against the roof. There was a surplus of water in the pound, not helped when the following boat - yes, another boat on the move - let another lockful of water into the pound. We had to let some out through the next lock before we could continue.
Ashted Tunnel south portal
From here we whizzed round Typhoo Basin, photographing this, er, interesting house.
Then on past Bordesley Junction, and up Camp Hill locks. Now we're on the Grand Union again, and on the homeward run. At the top of Camp Hill is a BW service area: loos, showers, washing machines etc. All behind security fencing and all looking seldom used. With the locks out of the way for a bit, David disappeared into the galley ... and emerged with this:
the famous Pasta Bake (always pronounced in a cod Northern accent). We ate this in shifts so as to keep on the move.
sunset at Knowle
We tied up outside the Black Boy pub at 1615, where I tried my hand at some more night photography.
The menu at the pub was surely too extensive, but we chose, and ate well. I started reading a book (Prey, by Michael Crichton) from the "library" but returned it when we retired to the boat.
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