I couldn't remember the huge building straddling the canal by Erdington Hall Bridge, but it must have been there on that earlier trip. It was there, incidentally, that we met the only other moving boat of the day!
The B&F joins the Tame Valley Canal at Salford Junction. It's a strange and noisy place under Spaghetti Junction. The M6 follows the Tame Valley Canal for more than half its length, criss-crossing at Perry Barr locks, and returning at Rushall Junction before sweeping away on stilts as the TVC crosses the M5 on an aqueduct. It's a surreal feeling looking down on the rushing traffic while steadily motoring on to our own destination.
Our destination was Ocker Hill. I didn't know what I'd find there. Nicholson's suggested there'd be some sort of services, and also maps the Ocker Hill Tunnel Branch, just a few yards south of Doe Bank or Tame Valley Junction. I walked over the towpath bridge over the entrance to the arm, and, by leaning over the bridge, could read a BW sign "Welcome to Ocker Hill residential moorings". Nothing saying "Private moorings: Keep Out", so I was hopeful that I might be able to explore. I accessed the moorings (still by foot) with a BW key and asked a residential boater if there were visitor moorings there. He said yes, by the entrance. Excellent! I reversed Shadow to the junction and went in, all the way to the end of the longer of the two "fingers", then reversed and winded to come back to tie up where indicated, right by a water point. Very convenient (for water, not so convenient for the facilities block!)
the end of Ocker Hill Tunnel Branch
The extremes of the Tame Valley Canal?
Extremely straight
Extremely free of boating traffic
An extremely high bridge - is there a bridge anywhere on the system higher than this?
Chimney Bridge, Tame Valley Canal
The sun beat down ...
... and I got a sunburned neck!
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