Bumblehole Branch

Yesterday I talked about the Boshboil Branch. About a furlong back down the Dudley No. 1 Canal is the Bumblehole Branch, to which I went next. It's accessed under a very low Dunn's Bridge, so low that I had to whip the tiller pin out at the last moment to avoid it getting bent. Here was a flexible boom across the cut, similar to that at the entrance to Walsall Basin. This time I knew what to do, and allowed the boat to push it out of the way.


There were lots of moored boats in this branch, on what I assume are residential moorings. Nobody seemed to mind us creeping carefully past them.


The branch terminates in a "Y": the above photo shows the extent of our passage along the right fork. Then we reversed to the end of the other stub.


I wouldn't be at all surprised if the other side of the caravan and white van is a perfectly ordinary suburban street, with no indication that there's another (watery) world just feet away.


What a lovely outside lavatory! What a view you'd have from your throne! The octagonal building is reminiscent of a toll house - it couldn't be, could it?


Enter "Bumblehole" into streetmap.co.uk and you will be taken to the Staffs and Worcs Canal and Bumblehole Meadows right by Bumblehole Lock and Bumblehole Bridge (although the latter two are not identified on the mapping website). There's no mention of this Bumblehole.