Dredging on the Stratford Canal

We moved from our Yardley Wood mooring to empty the elsan. The nearest facilities, as far as I could work out, were back at Kingswood Junction (a day's cruise away) or at Holliday Wharf in Birmingham city centre, there and back in a day. Neither option what you might call convenient, given that we wanted to return to our mooring. A third choice was to investigate Lyons Boatyard, half a mile from here. Yes, we could empty the elsan for £2.50, or for nothing if we filled up with diesel. We needed diesel anyway, so that is what we did.

At the boatyard Land and Water were emptying dredgings into a lorry.

We came across the actual dredging operation between the boatyard and Brandwood Tunnel on our way to King's Norton Junction to wind. I should have just reversed back to Bridge 5 - it would have been quicker. Not that the dredging held us up - despite the notice warning of delays of up to 30 minutes, in practice as soon as the operator saw us coming he moved the hopper out of the way.

Brother David arrived just as we were tying up back at Bridge 5. He's come to help me with some fencing.