On the move again after a busy festival

We left Pelsall today, but not before I'd done some more marquee dismantling, bar dismantling, fence dismantling etc. It's good to help out, but I'm now feeling quite tired. As we went past the site after winding it looked a lot emptier than yesterday, when the sunshine brought large numbers of people to the festival.

Just before the above photo we went under Pelsall Works Bridge with its cast iron arch and brick parapet.

The date is 1824.

We stopped at Brownhills for the facilities and an Aldi shop. We had lasted a whole week on one tank of water and two loo cassettes, one of which was only half full.

On the way to Aldi I took a front view of the massive miner statue on the roundabout.

When we got to Longwood Junction the moorings were full; two boaters there invited us to tie up alongside them. We had a barbecue, making the most of the marvellous weather. Tomorrow we should be the first down the Rushall locks on our way to Fazeley.

A thousand amps

At Anglesey Basin it seems the thing to do is cycle round Chasewater Reservoir, so we got our bikes out and did just that. We didn't get all the way round as we called in to the Chasewater Railway at Brtownhills West Station.

The driver of the diesel loco was very chatty; once he'd wiggled it over the tracks to the platform I was asking him all sorts of questions.

The ammeter in the cab is impressive, reading up to 1000A. That would be a little over the top for Jubilee!

I had a good coffee in the station buffet. Perhaps one day we will travel on the train.

After spending longer than we had intended at the railway we returned to the boat and set off for Pelsall. We had lunch at Brownhills and found Aldi. Nearby is this impressive tribute to the former local mining industry: a larger-than-life Brownhills miner on a roundabout. (Next time I'll take a photo from the front.)

After making use of the facilities we carried on to Pelsall Junction where we tied up for the festival.

We are early, but we have offered to help with setting up.

Fishy goings on

We had a pleasant stay at Longwood Junction, just above Rushall Top Lock, but it was time to move on and cruise the five miles of the Daw End Branch. This is looking back at the junction, with the curtailed Longwood Arm on the left.

After skirting round Aldridge we came to Catshill Junction, where the Daw End Branch meets the Anglesey Branch and the Wyrley and Essington Canal. We turned left on the Curly Wurly in order to visit Tesco's, less than half a mile from the junction. Again, the photo below is looking back at the junction. Anglesey Branch on the left; Daw End Branch on the right.

The water here is very clear, enabling many fish to be seen. This one has red fins - anyone know what it is? This is not the fishy goings on of the title, by the way. That comes later.

After lunch and Tesco's we retraced our route to Catshill Junction, this time carrying on along the Anglesey Branch. Here we saw yet another motorbike being ridden along the towpath.

I have their faces, but I don't think I should publish them.

In a mile we came to Ogley Junction, where the yet-to-be-restored Lichfield Canal heads east to join the Coventry Canal at Huddlesford Junction. This route would be exceedingly convenient for us to get to Fazeley after the Pelsall festival; we will, however, have to take a longer way round.

At about 1630 we tied up at Anglesey Basin next to Two Jays.

I popped up the bank to look at Chasewater Reservoir before starting a barbecue. The drizzle held off and the BBQ was another success.

The fishy goings on of the title? As we came to Walsall Wood on the Daw End Branch there was a group of four anglers. They didn't have keep nets; instead they had black plastic bags and buckets which they picked up and took with them as we passed. They seemed to have fish in them. One of the fishermen spoke to me, but I didn't understand a word of what he said - and it wasn't merely a Brummie/Black Country accent. To me it sounded eastern European.

Apologies for the poor photo. And stop that sniggering at the back there. I'm sure there's a perfectly good historical reason behind the name of the bridge.

What's that? You can't read it? OK, here it is.

Tomorrow we'll go back past the Brownhills Tesco's to Pelsall Junction to help with the setting up of the IWA festival.

Huddlesford Junction and the eastern end of the "Lichfield" Canal

Easter Cruise day 4, 4th April 2013

After the overnight at Hopwas we continued north along the Coventry Canal. At Huddlesford we stopped so I could explore what I could of the eastern end of the Wyrley and Essington Canal - or is it the Lichfield and Hatherton Canal, or the Lichfield Canal? Whatever it is, the junction signpost gave the first indication that visitors were not welcome.


At the junction is the building housing the headquarters of the Lichfield Cruising Club. The towpath bridge is gated with plenty of barbed wire to ensure that only authorised people can get through. A swan was sitting on its nest sheltered on three sides by the wing wall.


Across the canal were the remains of a NO ENTRY sign dangling from a piece of scaffolding. Boats were moored on both sides.


David and I walked the few yards to Bridge 83 where we crossed the Coventry Canal. Just under the railway bridge is another access point to the Lichfield Canal, barred, of course.


Pressing on, we were able to cross the canal at Watery Lane Bridge, having walked down a footpath. This is the view back towards Huddlesford Junction.


By taking a short cut across a field we quickly got to Cappers Bridge, whose rebuilding was in part thanks to ...


... the European Union.


We were well over our allocated exploration time by now, so we went back the same way to the boat.

Timelapse: Going down the Wolverhampton 21 as the sun sets

This 2' 43" timelapse film is the continuation of Day 6 of our April 2011 cruise. We'd set off from the visitor mooring at Ocker Hill Tunnel Branch just before half-past eight in the morning and had reached New Bentley Bridge at Heath Town on the Wyrley and Essington nine hours later. This film picks up from there, showing us turn right at Horseley Fields Junction in Wolverhampton and then start the descent of the flight of 21 locks. We meet Andy Tidy, aka Captain Ahab, at Lock 6: he helps us down the rest of the flight.

We pause at Lock 11 to let the engine cool down after it overheated. If it hadn't been for this delay we'd probably have got to Aldersley Junction in daylight: as it was, we did the last few locks in the dark. You can see occasional flashes of torchlight.

As the sun set in front of us the camera picked up some lovely colourful images.



For a fuller account of this day's cruise, including the overheating story, click here.

Timelapse: Ocker Hill Tunnel Branch to Wolverhampton

The sixth day of our April 2011 cruise took us on more canals which seem to be rarely used. We passed only one moving boat all day (10 hours cruising time)!

This 6'49" timelapse film shows us turning right out of the Ocker Hill Tunnel Branch onto the Walsall Canal; then winding in a shallow winding hole (shaft needed); turning into the Walsall Town Arm and tying up just before the basin (I didn't know I could have pushed the yellow boom out of the way to moor in the basin itself); ascending the Walsall Locks; turning left onto the Wyrley and Essington Canal towards Wolverhampton. You'll see we stopped a few times for prop clearance.



The next timelapse film should show the continuation of this day, where Captain Ahab joins us for the descent of the Wolverhampton 21.

The lure(s) of the Wyrley and Essington

Back to our Easter trip around the BCN. On 7th April we were on the Wyrley and Essington Canal, heading for Horseley Fields Junction to join the Birmingham Canal (Wolverhampton Level). Just after the reflecting bridge a man hailed us from the towpath. He asked if we could retrieve for him some fishing lures which had got stuck in the fence on the offside. We obliged. I managed to extricate three lures which I threw over to the man.


Does he look like an angler to you?

Reflected glory

On the Wyrley and Essington, not far from its junction with the Birmingham Canal, is this curious arch of metal pouring out of a building and landing in the grass on the other side of the canal.


Approaching from this direction it looks merely interesting, but come the other way and you see the canal reflected in the sky. As we passed underneath I took the obligatory photo of ourselves reflected in the mirror-finish steel.


The slight kinks in the mirror give rise to interesting Terminator-type distortions in the reflection.

Cheery fishermen on the W and E

7th April 2011

Continuing towards Wolverhampton on the Wyrley and Essington we came to Wednesfield Junction where the Bentley Canal joined. This is looking back at what's left of the Bentley Canal, where three fishermen were having a laugh about something.


Perhaps they were just pleased that we weren't going to go on "their" bit of water and tie up by the pub.

Accommodation for water birds

7th April 2011

Continuing towards Wolverhampton on the Wyrley and Essington Canal we passed two very different kinds of des. res:

A duck house/castle of the sort that one MP famously claimed on expenses...


... and a much more natural-looking huge pile of stalks making up a swan's nest.


We were to see more swans' nests later on this cruise. I'll see if I can get to them before our next cruise!

Curly Wyrley

7th April 2011
After ascending the eight Walsall Locks we came to Birchills Junction where we joined the Wyrley and Essington Canal.


We were now back on waters we had travelled before, but long enough ago for me to have forgotten it. I hadn't forgotten that rubbish lurks not far below the surface, and we had to clear the prop at Brick Kiln Bridge.

At Sneyd Junction we didn't, unfortunately, have time to explore the remains of the Wyrley Branch with its infilled lock.


Just round the sharp left bend at the junction I spotted a bird of prey overhead. Sparrow hawk?


We were on a mission to make it down the Wolverhampton 21 before nightfall - and we were due to meet up with Captain Ahab at the locks (already blogged here) - so I passed on the opportunity to nose into Holly Bank Basin. One for another time.

Engine overheats and Captain Ahab saves the day

So much to write about, so little time before I have to go to bed! Cap'n Ahab has just left us to return home after assisting our descent of the Wolverhampton 21.

This morning we set off up the Walsall Canal, turning into the Walsall Town Arm to tie up there at 1125. There was a boom across the entrance to the basin preventing us going in.


Presumably Walsall Council doesn't want the rubbish floating in to spoil their nice clean water.


Actually the water only looks nice and clean on the surface. Although it's quite clear, there's a huge amount of muck and rubbish down there, as we found when having to reverse the quarter of a mile to the junction with the main line. A shirt got nicely tangled round the prop. It took about 15 minutes for me to free it.

A mostly trouble-free ascent of the Walsall Locks was followed by a reasonably clear run on the Wyrley and Essington to Horseley Fields Junction and the start of the Wolverhampton 21.

At Walsall Top Lock we talked to two young female students who were "just chillin'". One, who lives locally, said ours was the first boat she'd seen going through the locks! Well, today we had the canals almost entirely to ourselves. We saw just one moving boat, Cat Flap on the Walsall Canal. That's two moving boats in two days!

At Lock 4 of the 21 Andy, aka Captain Ahab, joined us to lend an extra pair of hands as we locked down.


It was really good to meet you, Andy. The captain was invaluable when, a few locks later, Jan mentioned that the exhaust was a lot smokier than normal. I have to admit that at first I thought Jan was imagining it, but then there was a lot of blue smoke. We stopped the engine, lifted the deck boards, and were greeted with clouds of sweet-smelling water vapour.


Oops. The temperature gauge was on the end stop. Ah. Not good. I checked the oil. The funny thing is that, this morning, when I did the usual engine checks, the oil level was on the minimum mark on the dipstick. So, for the first time ever on Shadow, I added some oil. Now when I checked, it wasn't even touching the bottom of the dipstick. After a pause for a cup of tea while things cooled down a bit, Andy noticed little pools of what looked like oil just below the rocker cover. Yup. It was oil. Perhaps the rocker cover wasn't bolted down tightly enough. There was what seemed to be fresh gasket sealant oozing from underneath. Hmm. Interesting. I was able to turn each nut by a few flats before I felt resistance. Had it not been tightened properly recently?

I topped up the oil again, and removed the coolant filler cap. You know how you're supposed to let the engine cool before removing the cap? And put a cloth round it? Well, I had a piece of paper towel to hand, so I used that. I wasn't prepared for what happened next. After turning easily, the cap suddenly shot off. Andy and I jumped back, and the cap landed in the bilge. It could have been a lot worse. I could have got a scalded hand or face. And the cap could have landed in a more inaccessible place.

After that scare I topped up the still-gurgling coolant with 5 litres of hot water. The temp. gauge now showed a much better reading of about 90 degrees, so we started the engine, and all seemed fine.


We had been in the lock the whole time, but were not holding anyone up of course, because we were the only boat moving. Now we had to crack on, as the light was fading. There were no more problems, and we tied up at Aldersley Junction at 2055. The last couple of locks were done as much by feel as sight!



During all this, as well as doing most of the steering through the locks, Jan had somehow managed to cook up a sausage, bacon, onions and mashed potato feast which the three of us devoured as soon as we'd tied up.

An hour later, after a great chat with Andy, Andy left to walk back to his car, and I started to write this. And I managed to publish some of this prematurely too. Sorry.