Cruising through Birmingham

Lock gate and raised paddle

The race is on to meet my daughter and her husband in Birmingham. We have driven to Kings Bromley taking 3 hours, loaded the boat and set out on a 3 day journey into Birmingham which we passed on our way to the boat. After loading up we set out on the Trent and Mersey canal glad to be on the water again.



Canada Geese with young

At the first lock the boat coming up rammed the top gate so hard it burst open a foot before slamming shut with the weight of water behind it. The girl with the windlass seemed surprised at the boaters loss of control after whizzing the paddles to the top. That's why boaters should raise the paddles SLOWLY. No wonder lock gates malfunction sometimes with this kind of abuse. We once had to abandon our boat for 3 weeks due to a lock gate being broken while a new one was made.

After that excitement we locked down onto the Coventry canal, and found it quiet. we seemed to be the only boat moving.


Underground boating

In the morning we turned onto our third canal the Birmingham and Fazeley past a vast nature reserve. One of the lakes had been drained and lay as a sea of chocolate earth. Today was Canada Geese day. There were virtually no ducks, swans or coots on the canal but the geese were rearing chicks along the entire stretch into Birmingham.




Locking under a high rise building

Next morning the race was on. Sarah-Lou's train would arrive at 6.00 but we had loads of locks to do. after the first 3 we had 23 locks in 2 miles. Some of the canal passed deep under 8 storey buildings which made me feel as if we were in a series of tunnels and caves. As we started the underground section we saw a man portaging his canoe around the locks. he had a high tech artificial leg and was nippier on his feet than the passing walkers half his age. 
We arrived beating the train by an hour and found super moorings in the centre of Birmingham, quiet but close to the pubs and bars which were bursting at the seams.