Author: Jeff

We’ve done the BCN loop.  From Gas St to the Dudley Canal No.2,  then around the Wyrley and Essington Canal to the Rushall Canal, then the Tame Valley down to where we entered Birmingham.  We’re now on the Grand Union heading back towards the Oxford Canal.

These are not heavily traveled waterways.  We haven’t seen another boat underway in 4 days.  And some of them aren’t in the best shape, with lots of shallow areas, debris and leaky locks.  We ran out of water in the canal yesterday coming down the Rushall Canal, but two Canal and River Trust (CRT) staff came by this morning and filled it up for us.

Today was another long day, with 23 locks.  I’m tired. 

The weather has been relentlessly pleasant.  The forecast is for sun and mid-teens through the week. 

Some pictures from Monday

Our favourite pictures from Tuesday

There are over 100 miles of canals that were built around Birmingham to carry coal, ores and manufactured goods.  We’re exploring some of them.

Yesterday I was keen to visit the Black Country Museum, and also to go through a proper tunnel,  but got a little confused in my directions.  We went through the 2.9 km long Netherton Tunnel, but missed the museum.  No matter.  We spent the night at a nice park on the return trip, and went through the tunnel again, stopped at the museum for a bit, and continued on to Wolverhampton today.  We’re tied up here and just back from a great meal in a local Indian restaurant.

Yesterday’s photos

Today’s pictures

Today was a locking day.  We did 23 locks to climb up into the heart of Birmingham.  Very interesting, but I’m tired.  It’s a lot of work opening and closing the lock gates, which weigh 2-2.5 tonnes, and walking between locks to prep and close each one.

We made it to Gas St Basin and snagged a good spot.  Not sure I’m going to want to move much tomorrow.  Think we’ll explore the local area on foot. 

Birmingham has a sprawling network of canals.  It’s very cool to be coming into the heart of the city by boat. 

We’re tied up at Cuckoo Wharf.  I guess you can call it the city proper.  We passed through a junction of 3 canals with a major highway overhead and then passed over a river on an aquaduct.  All very industrial and urban. 

Today was another short travel day.  Yesterday we discovered a leaking fresh water system was slowly filling the boat with water, and after a consult with the rental base their problem solver Kevin met us this morning and sorted the problem and pumped us dry.

Tomorrow we head for the Gas St Basin.  It’s not far, but there are 23 locks to climb. 

The weather continues to be entirely acceptable. Sunny and 15C forecast highs for the next couple of days. 

Lazy day today.  We made a couple of stops, and fetched up here next to a lovely pub where we had dinner.  Met a few colourful locals on the canal and in the pub.

This canal leads into the center of Birmingham.  I’m looking forward to a bit more urban landscape, and Susan and I agree that we’ll try to spend a bit more time ashore walking and seeing the sights. 

We woke up at 0300 to phone calls from Mallory saying all flights to Heathrow were canceled.  They were waiting to board when it was announced.  No visitors this weekend…

We followed our plan to go into Coventry, had a nice lunch at the basin, and headed back up the canal.  We’re stopped for the night here near Hartshill. 

We’ve uploaded video and shorts to my Youtube channel https://youtube.com/@jefffullerton2997?si=iTO8KNoEFfi39VOL

Today’s selection of photos

We’re stopped for the night at the intersection of the Oxford and Coventry Canals.  This is the end of the Oxford Canall  We’ve traveled 62 miles and done 33 locks in 5.5 days. 

Today was sunny and warm.  T shirt weather for a few hours, and more people out on the towpaths and underway.  We’ve just returned from a great meal at an outside table at the local pub.

The big adventure for the day was making two wrong turns, one of which put us into a dead end channel full of winter stored boats.  We made it, and got to turn the boat around twice.  To do that you need a winding hole, which is a cutout wide enough to turn around in.  Susan has some video that we may post.  It was tight getting through the packed boats.   I feel ready now for just about anything.

Tomorrow we head for the Coventry Canal Basin, where we’ll meet Mallory and Miles.

Today was lovely, sunny and warmer.  We stopped for lunch in Braunston, then continued up the Oxford Canal to Rugby.  On schedule to arrive in Coventry Friday.

We’re mostly traveling past farms, and have been winding through the hills with a valley on one side much of the time.  Very quiet and picturesque.

I’m feeling comfortable with the boat.  Today I got out my GPS to check cruising speed.  The speed limit is 4 mph.  Our now-standard cruise speed is 2.8 mph, < 5 km/hr.  Not fast, but it still requires attention to stay off the banks and get through bridges and past other boats.

There’s a big supermarket close by, so we’re off for more provisions.  This is a busy town.

Our plans for the next few weeks are getting clearer.  We’ll follow the Warwickshire Ring counter clockwise, returning to the Oxford Canal in Napton to return to base.  If we have more time we’ll do some side trips around Birmingham or go down the Stratford-Upon-Avon Canal.  That’s a couple of weeks out.

Today was a lovely day.  We had a late start and stopped for lunch out in Croperdy, then continued up the Oxford Canal.  Lots of locks, and a few other boats underway.  We were lead boat in a group of three all afternoon, and all stopped here.  We’ll probably see them at dinner at the local canal side restaurant.

These narrowboats are narrow for a reason.  There are lots of narrow passes and bridges where we get through with inches to spare on either side.  Turnaround areas are infrequent and much of the time the canal is not much more than a ditch.  It’s remarkable to be traveling slowly through the countryside on a 20 ton boat.  We were easily overtaken and passed this morning by a group of recreational kayakers.  That’s how slow we are traveling.

Our plan is to get to Coventry by Friday.  Mallory and Miles are meeting us there Friday afternoon for a few days.  According to the online planning tool we’re using that’s about 5 hours per day travel time.

Weather has been overcast with daytime highs of about 8C.  Not unpleasant, but not warm.  The next three days are forecast to be sunny and warmer.

These are our favourite pictures from today.

This is fun.  Susan tells me we’ve traveled about 15 miles so far – about 5 yesterday and 10 today. 

We’re tied up here just above Banbury.  We stopped there and got groceries, and Susan preferred a country setting to sleep so we continued up here.

The locks are a hoot.  I’ve got Susan closing the top gate now, but I was doing it all myself, which is a bit of work.  Tie up at the bottom, walk up to the lock, drain and open the bottom gates,  then walk back to the boat and drive it in.  With Susan closing the top gate I can just pick her up after I’m out of the lock rather than tie up.

Here is a selection of my favourite pictures of the day. Susan will post some of her favourites (sheep!) in a separate post.