Birmingham and beyond....

If Robert spent as much time concentrating on his work in school, as he does looking out of the window, his work would be so much better. So was the text on one of my school reports. True … the one thing I have always lacked is concentration. I do have the problem of losing interest in things if they don’t grab me. My real worry when we decided to go off on our ‘old age travelling’ . . what will happen if the novelty wears off.??

Well nearly four years in to our adventure, so far it hasn’t.

Every day is completely different. Even cruising some canals again and again it’s different every time.

We have our routines, checks on the engine, animals to ‘battle stations’ when we approach locks or mooring. Carly is tethered to the back fence and Jake is below decks. Jenny says to him . . ‘Locks’ . . and he goes straight down into the cabin. Trouble is he has developed the habit of barking as he goes. To discourage him, Jen has a water pistol and a quick jet of water in the ear usually stops him. Jake being Jake though, has realised if he hides behind the bulkhead she can’t hit him, so its a case of woof woof woof then he pulls his head out of range for the water pistol.

That damn dog is too clever for his own good. But he does make us laugh. Very much loved doggie.

Since the last blog we have basically been retracing our way back heading towards Birmingham. We stayed in Gas St basin last year but only passed through and there are more canals in the city we hadn’t seen. Thing being different every day is quite true. All locks look the same but.. they all react differently. Jenny is the lock master and I do the driving. When you enter the lock slowly as the centre of the boat passes the gate you slip her into reverse, raising engine revs to 1200rpm and gently she slows to a stop in front of the other gate.

Now. . this is the theory. The practise is often totally different, every lock appears to be different dependant on various factors. Wind. . depth of water, people watching. That's when you or rather me screw it up. Sliding in gently, select reverse, 1200 rpm.

Nothing happens...panic !! engine to 3500 !! just stops in time ..big cloud of smoke, alarm in cabin goes off. As I said, every day is different. Met so many great people in our ‘five minute friendships’ at locks or at the various hostelries we have frequented.

As we approached the outskirts of Brum the surroundings started to change. Most of the bridges and walls started to be adorned by what I believe is called local art. Some of it is quite plainly poor quality graffiti but some of it is Urban art, and does cheer up a drab area.

One thing is we are not in a hurry. We take our time and enjoy our surroundings. On a long day (more than12 locks) we started to be harassed (in a nice way) by a young family on a holiday boat. . when you are on a hire boat you have time tables to keep too, to get around set routes to be back at the hire depot on time for the next hirer.

I asked if they were in a hurry and would they like to ‘overtake’ at the next pound.

They said that would be great and we pulled over and let them pass.

The problem is following another boat means one thing, all the locks are against you. Meaning you have to flood them before you can go in. This is time consuming but hay ho ..thats life.

Off they sped, and we toddled off again . . at our pace.

When we arrived at the next lock they had disappeared into the distance.

But the lock had been flooded and we could just open the gate and sail in. They had left a member of their crew to ‘set the lock’ for us. All the next locks were set for us.

A classic ‘one good turn deserves another’

Holiday makers helping out the old folk ..Hee hee.

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We had heard some areas of Brum are not really safe to moor in because of anti social behaviour, but so far we have not had any problems on our adventure.

The one place I wanted to go to was the Black Country museum. . have a look on Google.

It is a fantastic place. If you are near, please go.. you will not be disappointed.

It is a living museum. A black country town all rebuilt on a canal side site. It was just like going back in time for real. All the buildings have been knocked down and rebuilt here. Some of the houses have people dressed in the costumes of the time. Some of the shops were actually doing business, sweet shops, bakery and cake shop, fish and chips, and the local pub. It was very expensive in the pub. We had a pork pie and a beer each and it was over £14.00, but if it helps to keep the museum going it was worth it.

Rode on a trolley bus like I did in Belfast as a child. 

We managed to moor up outside on a visitor mooring and promptly we were spoken to by a local. Friendly chap with 2 labradors, we asked about the area and were relieved to find out it was safe. He recommended a pub or rather a restaurant down the road famous for their pies. Mad o’Rourkes pie factory. It looked tempting..so we thought . .hang the expense, we are ‘on holiday’ so off we went.

It was an old building with character, a bit like a wild west saloon. A few old bits and pieces hanging on the walls. Meat hooks and other butchery implements. An old phone exchange, the type the receptionist had when I first started work in the 60’s made me feel old.

One side was a pub selling real home made ales (which were very good). There was three types on sale a weak 3.2 abv through to a very strong 5.6 abv I tried one of each Lovely , and served in proper glasses. .ones with handles. On the other side of the room was the ‘pie factory’ the young girls who were serving were great. Obviously enjoyed their jobs, the atmosphere was great.

Jenny had a Steak and Mushroom and I had...wait for it ...I had a ‘Desperate Dan cow pie,

complete with horns!!. . It was huge !! but lovely, great big chunks of beef. At a very reasonable price as well. I wobbled back to the boat, with a very full tummy, I also received a certificate to say I had won the challenge. Some people fail to complete the experience.

The next day we did the museum and also the old Dudley tunnels on an electric narrow boat a great day out.

The only problem we had on the canal on the way in was….the weeds. The hot weather caused the weed to grow and when they do they wrap themselves around the propeller and the boat slows down. We had to stop every few mins (literally) and remove the same. We wanted to travel into Gas street basin on the other canal to the one we navigated last year but it was too weedy.

Gas street was its usual self. A bristling area full of atmosphere. The canal side pubs are great. Its a well known place for hen parties and stag do’s. There was a group of Irish fella’s over from Belfast for a wedding. They were on two hired narrow boats, all dressed in Peaky Blinders outfits. They were all very drunk, but still good company and acting accordingly. 

The bridegroom was dressed as woman from the era. They we very funny.

There was also a hen do going on as well outside the pub called the Canalside.

Sadly we were watching at 6pm and we knew .….some of the young ladies were NOT going too make last orders. . They were arguing (in a nice way) who was going to pay for the round !!….Until the barman pointed out . . one had already paid “!!

On the Wednesday we had a visit from two of our friends from Yelvertoft. Jim and Jan. . It was good to catch up and we had a light lunch on board. Jim is the leader of the local Independent chapel in Yelvertoft.

After 4 days in Gas St time to leave on the Monday morning. Again virgin canals for us. We had to wait on the top of the Butchers Bridge flight of locks while a guy filled up his tanks with water. There was a CRT guy there sorting out the rubbish and we had a few laughs with him pulling our legs and visa versa. 

Off we went down the flight until arriving at a lock..Jenny struggled to open it to go in so I helped. Then came the problem of closing it. DOH !! it wouldn’t..after a few minutes of trying (us, as well as passers by) we gave up and phoned up the Canal and River Trust. Within 10 mins the guy we were having a laugh with earlier turned up. A piece of wood had fell out of the collar on the gate causing it too fall down on the pivot, that was why it wouldn't close. Another phone call because it was two man job to replace the wood and we were on our way again only held up for about an hour.

Heading to Hawksbury Junction for the weekend then into Johns at Lime farm marina for the annual engine service before heading home for winter. Its been a great summer cruise. Again this year we didn’t make where we wanted.. last year we failed to get to Llangollen canal this year . . the Peak district canal, but we have had a great time. . met some great people and have enjoyed every moment of it. Thank you for following us old age travellers. XX