A taste of Birmingham as we tour the city by boat

Today – Hockley Heath to Lapworth, Stratford-on-Avon Canal, 2 miles 2 locks

We have just come down a couple of locks today to find ourselves a nicer mooring to enjoy the sunshine in.  All along this stretch of canal there are trees, and with the sun out for sure I wasn’t going to miss that!

But it is the story of the last few days that has me buzzing about Birmingham and the canals around it.

We left Dudley on Wednesday in the company of Paul Balmer again who joined us for the trip to Gas Street Basin in the centre of Birmingham.. I showed a picture on yesterday’s blog of us going under the massive structure that holds up the motorway, well here is another..

The old and the new, look at the little canal bridge leading to what is seemingly the countryside!  In fact under the motorway we could see that the huge concrete pillars are beginning to fail, some have metal braces and heavy scaffolding supporting them.. yet the little canal bridge was built to last it seems..

Our cruise soon brought us to the three locks that would drop us down to the New Main Line… The Birmingham Level as it is called.. at the moment we are on the old line known as The Wolverhampton Level..

Such a shame that this building has been torched and the hexagon octagonal roof has gone (“The Smethwick toll house is Octagonal, not Hexagonal.  It’s bad enough having vandals removing the roof, without bloggers removing 2 walls as well!” says Paul in an email this evening!) ... gosh why do people do this.. such a shame.. anyway, I have edited the roof structure.. so here we are then joining the Main Line on our way to the city centre..

We have just come from under the bridge.. Paul is happy enough to be captain for the day in the rain giving me a chance to totally relax and enjoy..  We put the pins in opposite Sherborne Wharf just as one of the rubbish boats came along.. Paul says they travel the canals almost daily picking up rubbish.. tis no wonder the place is so clean..

But with pins in we were treated to another cruise..

Aboard Waterway Routes.  Paul has his mooring here in the centre of Birmingham at Sherborne Wharf.. and around the loops we went.. there are loads of loops off the main canals that used to serve the industry of the city..

Now we could see some of the bygone buildings that lined the canals, I remember when I was here in the seventies the whole of the city of Birmingham was like this..

But this will be pulled down and turned into flats soon too, just like the rest of the centre.. and on round the corner we get to the British Waterways yard, a hive of activity with the rubbish boats arriving to unload, and on the right these are narrowboats that have been repossessed by BW for non payment of licence fees.. when there are about 10 of them they are auctioned off, and after their expenses the owners get the residue of the sale price..

Gosh it was raining hard, it was difficult trying to keep the lens free of drips!   After seeing some of the back door of Birmingham it was back to the centre.. here comes a water bus!..

That is one of the many trip boats on the right, the road over the bridge there leads to the city centre just a five minute walk away.  We toured all the routes with Paul, even to the top of the Farmers Bridge Locks which lead the canal eventually to the Coventry Canal..

The Post Office Tower and after winding (turning) we went the other way to the Mailbox..

On the way back.. I spy!!..

It’s David and Brenda’s narrowboat Mr David!

Phew anyway there are tons of pictures, I will put them into a special album later so you can see them all.. We said a fond farewell to Paul, who gave us a wonderful time in Birmingham.. If it wasn’t for his Waterway Routes DVD of the Birmingham Canal Navigations we would never have brought No Problem here at all.. but all on the DVD is true, it is fantastic..

An evening out for us too.. I had been to take a look around at all the eating places earlier..

Deciding on the Pitcher and Piano right in Gas Street Basin.. there is a picture of that in yesterdays blog, but it was a disaster.  Our meal came and I looked at Vic and he at me.. It looked horrid!  Both meals looked horrid.. I had loin of lamb with rice and he chicken with potatoes in some sauce or other.. but the chicken was cold and the potatoes were also cold.. my rice was lumpy and well overcooked.. the lamb looked very old indeed it was wrinkled!

We declined the food and finished our bottle of wine before going to Cafe Royal just across the walkway.. Yummy yum yum.. duck done in a beautiful sauce and a fabulous braised meat dish for Vic cheered us somewhat.. and with a couple of beers we joyfully made our way back to No Problem!!

We were going to stay another day, but decided we would make our way out of the city on Thursday, so we moved from the BCN to the Worcester and Birmingham canal at Worcester Bar..

There used to be no passage between these two canals at one time. Just the ‘Worcester Bar’  This was to stop one canal company pinching water from the other and goods had to be man handled across the concrete into boats on the other side.. sense prevailed in the end and a lock was built so tolls could be collected.. but that has now been removed and there is just this 7ft gap to get through now!

I missed the corner at the Mailbox clanging into a BW barge that was moored there.. No Problem did not want to turn, and a little further along the reason was made clear when Vic brought up a number of plastic bags and packets from around the prop, enough to fill two carrier bags would you believe.. that made for better steering!

The canal out of Birmingham was just as quiet as anywhere else, and we travelled through the outskirts of the city on what seemed a green corridor, hardly seeing any houses.. just tree lined all the way.  The left turn at Kings Norton was tight, and I was careful not to go aground on the far side after being warned from Paul..

On through the eclectic lift bridge and with the pins put in at Hockley Heath we reflected on what a surprising and wonderful few days we have just had.. gosh, I hope this blog is not too long and boring!

Oh and welcome to new bloggers Graham and Jill with NB Armadillo who we have been playing ‘leapfrog moorings’ with during the last week or so..

Graham decided to try out the clear waters at Dudley slipping off the gunnel.. hope those shoes are dry now Graham.. hey good luck with the blog..

This weekend we are meeting with daughter Wendie, Danny and granddaughters Kiera and Niamh, can’t wait!!