We have now left Brum and the Black country travelled down the Wolverhampton flight twenty one locks and onto the  Staffs & Worcester Canal,    Sybil then went for a weeks holiday at the Otherton boat haven while we used Mr Enterprise to go home  since we returned we have gently proceeded along and back onto the Trent Mersey, spent some time in Stone and Stoke , now after passing through the mile and two thirds Harecastle tunnel we are moored for the night on the start of the Macclesfield ,  last time we passed through the tunnel we had quite a bit of contact with the roof destroying one of our roof boxes but this time we flew through no contact at all ,in and out again in thirty eight minutes.

                                        Enjoying an ice cream at Gailey locks

Best display of flowers must be a fulltime  job looking after them 

A full moon rising over us 

A round lock keepers cottage at Gailey Locks

Nice and quiet here no neighbours , the way we like it

Leaving wolverhampton down the long flight of locks with the Chubb building behind us 

brass house pub

Brass house pub What can I say two for ten pounds no it was two for nine forty nine limited menu but proper sized meals , beer a bit dear but good grub.

Following a fun weekend in Nottingham we are back on the boat again having moved her out of Sherbourne Wharfe we are now moored opposite the Barclaycard arena for a couple of days , tonights tea will be a treat , two for ten pounds at the Brasshouse pub if we go before five o clock got to be worth a try .
The trains were very good coming back from Nottingham certainly cheaper than a hire car although I have just priced a car for our next trip home and somehow Enterprise won this time a weeks hire being much cheaper than the train back to Malton.


Out side New street Station is one of Birminghams new trams complete with  Barbi pink stripes , not tried one of them as the line does not yet reach the canal end of town , perhaps in a couple of years

Bit of a break from writing so just to get up to date again we are now back in Birmingham after some cruising around the Black Country including a three  day trip to Aldi  up the Essington and Wryley canal also known as the curly wurley before that we did spend some time in town including a visit to see the stage version of Mama Mia and also some street entertainment with  acrobatic snakes and ladders .Tonight just for a change on the way back from a rubbish run(walk) to the disposal point we called in at the Fiddle and Bone pub where there was a live band playing music from the sixties and seventies so had to stop for a pint only the one though at nearly four pounds a go but never the less good music Tomorrow we are back in the hands of network rail ? for a trip to Nottingham tickets bought online , collected today good gawping time at the stations ?


          Moored at Wolverhampton top lock quite a nice place despite the main road next to us

Spider men cleaning the windows in Birmingham no hose pipes just a good head for heights

The war memorial next to the library very nice flowers round it 

The two guys in the cherry picker were burning that steel off , it was around ten meters long
supported by the crane on the right  when it dropped and started swinging round , they were very lucky it missed them

a very interesting unit custom made from an Ivico panel van fitted with a new body to look like a full size unit and towing a fith wheel style caravan converted to a display unit they were selling Swiss made luxury wc`s which were complete with wash and blow dry at four and a half grand each
I was talking to the German driver who told me just after he got there his bike was nicked from behind the van ruining his plans of exploring the city while the sales team were in action in the u

                                               the Curly Wurly full of weed

Four young ladies playing three D snakes and ladders

After a good nights sleep today started off pretty wet   but as we had already decided to go into town any way it didn`t matter too much so first was a walk up to the church hall where there was the annual bazaar on with some interesting stalls ,  a few purchases made and then cake and coffee to follow .
After that a walk round the the rest of town checking out the charity shops without success (some one needs some smart gear for the theatre in a couple of weeks time ) after that we went back to the boat with our earlier purchases . then rested and raring to go again  so back up town to Aldi for some essentials and then back down to Sybil for another small rest ,our next stop was the Riverside where the Stourbridge MCC annual show was on well worth the one pound entry fee
Despite what some one told us earlier , Stourbridge is a decent shopping place with all that you need


                        King Edwards college one of the more interesting buildings in town

Nice bike at the MCC show among many others

Hilary liked this one with a bench seat for the passenger

A fair few bikes turned up despite the weather earlier 

After doing the eight Delpf locks yesterday before which we passed through the Merry Hill shopping centre where we stopped to eat lunch but managed to resist the call of the precinct in the  late afternoon we stopped on a small branch off the end of a feeder canal at the top of the Stourbridge flight which we thought would be a nice quiet place to spend the night but it turned out to be a very busy little corner with many dog walkers , fishermen and a meeting place for the local youth under the bridge but as it got dark they all  got bored and went home and although we were illuminated by flood lights from an adjacent industrial site it turned out to be ok  so this morning we reversed out and performed a ten point turn to entertain some of the local walkers and then went on to do the Stourbridge sixteen locks , tonight we are in Stourbridge  ready to explore the town tomorrow


A model display in the information centre at the end of Netherton tunnel which gives you some idea of the intensity of the industry that was once there but is now all park land and housing

half way down the Stourbridge flight there are two locks so near together they seem to be a staircase but in fact are worked as two separate locks but there is only a short distance between the two 

Nearly down the Stourbridge locks only  four more to go

                                Last night  moored up on the fens branch it looks peaceful now
                              just ahead of us is the limit of navigation where the weed starts

A good run this morning from Birmingham six miles with no locks to reach the Netherton tunnel which is one and three quarter miles long  it is around fourteen feet wide and the same high and it is so straight that as you enter you can see the light at the far end of the tunnel , all  tunnels should be like this.

 At this width it means that two way traffic applies but we did not meet any one coming the other way.

Just about to enter , the small white dot in front is the far end of the tunnel

loads of room in here even a tow path down both sides

Yet again we pass under a motorway  on our way to Netherton this time it has its feet firmly planted into the canal with room for us to pass on either side

Safely moored up at the other side of the tunnel

This is the canal system in the Black Country around Birmingham our eight day trip started at Wolverhampton then up to the Anglesey Branch , down the Daw End and Tame Valley and back up to Walsall then back to Wolverhampton down through Cosley Tunnel past the end of the Dudley and Netherton Tunnels to the end of the old main line and turned right to go to Titford and the pools at the end.

                                 Some beautiful ironwork in  the gates at Titford pump house
                                                        home of the BCMS

Just about to start locking back down from Titford

Some very unusual cloud formations we saw yesterday on our way down the A1 yesterday

Why is there a model of the Eiffel  tower at the services on the A1?

Hilary on goose control at the Smethwick locks

Flats on stilts outside Walsall perhaps the water levels do go up here !

Our group of boats moored at Pelsall Common half way round the tour

Eric on the ukelele  at Walsall basin

This is us negotiating the Titford , pools small lakes that act as feeders to the canals they have a motorway bridge right through the middle

Today we are back in Birmingham for the night, we went  down into town today to get some tickets for  the show Mamamia , some thing Hilary has wanted to see for ages ,loads of activity around town this morning , music for youth on in the ICC  and around the library ,loads of young musicians going in ,while   at the same time a demo was taking place down the main street by the NUT  about education cuts perhaps a bit of a clash?

Today we have left central Birmingham and moved a few miles up to the Black Country Museum
We are moored inside the museum entrance next to the Dudley  tunnel the journey was very quiet no other traffic at all just three locks where there were some friendly locals who helped with the heavy gates some nearly two and a quater tonnes but some places had large amounts of rubbish including dead trolleys laid under water flat on their backs with all four wheels pointing up to the surface but still strong enough to knock a boat sideways .


                  A lock full of rubbish trying to foul the propeller  fortunately without success

Under the M6 again almost like the pillars of a Greek temple

Dudley tonight

One of only two boats we saw while travelling today

These last few days have been spent meandering around Birmingham , our mooring outside the Flapper has been really good on the weekend we have had free entertainment from the bands playing on Sat and Sun no admission to pay either .We visited the Ikon Gallery Ikon-gallery.This weeks offering  was based on an exhibition  created by Dan Flavin it consisted of multi coloured florescent tubes in bare rooms some just on plain walls some that looked like doors in corners or bars between rooms perhaps my favorite part though was the musical glass lift that as you started to ascend played a choir starting a low pitch OOOOO which became higher pitched as you rose up to the top floor , great fun


This is the inside of Whites Ironmongers on Summer lane in Birmingham they have floor to ceiling shelves with every sort of fixing , bolt and bracket etc etc , a proper shop! I just popped in for a water carrier but it took me at least twenty minutes to look round .

A pagoda on a roundabout in China Town

The sign says it all really 

Canal side graffiti or art ?

Paradise is being cut into small pieces see two pictures below we have sat and watched these machines at work for ages better than the TV

Yesterday there was a hoax bomb alert and the precinct was closed down just as we were on our way to Spar for a sandwich we were rather curious about all the ladies sat on the wall in their dressing gowns as we arrived but thought it could be a photo shoot Calendar Girl style so it was only when we were stopped by security that we realized something was up and the ladies had been evacuated from the health spar round the corner see the picture below guess who is stood next to the right hand set of arches left hand bay didn`t know about the "bomb" then .

Picture from Birmingham Mail

Our mooring at Cambrian Wharf has one advantage in that we are about twenty yards from the Flapper bar , a music venue so we get to listen to the bands for free .We have spent the last few days exploring around us , Thusday had a walk down to the Bull Ring we were going to get a breakfast at a cafe we used the last time we visited  but got there and found the building almost gone nine stories of it being chopped up by machines ready for redevelopment, Friday Mark and family came to see us for my birthday we had a  walk   out and went to the library a good place to explore , had an ice cream etc.Today we went to the museum , free of course loads to see just got back now foot sore and ready for tea .


                                                A view of us from the top of the library

Gates in the bridges so that the fire brigade can dangle suction hoses down if they need the water

 

That was where we were going to go for a breakfast you can just see the concrete cruncher reaching up from behind 

A little addition this area was called Paradise and housed the old library built in the sixties , renamed by Prince Charles a carbuncle on the face of the planet