The Home Stretch for this Year at least!

 After the rude, chilly dip, we took the Junction at Great Haywood and headed for Wolverhampton. nobody really looks forward this as it's not the best part of the country, but there were some pretty spots.




Aquaducts are all over the place, and it's nearly always lovely, but with water going over water it makes it even more special.

We continued uneventfully to the Autherley Junction, where we rejoined the Staffordshire/Worcs canal briefly before turning into the Birmingham main line via the Wolverhampton staircase.  We hadn't been looking forward to this and the weather had turned really cold.  We knew there were a lot of locks ahead so we moored overnight before turning off to rest before a big day of locks ahead.


Already there were some pretty awful sights.  This less touristy area lets itself down badly and the rubbish is very noticeable in the water and surrounds.  

There were 21 locks in a row in the first staircase, so we chose our clothes carefully according to weather conditions.  The rubbery gloves are good for grabbing wet ropes and windlasses, and you swap to the warmer gloves in between, but they are slippy on the tiller!!  The staircase warmed us up anyway, and by lunchtime the weak cold sun was out and we survived it all pretty well. These locks were deep and a bit violent.  The last bit of water shot the boat forward every time until we got the hang of nudging her bow up to the gate. It all takes time to learn, and every canal seems to have its own character where locks are concerned.

Continuing through the rubbish towards Wolverhampton we had an OK stop overnight in Tipton, before continuing on towards the Birmingham Main Line canal.





Wonderful place!
Quite spectacular all the same.

The main line was really wide and there were hardly any boats travelling.  The final stretch into Birmingham was very pleasant.  There were loads of moorings right in the Centre, and a sign to Worcester was a welcome sight.



Birmingham was really great.  We stocked up on some more warm clothes and went to Costa Coffee several times.  Lovely Bars and resteraunts everywhere.  It felt quite thrilling!







We hung around Birmingham for 3 nights, comfortable and quiet in the heart of this big City.  Imagine the price of accomodation around here, and we are just rocking around on the water for free with our own facilities.  A very pleasant sojourn indeed.

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