Monday 1st
April 2019
We have a schedule to keep to meet up with the kids and Aaron and
Sarah and so, reluctantly, we left the mooring at Kingsbury Water Parks. We
would have liked to have stayed longer, but needs must. Such a beautiful spot
though and we will return.
We were awake early and so walked into Drayton Bassett. A pretty
village with an attractive terrace of estate workers houses. We had come to
find the grave of Sir Robert Peel which was, supposedly, in the churchyard.
However, we couldn’t find his grave but did find the grave of his father and
grandfather.
Although regarded as overpriced by the locals, many of these houses appeared decidedly neglected.
It has been lovely watching the spring arrive. All the buds, blossom
and new leaf growth on the trees and the spring flowers. The hawthorn blossoms
all along the canal here are a delight.
A gorgeous day, we cruised along the long straights and arrived at
Curdworth Bottom Lock. All along this stretch of canal we were seeing tubes
made of chain link fencing stuffed with straw and suspended from the banks on
the towpath side, hanging just below the surface of the canal. One section ran continuously
for over ¾
mile. Presumably these are to attract the growth of reeds. Really annoying to
see this. Not only does this prevent boats from mooring but the resulting reed
beds will encroach on the canal and make it narrower. Overhanging trees and
bushes already do this without deliberately making the water way narrower
still.
The Curdworth flight consists of 11 locks. A real baptism of fire after
a long winter with very few locks and a harbinger of things to come before Gas
Street Basin in the heart of Birmingham is reached. However, the flight is very
pretty. The locks themselves are unusual in that they all have a single bottom
gate as opposed to two, which would be the norm on narrow locks. The bottom
lock with its canalside cottages and swing bridge was very pretty as were locks
3 and 4 with their cottages and old workshop and stable block.
Curdworth Bottom Lock
There were many planes flying low overhead, in and out of nearby
Birmingham International Airport. At one point a huge Emirates plane flew over
very low.
As we got further up the locks the M42 gradually got closer to the
canal, passing right next to the penultimate lock of the flight. There were
volunteer lock keepers on hand to help with the last couple of locks although
one of them was a very strange character who seemed more concerned with putting
pages of a magazine between the lock gate to check for leakage.
We took on water at Dunton Wharf before passing under the M6 Toll Motorway
and reaching the last lock of the flight. This lock is not the original. The
position of the lock was moved 150 yards closer to Birmingham when the motorway
was constructed. The canals are a different world, well removed. We passed under
the toll motorway and, off to our left, we could see the huge, complicated M6
Toll/M42 motorway intersection but we were in such a peaceful, tranquil
setting, it was a bit surreal.
Curdworth Top Lock with the M6 Toll Motorway Bridge behind
A few hundred yards after the last lock Curdworth Tunnel is reached.
At just 57 yards long, it stretches the imagination that this could be called a
tunnel, we have been under road bridges that are longer. Canal builders built tunnels
as a last resort, they were difficult to build, were expensive and took a lot
longer to construct than a cutting. All tunnels are preceded by a cutting and obviously,
the builder reaches a point where it is more practical to build a tunnel.
Curdworth is a prime example of where you ask yourself why a tunnel was
necessary and why they didn’t just continue with the cutting and dispense with
a tunnel. The tunnel was just wide enough for the boat. It has a towpath
through it but there are a few very awkward kinks in the bore and, right at the
end, the sidewall curves inwards dramatically and could easily catch a boater
out. There was much evidence of this with deep gouges having been taken out of
the brickwork where boats have hit the tunnel wall.
We moored just beyond the tunnel, a stones throwaway from Cudworth
village. We walked into what is regarded as the village but found it to be no
more than roadside housing along a very busy A4097 road. We had a few pints in
the White Horse. This appeared, from the outside, to be a fine eating
establishment, no dogs allowed. However, while the food looked good, we were made
most welcome. We sat next to shelving containing a great variety of books but we
both felt so tired we almost fell asleep in there.
Weather: much colder, but a bright, clear day.
Day Total: 11 locks; 4 miles; 1 Tunnel; 0 Swing Bridges; 0 Boat Lift;
engine running hours 3.5
Overall Total: 363 locks; 783 miles; 33 tunnels; 11 Swing Bridges; 2
Boat Lifts; engine running hours
504.8
Comments
Post a Comment