Tuesday 2nd April
2019
If you are in a tent, caravan or canal boat, there is something very
comforting about laying nice and warm and snug in bed listening to rain
drumming on the roof. Such was our morning, it was pouring with rain which,
thankfully, had largely eased by the time we had breakfast.
We thought that maybe, Harvey was not feeling himself today. While it
turned out to be nothing, Brenda went to the local post office while I stayed
with the dog, tidied up and got the boat ready for moving.
We set off at 9:30. It was lightly raining and was very cold. We
quickly came upon Minworth and left the green countryside behind us. While we
had heard all kinds of bad things about Minworth and the locks, we found it OK.
However, passing under Forge Lane Bridge, the boat passed over two submerged
objects that caused the boat to rock and, just before the middle lock, the boat
came to a dead stop on something and had to be reserved off. As a rule,
whenever the boat comes up against a submerged object, the engine is put into
neutral and the momentum is sufficient to carry the boat over it. However, it
is not a nice experience, especially when there are all kinds of grinding
noises.
We stopped at the top lock, with a pair of attractive cottages, to
dispose of rubbish and empty the toilet cassette. The rubbish disposal no
longer exists here and the Elsan disposal was blocked but people had still been
using it and there was shit and toilet paper everywhere. I nearly threw up as
soon as I opened the door, and I have a strong stomach when it comes to things
like that.
Leaving the top lock, we had a terrible time opening the gate.
Something was jamming it and it took ramming the gate with the boat to open it.
I never like doing this, it is hard on both the boat and the lock gates, but
sometimes it just has to be done.
At Tyburn we passed the Tyburn House Hotel, an Elizabethan looking
property that actually dates from the 1930’s, although sitting on the site of a
Georgian property. We passed a lot of derelict looking industrial premises, a
number of them though, still in use. At Nechells the canal passes directly under
an old factory for quite a few hundred yards. It appears as though the canal is
passing through a tunnel but numerous columns are actually supporting a factory
premises above. It is a weird feeling.
The factory at Nechells and passing below it
The M6 Motorway suddenly swept in on our left. And then we came to
Salford Junction. Wow. It is a fascinating, amazing place, a hidden world full
of all kinds of interest, that we had wanted to see for such a long time. The
junctions of the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, in and out, the Tame Valley
Canal and the start of the Grand Union Canal that eventually links Birmingham
with London. Below the canals is the River Tame with some bridges of lovely,
seldom seen architecture. And above the canal junctions is the A5127 Lichfield
Road and above that, Spaghetti Junction. The canal junctions are cold and dark,
dirty, full of rubbish and graffiti, but still retain an atmosphere of peace
and quiet solitude compared to the thundering world of traffic above. A
haunting place that would be little seen except for the few boats that pass
through.
Salford Junction with the M6 and Spaghetti Junction above
We turned on to what is known as the Aston section of the Birmingham
and Fazeley Canal. The beginning had a pair of terraced housing that were
completely dominated and overshadowed by Spaghetti Junction followed by old
industrial units on one side and nice, new build apartments on the other. We
stopped briefly at Cuckoo Wharf to dump the rubbish and empty the toilet
cassette and then carried on to the bottom lock of the Aston flight of 11 locks
passing numerous, blocked up wharf entrances that hinted at the canal’s busy
past. All these wharf entrances would have served individual factories.
At Aston Bottom Lock we had a hell of a time getting the boat into the
lock. The gate would not open fully despite all attempts. In the end, with a
lot of power, we forced the boat through. This did nothing for the hull
blackening but, as it transpired, the boat took a hell of a battering from the
locks throughout the day. Once in this lock about a dozen guys all descended on
us. It was a bit intimidating, it all happened so fast, but they were a
Community Service party who were all genuinely interested in us and the boat,
where we had been, where we were going. We had a right good chat with them and
they helped us through the lock, what a nice lot of guys. Never prejudge.
The Aston Locks got closer together the higher up the flight, at one time
these locks have been duplicated but the gates of one of the locks of each pair
have been removed. All were well maintained, easy to operate and quite
attractive with lots of people going about their business, many on their lunch
breaks from the numerous businesses along the canal.
Brenda steered the boat through five of the locks. It was nice for her
to do and was a change for me to operate the locks and gave her a break.
Mainly, men will steer the boat and the women operate the locks. For many
reasons, but women seem reluctant to handle boats. This has always amused me
because, while handling the boat requires concentration, the locks demand hard,
physical exertion and quite a lot of strength. Handling the boat through many
locks can become a bit lonely whereas, operating the locks gives the
opportunity of speaking with people.
Aston Lock Flight
At Aston Junction we turned left onto the Digbeth Branch of the
B&F Canal, a little visited waterway. It culminates in Typhoo Basin after
passing Bordsley Basin and the junction with what was the Warwick and Birmingham
Canal but became part of the Grand Union Canal when it was formed in 1929 from
an amalgamation of various canals.
The Digbeth Branch is 1¼ miles long and initially passes
through surrounding office blocks and university buildings before descending
through six closely grouped locks. The first of these locks is immediately
followed by Ashted Tunnel. Just 103 yards long but narrow with awkwardly
sloping side walls which would easily catch a boats sides. Beyond the bottom
lock the surroundings of the canal changed dramatically, even more so once we
passed through Curzon Street Tunnel with numerous railway lines above. Graffiti
and rubbish dominated and at Bordsley Basin, two policemen had stopped and were
searching a group of young men.
We entered Typhoo Basin, a hundred yards beyond Bordsley, where we had
intended spending the night. There was a security fence across the towpath so
initially, we thought it a safe place to moor but, once in the basin itself we found
it to be a grotty place. The basin is triangular in shape and the water divides
into a Y. The basin originally served the Typhoo tea factory, there were plans
to develop it but these have stalled. The place had factory walls on two sides
with shrubbery growing out of them and the end wall was broken down. It looked
as though either the homeless or drug users frequented the place with detritus
everywhere. We didn’t linger.
Typhoo Basin
After winding in the basin we started to retrace our steps. We
deliberated about stopping at Bordsley Basin but two guys we asked told us in
no uncertain terms that we wouldn’t be safe. We were both tired at this point
and it was getting quite late. So it was heads down and we quickly reascended
the six locks. There were lots of young people started to gather, but they were
all foreign students from the university living in the adjoining halls of
residences, who had never seen narrow boats before and all were genuinely
interested.
We moored beside Lister Street Bridge just down from Aston Junction,
surrounded by modern office blocks with lots of lighting and CCTV cameras. Probably
safer here than anywhere. The worst we had to put with was the noise of police
cars and ambulances, helicopters and a loose manhole cover on the road that
clonked every time a car went over it.
It had been a long day for us, covering over 9 miles and 26 locks, we
had been on the go for 8 hours. A hire boat kind of day. But interesting.
Day Total: 26 locks; 9 miles; 4 Tunnels; 0 Swing Bridges; 0 Boat Lift;
engine running hours 7.8
Overall Total: 389 locks; 792 miles; 37 tunnels; 11 Swing Bridges; 2 Boat
Lifts; engine running hours
512.6
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