Wednesday 10th
April 2019
We left Cambrian Wharf at 10am and passed through Brindley Place and
Gas Street Basin, both quiet at this time of day. At the Mailbox turn there are
some incredible new buildings. It is really good to see an inner city
redeveloped, busy and popular.
At Worcester Bar we passed from the Birmingham Canal Navigations onto
the Worcester and Birmingham Canal with a wide, sharp right hand turn.
Beyond Edgbaston Tunnel the character of the canal and surroundings
change with Edgbaston being one of the leafier parts of the city. The railway
runs right alongside the canal and, on one side is the huge complex of Queen
Elizabeth Hospital and on the other is the University of Birmingham. Beyond the
University is an example of the diversity of Britain, the Birmingham Central
Mosque and Synagogue, both massive, seem to sit right next to each other with
the minaret towering into the sky and dominating the skyline, the tallest
structure to be seen and very noticeable.
At Selly Oak, between bridges 80 and 81, amidst yet more building
sites, is the site of the junction with the Dudley Canal, although the only
trace today is an elevated section of towpath. The Dudley Canal used to provide
a southern bypass round Birmingham, but has been closed for many years. It used
to contain one of the longest tunnels on the canal system, the Lappal Tunnel,
3795 yards long, now collapsed. This bore was supposedly more like a drainpipe
just 7ft 9ins wide and 6ft in height. Boats used to be flushed through with
water from a pumping engine. It must have been a nightmarish, claustrophobic
trip for the old boatmen.
And so we came to Bournville where we moored up for the kids trip to
the Cadbury Factory. The factory was moved to this site from Birmingham in the
late 19th century and the Cadbury family provided a village for
their employees much along the lines of Port Sunlight.
The factory itself is absolutely colossal and the village contains
some lovely housing, many green areas, recreational grounds, public baths, a
small shopping precinct and places of worship. It was though, rather spoilt by
the amount of traffic passing through the place.
Scenes around Bournville Village
Selly Manor
We visited
Selly Manor, dating from the late 15th century, and Minworth
Greaves, a 13th century hall, sitting alongside the Manor. Both
these buildings were in disrepair, purchased by Cadbury family and moved to
Bournville where they are now administered and maintained by the Bournville
Village Trust.
After tea, coffee and cake outside a bakers shop in the village we
went to the Factory Visitor Centre. We were expecting a tour of the factory
similar to the Triumph Factory we enjoyed so much in Hinckley, but the tour was
completely different and aimed more at young children. We enjoyed it all the
same although the visitor centre is completely separate from the factory
itself. We learnt all about the story and history of chocolate, saw
demonstrations of chocolate making and decoration and had the opportunity to
make our own chocolate designs. At various stages throughout the tour we were
given chocolate in lots of guises to eat along the way. Got to be somebodies
idea of heaven.
Once back at the boat we moved on, wanting to put some miles behind us
to reach a suitable train station for the kids en-route for Stratford-on-Avon.
After just over a mile we came to Kings Norton Junction between the
Birmingham and Worcester Canal and the Stratford-on-Avon Canal. There is, or
was, a gorgeous, iconic canal junction house here. However, homeless people set
fire to it just a few weeks ago and we could still smell the fire a few hundred
yards before actually reaching it. The roof has collapsed and the internal
floors seem to have gone. An absolute travesty and a great loss. It is a listed
building so should hopefully be restored but why such a beautiful building, in
such a setting is left empty beggars belief.
Kings Norton Junction House, before and after the fire
Turning onto the Stratford Canal you immediately reach a Guillotine
Lock that is unique on the canal system although there are guillotine locks on
the Norfolk Broads and the Fens. This lock was originally the Stop Lock between
the two canals and dropped the level by just one inch. It fell into disrepair
and, although no longer used, it was restored in 2012. It was such a shame
though, to find such an iconic and unique structure to be heavily covered in
graffiti.
The Stratford Canal has a reputation of being a very scenic and
picturesque canal but this is most certainly not the case with the first 5
miles of the North Stratford, it was pretty grim. The whole stretch had lots of
youths lurking with intent, rubbish and graffiti and run-down tatty housing. At
the exit of the 352-yard-long Brandwood Tunnel there were a number of people
sitting on the tunnel parapet drinking but, thankfully, they didn’t drop
anything on the boat. The propeller kept getting fouled but luckily it was
cleared each time with astern bursts. We would have felt very uncomfortable
having to stop along here, especially with the grandchildren on board.
We moored at the first bit of countryside we came to at Shirley. It
was almost 7pm and we felt it had been a long day. The kids were on the bank
like a shot thoroughly enjoying the freedom.
Weather: a lovely day although still a bit chilly.
Day Total: 0 locks; 6 miles; 3 Tunnels; 0 Swing Bridges; 0 Boat Lift;
engine running hours 4.1
Overall Total: 402 locks; 801 miles; 42 tunnels; 11 Swing Bridges; 2
Boat Lifts; engine running hours
521.0
Comments
Post a Comment