All alone - a peaceful mooring

Friday, 17 February 2012 15:40

It is so wonderful to be away from buildings, people, and ice! We are where we hoped to be and are now moored in "isolation"!

A Junction - but which way did we go?

But Birmingham is never far away from anywhere using public transport - sometimes it seems to be the hub of the country! We are only a bus ride away now .....

This is the rest of our cruise, mainly in pictures! Once past Edgbaston Tunnel, University of Birmingham, Selly Oak, Bournville and Kings Norton Junction things really begin to improve! It was busy at Bournville - half term of course. There were four boats moored, including one on the station side. I expect Cadbury World was very busy, a favourite for families and chocoholics!

Edgbaston Tunnel

We crossed the Ariel Aqueduct and took our last look back at the University. 

A Bleak aqueduct

Goodbye to Old Joe

Kings Norton Junction was ahead of us but we were not turning left onto the Stratford Canal (Lapworth and Statford on Avon could wait for yet another time!) but continuing down the Worcester and Birmingham Canal.

Junction Bridge ahead

Strangely, early warning of Wast Hill Tunnel is on the off side - I am not sure what the column is for - but there is a storyboard about the tunnel and steam tugs and the usual BW tunnel warning notice. They are in what looks like a ruined building. Are walkers expected to read the storyboard from the towpath the other side; do boaters try to moor up or try to read it as they pass?

Wast Hill notices

Wast Hill tunnel should be renamed Wet Hill Tunnel - it is full of drips! It was also very cold, according to the helmsman - I was tucked down below in the warm! 

Wast Hill Tunnel NE Portal

Beyond the tunnel we had just two bridges to go and we were surprised to see that the moorings at Hopwood only had one narrowboat on them. We moored before the winding hole, not on the designated moorings, so have 14 days to stay if we decide to. So we were almost in splendid isolation and by this morning the other narrowboat had gone! Swans, blue tits, blackbirds, sheep etc - I had almost forgotten the pleasures of "country" moorings.

From Hopwood there are hourly buses into Birmingham (146) and so the couple of trips we each have in our diaries can be achieved, via New Street Station, if we decide to stay here. I will keep you posted!