The June Rose: Sunday 30 August 2015

Having watched the weather on the news this morning – because we could without turning on the engine with our new batteries installed!! – it seemed that today was going to be drier than tomorrow so we decided to move on. The only problem is that when we start we have to push on to get onto the Worcester and Birmingham Canal as we have been told that it is not advisable to moor or leave your boat unattended at the end of the Stratford-on-Avon Canal which is a shame and unimaginable sitting in Hockley Heath as it feels so tranquil and peaceful here.

So we set off and guess what – yes we weren’t a mile down the canal and it started to rain and it rained and it rained and it rained....

No locks today - probably a good thing as everything would have been so slippery. We had one draw bridge and as we were about to moor to open it a couple on a hire boat that had moored to go into the pub said they would do it for us – nice people. We had to go through two tunnels, one short one, 352 yards, on the end of the Stratford-on-Avon Canal and one long one, 2726 yards, when we turned left onto the Worcester and Birmingham Canal.

We stopped for water and whilst we were filling up a couple stopped on a small narrowboat pulling a butty. They were taking a couple of weeks to get to a boat festival where they sell their pickles and chutney’s etc. Their business is called Wildside – they pick and gather their ingredients as they chug along then turn them into preserves, pickles etc so I bought a jar of “blow your head off chilli jam”. They knew the canals around here very well and said that once we were through the second of the two tunnels it was like a different place and we would be safe to moor by the first pub which we did. They also let us have a quick look inside the butty – fabulous!

So we chugged for 13 miles, left a lovely country village passed through Kings Norton, on the outskirts of Birmingham, and saw some less desirable parts of the country and back into another peaceful country village called Hopwood. There is not much here but a good place to spend a day. We are going to stay inside if it is going to rain all day again tomorrow as we got wet enough today!

A Canal and River Trust man - working on Bank Holiday Sunday in the rain! Apparently people have complained that some branches are overhanging the canal.

They even have posh bird houses in Hockley Heath!

A reminder of home - we used to be moored at the Lazy Otter in Cambridgeshire!

and under the M42 again!

We are not far from Solihull and there seems to be a lot of new development but where is everybody - I know it is raining but it's like a ghost town - there's no sign of life?

We could hear a knocking so stopped to check the prop - nothing caught round there.....still raining!

We wiggled and shock everything that we thought could be making the noise but didn't find the cause!

Welcoming bunting!

Through the draw bridge - stopping the traffic again!

Lots of berries on the trees - does this mean we are in for a harsh winter?

Best get cleaning then!

You get the feeling that no boat window round here is safe...

It's deserted around here - it was probably a wise move doing this bit of the journey in the rain.

Cute butty - it's about 50 years old.

Retaining all the original features!

A very different feel around here.

First swans we have seen since leaving Stratford upon Avon.

The first of two tunnels - shame everything is covered in graffiti.

It's nice being able to see the other end!

Brandwood Tunnel - out the other side.

The guillotine lock - no longer used but recently restored and recently decorated in graffiti!

The wooden gates are mounted in iron frames that are balance by chains and counterweights.

I didn't know that!

Kings Norton Junction.

The Midlands!

Quack!

Forgot to mention - it is hire boat city round here. We followed this guy up the river he is going from left to right - all over the place - the tunnel should be interesting - this is the long one.

A bit close - this is nothing - we wish we had overtaken him - he must have hit the wall in the tunnel between 20 and 30 times - every time he drove into the wall with the front of the boat he then over steered it out causing the back of the boat to smack the wall - we met two boats coming the other way - he managed to hit one of those too!

Leaving daylight behind.

We are running on tick over which means we have no steering trying to avoid crashing into the back of the hire boat! This tunnel took us 50 minutes - Bosworth tunnel that was over 3000 yards and took us 40 minutes - we weren't following a hire boat through that one!