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Smethwick Toll House
After helping Sue and Vic climb the Wolverhampton 21 locks on Monday I left them to enjoy a day at the Black Country Living Museum and Dudley Tunnel on Tuesday. On Wednesday I joined them again for their trip into Birmingham. Like many other people, Sue and Vic had been nervous about tackling the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) because of the awful state the canals used to be in and the reputation they had for problems. 
After helping proof watch our BCN DVDs, Sue and Vic realised the Birmingham Canals aren’t as bad as they used to be and decided to see them first hand. It was great to accompany them on their way through and show how nice they are. Like any big city there’s always a risk of vandalism, although probably less in Birmingham than in some other places. At Smethwick Top Lock there’s a toll house in the typical octagonal BCN style. 
On previous visits it had a matching roof but this time it was missing. Vandals had broken in and had fires inside and removed the roof. The third picture, from Granny Buttons in 2007 shows how it should look, with a story about how it wasn’t being vandalised. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was restored to its former glory before too long with a roof where balls could get stuck behind the chimney again. Posted on Friday, 19 June 2009 at 21:11 Comments (0)
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With severe weather warnings issued for heavy rain the prospects weren’t good for today. Sure enough the rain was heavy all night and still heavy this morning.
The forecast is for heavy rain for 4 or 5 days (and probably more) so there was no prospect of continuing our filming by waiting a day or two.
So, on with the waterproofs and off we head back to Sherborne Wharf in the rain and we’ll have to come back again later to complete the filming.
Unlike my last visit to Hatton Locks when there was a shortage of water while the locks were drained for maintenance, there was a surplus this time.
Lots of water flowing over the bywashes which use the former single locks left when the wide locks were installed in a modernisation scheme. Sometimes it just flowed in torrents over the gates as if it was winter rains we’d had.
We’re moored at Kingswood Junction ready to head up the Lapworth flight to reach our home mooring at Sherborne Wharf tomorrow or Monday.
With rain forecast for today we set off from Napton Junction intending to progress as far as we could until rain stopped play.
Much to our surprise it was great weather so we not only made it down all 23 broad locks, to the lowest pound of our journey, but up two locks at the other end.
There’s a 2 lock staircase at Bascote where the bottom lock was leaking so badly I wondered if the boats would get over the cill from the top lock.
Look at the water mark on the walls in the first photo and you’ll see it has gone down 6 inches (15 cm) in the time it has taken the boats to move half way from the top lock.
At Budbrooke Junction we turned very sharp left into the Saltisford Arm. We’ve never been down there before so we weren’t sure what to expect.
It started with a large "Welcome" sign on the bridge, then an arm with boats moored along both sides and a handily placed winding hole.
We received the warmest welcome we’ve received anywhere from the Saltisford Canal Trust who occupy the Arm. They have visitor moorings, a day hire boat, a canal shop an much more.
We winded and moored the boat, visited the supermarket and were all ready for tackling Hatton tomorrow if the weather permits – but the forecast is for heavy rain
We’re moored on the Saltisford Arm aiming for Hatton tomorrow, and possibly Knowle – or staying put if the weather is really awful.
We continued south today, climbing the three paired locks at Hillmorton. The locks were numbered from 2 to 7 which surprised me at first, until I remembered the stop lock at Hawkesbury Junction which must be number 1.
Then onwards again to reach Braunston Turn where we meet the Grand Union Canal from London to join the combined stretch to Napton Junction. Are we travelling South on the Oxford Canal or North on the Grand Union Canal?
There were lots of boats on the combined stretch and I was inside checking the maps to see how far we were going to get today when I glanced out of the front.
Passing us already was Derwent6, crewed by bloggers Del and Al. Not remembers their names on the spur of the moment I stuck my head quickly out of the front of the boat and shouted "Hello, fellow bloggers". Del looked very surprised for a moment but quickly checked the name of our boat and greeted us too.
He grabbed his camera and took a shot of us disappearing in the distance. I did likewise, and was able to retrieve one from our Bowcam showing them approaching.
I hope we get to exchange more than a few words next time we meet.
We’re moored at Napton Junction, hoping to get down most of the broad locks on the Grand Union tomorrow, then up Hatton on Saturday. Any visitors to help with the broad locks will be most welcome to share the work.
There was no blog yesterday as there was no mobile signal worth having – so a double issue today.
Susan joined us at Fazeley Junction where we filled up with water, or at least we put a little into the tank as is was a slow tap with not much flow and we gave up waiting.
We had two attempts to head under the bridge onto the Coventry Canal as a boat appeared the first time we tried.
The first two locks on the Coventry Canal were at Glascote and, like all those on the Coventry, they are quick enough to empty but take ages to fill.
Then on to the 11 locks at Atherstone and it felt like we were waiting all day for them to fill. A brief pause in one of the longer pounds gave us time for shopping and filming in the town.
We eventually stopped a little south of Atherstone for a quiet night, then headed on, passing Hartshill first thing this morning.
With no locks this morning it was comparatively lazy. We just followed the twists and turns of the canal to Hawkesbury Junction, then continued straight on to reach Coventry Basin.
We like to make sure that our DVDs cover the branches so we needed to cruise to Coventry Basin. With the Bowcam DVDs we can’t just cheat and visit Coventry later by car to film the basin separately, but we need to cruise there ourselves.
Then a quick cruise back to Hawkesbury Junction to move onto the Oxford Canal. There’s a stop lock there, where the canals are just a few inches different in levels. Some say this was to stop the later canal stealing water from the earlier one, while others say it was simply a miscalculation and the canals were intended to be at the same level.
We’re moored at Ansty, hoping to pass Braunston tomorrow and be well north on the Grand Union towards Birmingham on Friday.
With Birmingham being built on top of a large hill we’ve been going downhill all day today to escape.
Perry Barr 13, Minworth 3, and 10 of the Curdworth Locks. That’s 26 locks and 17 miles today, with just 2 crew those 43 lock-miles were hard work.
We were filming for the Warwickshire Ring DVD once we had passed Salford Junction so we made the most of the sunshine.
The three Minworth Locks were easy today, then on to the eleven at Curdworth, saving just one of those for tomorrow.
Some of the Curdworth Locks were sporting new red paint on the ground paddles. This clearly shows how far the paddle is up – and when it has been wound fully down.
We’re moored above Curdworth Bottom Lock, hoping to be through Atherstone and near Hartshill tomorrow evening.
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