Mike Stevens' UK Inland Waterways Pages

TRIP REPORTS : THE YEARS BETWEEN BOATS

TO THE SEVERN & SHROPPIE

August 1985

Part 2 : Minworth to Stoke Works

	Minworth locks (right & left)
Erdington Hall Works
	Salford Junction

We had a lie-in and a late (08:16) start. We stooped before Minworth bottom lock for breakfast, then Ian Peter & I went to the nearby hypermarket, returning laden with "ivory, apes & peacocks". Then we went on to Salford junction, where we stopped to study more & contradictory notices about stoppages, and heard rumours from another boat that there were now problems on the alternative (Tame Valley) route. We decided to press on by the direct route unless and until physically prevented from doing so. At Aston junction we made a late lunch stop.

Aston locks	Aston top lock	Aston junction bridge	Aston Junction
	Farmer's Bridge locks, one of my favourite flights.

Aston and Farmer's Bridge flights were both open in practice, whatever the theory said. The Farmer's Bridge flight had been very well town-scaped since our last visit, with a towpath which is now both attractive and safe in wet conditions, and with many more access points to the outside world. There were incredibly noisy Canada geese apparently tolerated by the citizens of Birmingham. At Cambrian wharf we watered again. Aston flight (that we had just come up) was officially closed! Farmer's Bridge had been open for a few days. Word of mouth about the cause of the stoppage had varied from the gallery of the Longboat pub having fallen in the cut, to a breach in the retaining wall between Cambrian Wharf and the locks. The latter turned out to be the truth. The landlady of the Longboat said there had been boats up and down the flight since Sunday 4th.

Cambrian Wharf	Old Turn Junction (right and all three below)

We went on to Old Turn junction and moored at 18:25 just before Broad Street Bridge. There we met a long-distance single-handed boater in a little old clinker-built cruiser. We ate dinner outside, although it was not easy to get the table set up properly in the well-deck. After dinner we went for some beer at The Longboat (since renamed the Flapper & Firkin.).

We had another lie-in, started at 08:24 in dry but dull weather and saw a kingfisher very close to Gas Street Basin, where we joined the Worcester & Birmingham Canal. At King's Norton Junction , as we passed the beginning of the Stratford-on-Avon Canal, we spotted a very nice sign-post giving distances in miles and locks. It was raining heavily when we came out of Wast Hill tunnel. It stopped as we reached Tardebigge top lock so we decided not to stop for lunch. We had good fast run down Tardebigge (attractive flight), meeting a lot of traffic including the old River class boat Susan.

Wast Hill tunnel	Bittel reservoir	Shortwood tunnel
Tardebigge New Wharf
	Tardebigge locks