Mike Stevens' UK Inland Waterways Pages

TRIP REPORTS : THE FELIS CATUS II YEARS

LEICESTER AND THE BCN :
SUMMER 1993

Part 4 — Birchills to Shrewley

We started at 08:14 on what was to prove quite an eventful morning. We soon found a couple of mud-lighters drifting in the cut, right where there was some rubbish (including the remains of a canoe, half-full of bricks!). We only got though by bow-hauling. Shortly afterwards, Junior Cat jumped ship in a narrows, and we had to moor and get her back aboard. At Longwood junction we joined the Rushall Canal and, as expected, there was no sign of the long shaft we left behind a few days ago. We had to fill an empty pound; fortunately only a couple below the mile pound so we didn't have to bring the water down too many locks. Through Rushall junction, the Tame Valley Canal was again quite messy. This time we headed the other way along it, back to Tame Valley junction where we re-joined the Walsall Canal. As we started up Ryder's Green locks, Jack Smith saw us coming and set the top 4 or 5 locks for us. We had another chat with him, and told him the rest of our plans.

Through Ryders Green and Pudding Green junctions, we were back on the New Mail Line, which we then left at Albion junction to join Gower Branch and climb the Brades locks (which include the only staircase pair on the BCN). On the Old Main Line we headed for Oldbury Locks junction where we were brought to a halt by a vast load of rubbish on the blade; including an anorak and the year's first pair of tights. That removed, we were just turning into the bottom of the Titford Canal when we were stopped by the lock-keeper (whom Jack Smith had rung to say we were heading his way) who advised us not to go up to Titford Pools as the level was 2' down. This was a disappointment; I hoped it wasn't the regular state of play.

So instead we headed for Tipton junction and the Black Country Museum where we moored at 16:56 on good new bosky moorings opposite the Museum. It was too late to go in there that evening, so we decided to do it in the morning.

	The Black Country Open-Air Museum

We got up late, had breakfast, then Ian & I went to the Museum. By the time we got back, Junior Cat had clearly decided we weren't going anywhere today and had gone off exploring/laid up in the bushes. We had originally intended to head for central Brum for me to go home and finish Excalibur, but decided that the cat was unlikely to come back until the quiet of the evening, so I walked to Tipton station went home from there. Wendy looked round Tipton for shopping but didn't find much. The cat came back too late to be worth moving, so it was decided to rely on her coming back for breakfast in the morning if she went out again.

Orinthia returned & all exits were shut at 05:30. Wendy & Ian set off at 0625, finding the Old Main Line mucky & weedy; more so than a few days before. At Factory junction they turned onto the New Main Line for an uneventful and weed-free run to central Brum, stopping at Sherborne Street wharf again for a pump-out before mooring at the same stop as before near the Arena. Wendy & Ian took it in turns to shop so as not to shut the cats in. Central Brum is hopeless for food shopping, except for M&S which is very expensive, so it meant a long walk to Tesco at Fiveways.

Ian noticed some bad wear on the alternator belt, which meant we'd have to go back to Sherborne Street Wharf again in the morning for a new one. I re-joined in the evening and discovered a good pub just off Tindall Bridge, the Perince of Wales. Much better than the Longboat (which, we heard, was shortly to close for refurbishment). Once again we barbecued, which provided a conversation-point for passers-by.

At 08:14 we headed back to Sherborne Street wharf, fitted a new alternator belt and disposed of some rubbish, then came back to Cambrian Wharf water point where we ate breakfast while taking on water.

We had our usual quick run down Farmers Bridge locks, gradually catching up on another boat. At Aston junction we turned onto the Digbeth Branch, another section we hadn't visited since 1978: much cleaner now than we remembered it then. We winded in Bordesley Basin with no difficulty, retraced our steps for a few yards and turned into the G.U. Bordesley Branch which took us to Bordesley junction and what was originally the Warwick & Birmingham Junction Canal. At Camp Hill top lock we said good-bye to narrow locks (all of them that morning had been in good nick). The next locks we met were at Knowle; wide, stiff & heavy.

We continued south on the Warwick & Birmingham Canal to moor at 18:26 at the south end of Shrewley tunnel. As so often before it proved a very muddy mooring; "Perhaps", we thought "in future we'll give up the habit of a lifetime and moor the other side of the tunnel, which looks good now they've done some work on it." The mud didn't deter either me from barbecuing or the cats from hunting. We played Scrabble again. This time I won. Orinthia caught a mouse.