On Tuesday my daughter and I drove down to Birmingham to be reunited with 'Holderness'. The plan was to move the boat over the next couple of days. When we finally left Sherborne Wharf we did stop and knock for Ray on 'Ferndale' but he was obviously back in the Wellington with Diane away.
We just carried on on the main line chugging along in a a little dappled sunshine and not meeting another boat. Although the weather was similar to to the above pictures, these pictures are from April 2016 ( I couldn't find the camera!). That is why the gorse is a bit more in blossom than currently. This is the toll island on the New Main Line just west of Winson Green Junction.
We stayed on the main line at Smetwick Junction and avoided the 3 lock and 20' rise up to the Wolverhampton Level on the old Main Line.
Made sense really as about 2.5 miles later we would be coming down the Spon Lane Locks at the junction that rejoins the New Main Line from the right
I have always fancied these BCN cottages that are on the Nertherton Branch next to the Tividale Aqueduct where the Old Main Line crosses over. I reckon they would be close to 'civilisation' but be nice and quiet and 'isolated'. They look nice and tidy these days too.
I think from memory the length of the tunnel is 2768 metres and the book says 3027 yards and I seem to remember is the fourth longest in use today. If the light at the end of the tunnel is the end and not a boat coming it seems much closer than it seemed on Tuesday as we seemed to take and gae to apss through.
It was getting a little dark when we got to the other end so luckily we were tying up not far away, almost opposite the tearoom near Windmill End Junction. We were soon settled in and had a cottage pie prepared by Helen at home in the oven.
Once tea was polished off, pots washed and The Archers caught up with we went for a walk up the road to the Old Swan, or Ma Padoe's as it is more normally known. I enjoyed my couple of pints of Entire before trooping back to bed. After some fresh air it was most welcome
2 comments:
Only 46 days until we are back on board! Yay!!
Have felt really envious reading your posts, dammit! And looking forward to catching up - not sure if our paths are going to cross this summer though - where are you going?
M&Dxxoo
Hi Both,
I'm afraid this year is going to be very bitty and will take a fair bit of planning for us. As we are volunteers for the City of Culture in Hull we feel we must spend time at home. Plus we don't want to miss anything that is going on! Consequently we are roughly doing two weeks on the boat and two weeks at home. We plan to bring the boat north and still hope to navigate down the Humber and then the Derwent and Ouse etc. 46 day will flash past if it is anything like it seems to be doing for us!
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