Into the unknown, twice.

It was a lovely day when we woke up and we were soon up and at them to get on with things.

We pushed over to the services and were soon making full use of them to complete all jobs required. There was a great view of the Museum site and they had just got the fires going. On a warm day it can be a bind I'm sure, but they will tell you they have to have a fire as, no fire, no eating and no hot water!

We were soon passing Tipton Green and passed the statue of William Perry, the 'Tipton Slasher'.

Just before Factory Junction is the Malthouse old stables for boat horses. I'm not sure whether they have made all the paintwork 'shabby chic', or they are waiting for somebody to donate some red paint!

Coseley tunnel was closed for quite a while a few years ago as there had been a landslide from off to the right of the photo. It had been dug out a little and then sheeted and pinned to prevent it happening again.

I will have to check but I think that the Bradley Arm, or the remains of the Wednesbury Oak Loop, is the last bit of the BCN canals that we had left to traverse. As we had time and it was working hours, we turned to starboard and entered at Deepfields Junction.

It appears to be surprising rural at first, but you can catch glimpses of stacks of old slag that shows that there was heavy industry here before. Unfortunately there was a fair bit of rubbish in the cut and it was fairly shallow but it doesn't get boated much.

There is an awful lot of housing that seems to have been built on cleared industrial sites, and there is an awful lot more to come. Some of the places looked very nice. Quiet and seemingly a little spread out, not on top of each other.

You have to come up to the very end during working hours as the winding point is cut off with a chain across the water out of hours to stop access to the C&RT Bradley lock gate fabrication yard. Otherwise it would be a test of your 'going astern' skills as the next winding hole is about half a mile away.

The basin by the factory has this wrecked bridge at it's entrance. It is a funny angle for this direction but the Loop continued onwards so the traffic must of come from that direction in the past.

Once back on the Main Line and approaching Wolverhampton there is obviously lots of land vacated by industry, but there is still plenty going on by the canal. We moored up just short of the basin that has the services in but once was owned by Fellows, Morton and Clayton.

After a bite to eat we went for a wander into Wolverhampton. E had never ventured forth before. The first task is to cross the ring road that actually does fence in the city centre. My eye was caught by this memorial. It is dedicated to Douglas Morris Harris who was a young AB in the RNVR who heroically stayed at his post, the radio set, taking messages aboard the drifter 'Floandi' as she was in action. He was killed still at his post in May 1917 in the Adriatic.

The Colliegiate Roman Catholic church of St Peter's is an impressive building. It originates in Anglo Saxon times and was a Chapel Royal, that looked after the needs of the Monarch, and a Royal Peculiar, which is a church that is out of the control of the diocese it is in and under the direct control of the monarch.

This column is said to be Anglo Saxon from the 9th Century and part of a ruined Monastry that was on the site. Nothing else has been found of this building but a sign said it could be Roman, or a preaching cross of a more recent date!

This is a very nice statue of Price Albert that was paid for by subscription of the people of Wolverhampton and unveiled by Queen Victoria herself in 1866.

I must confess to helping keeping Bank's and Hanson's brewery in business in my youth.

In the shopping area there was a stall for the Birds of Prey Rescue people and Helen loves an owl.

We are mooring here for the night as we are awaiting the arrival of No.1 daughter and partner Joe who are joining us for the week.