Hawne Basin and back.

We reversed up to Windmill End Junction and headed down towards Hawne Basin to see what was there.

The canal towards the Netherton Tunnel and the Cobb's Engine House on the hill. The engine was built in 1831 to pump water out of the mine here and dropping it in the canal.

The canal has plenty of history along it's length with basins and roving bridges and old buildings the whole way. This photo is of an old basin near to the junction. There were several mines sanitary ware factories and steel works along the route.

The Dudley Canal No.2 actually continued to Selly Oak on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal just south of Birmingham. This gave a route avoiding the congestion of Birmingham. There was a long and very narrow tunnel at Lapal and when this collapsed the route was blocked. At this side of the tunnel is Hawne Basin very close to the end of navigation. Coombeswood Canal Trust has taken over a rail transhipment basin and provides a very well maintained facility with all service including dry docking etc. We were just going to wind and go back to our earlier mooring but after a chat we went in to the basin for lunch and a look around.  This is the very narrow and low roving bridge into the basin.

After out tour and a bit of lunch we went alongside the facilities and topped up with fuel at 55p for domestic. The wind made things interesting but once the fuel was full we set off back to the junction. The last of the traffic on this canal was to Stewarts and Lloyds steel tube factory which was a massive place with works on both sides of the cut. The ghosts of which are still present.

Gosty Tunnel is about 500 mtrs long and at the start and finish seems to be of good height if only wide enough for one way traffic. However once you get in the roof comes down considerably and rivals the Stanedge Tunnel for height if not in the sides.

At it's best the roof is high and well maintained brick. There is one ventilation shaft and is actually quite dry.

The Coombeswood Canal Trust look after bthe canal to the junction and actually it is pretty well maintained along the length. However it was sad to see this moorhen swimming in the small area of debris that had been blown into a small area by the wind.

We were soon back at the basin and again topped up with water as we had done a load of washing. we then went over to the moorings and tied up,

We then went on an expedition to Aldi's. My reward for this was to go for a pint on the way home. Aldi's was just about 15 mins away down the towpath and it was very quiet, maybe because it was been extended and the work was quite noisy. After filling a couple of bags and gaining supplies for another few days we moved on to find the Old Swan pub. The Old Swan is a a very famous brew pub from the 1830's. The beer is brewed on the premises and no other beer seems to be sold. The pub had a tiled ceiling and has largely unspoiled. The beer was beautiful. I started with the Old Swan at 3.5% that had a great taste despite the low alcohol. I then tried the Old Swan Entire that was even better with a fuller body. I then couldn't resist the Dark Swan dark mild that was also very tasty. All in all the place is well worth a walk from the junction as it is only one of four left in the country, and the beer is very nice in deed.

Old Swan Brew Pub.