No locks were on our agenda today - it is a very long pound from the top of the Lapworth locks through to Birmingham and also, from Kings Norton Junction southwards to the Tardebigge flight. after Birmingham the new Main Line continues level until three locks near Dudley and then to the Wolverhampton locks. A lot of water to lose if the canal is breached and so there are many places where stop planks can be put in place to minimise losses and damage to surrounding properties.
Before long, suddenly as we came around a corner, we met the first signs of the Birmingham conurbation. Although there would be some green stretches on one side or the other as we came further into the city, we would be in built up areas for the rest of the day.
All along this canal, and right through into the city, we could see signs of good work done over the winter to cut back on excess vegetation on the off side of the navigation. This has been a serious bone of contention in the boating community for a few years now and it is good to see that the maintenance planning has taken note.
With this work, at this time of the year the route is generally very pleasant, certainly all the way to Kings Norton.
Shirley Draw Bridge |
Just as we approached Bridge 5 we had to slow down as works were in progress behind a temporary dam. Surprisingly, progress was being made today - they told us that they are constructing two overflow weirs.
Just beyond the bridge is a water point - we had not filled up since the top of Hatton a couple of days ago. Local info kindly pointed out to us a nearby Co-op store so whilst Mike supervised the hosepipe, Christine popped across. she soon returned not only with a newspaper and bread but also several other price reduced items including some tasty cookies. Not long before they came out with the coffee which Mike made in time for Christine's return!
Brandwood Tunnel North Portal |
Kings Norton Stop Lock |
Worcester & Birminghan Junction Office |
!894 Tolls |
Cadbury Factory |
One of the railway lines out of Birmingham follows the canal for some distance, almost to the city centre, and crosses overhead a couple of times.
As far as we can tell, this is where the canal from the Lapal Tunnel formerly joined onto this canal. Last year we went as far as possible from the other direction right up to Hawne Basin, the other side of the tunnel. Work on planning the restoration of the link - albeit with the huge challenge of re-opening the tunnel which was always an engineering problem to maintain at its best - is been building pace in recent years. One of the main tasks is to work with developers to ensure that the line of the canal is not broken making restoration impossible. The land at this end is scheduled for major development and, amongst others, Sainsbury have sought planning permission for a new store (presumably to replace their existing one close by - see here for why we did not fancy stopping here this time) After originally promising to included a good waterside feature into the plans and having succeeded in persuading the planners, this promise has been withdrawn. Recent public meetings have focused attention and we hope that they will be held to that undertaking.
We next passed the extensive site of Birmingham University with its iconic tower at the heart of its campus. Mike recalls having to come here in 1963 to do some work on commissioning a new KDF9 computer which the university was buying from English Electric. In those days, a whole university had to share a single computer and this one had only 48K bytes of memory!
New buildings on the skyline heralded the arrival of the more central parts of Birmingham as we crossed the new aqueduct, which together with the railway line alongside, had to be re-built for a link road underneath.
Worcester Bar |
New Birmingham Library |
Live street entertainment was drawing a good crowd in the very warm spring sunshine and cloudless skies.
The statue of Boulton, Watt and Arnold looks as if it has had a recent makeover - certainly shining brightly in today's sun.
It was as well that we went to the station this evening as new entrances have been created, and the one we are used to is now closed, as part of the extensive re-building of New Street Station. Having bought the tickets online earlier, all we had to do at this stage was to collect them from a machine in the concourse - to save time in the morning.
12.9 miles - 0 locks
2 comments:
That's Shakespeare on the tunnel portal.
Thanks Adam - I also saw Jim Shead's comment and edited accordingly.
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