Wolverhampton

The weather forecast for today that it would be wet. It was not wrong! There were some dry, even sunny, spells in the morning but the afternoon was consistently raining. However, it was fairly light rain until just after we moored for the night.

Before setting off we filled up with water at the tap opposite our overnight mooring. We were the third boat to do so!

The morning was spent level cruising to Wolverhampton, re-joining the Main Line at Factory Junction, the top of the three locks up from the Birmingham level.

New housing continues to replace former industrial sites. In most cases it is a matter of covering the levelled ground with unimaginative 'little boxes'. Here, however, we saw one development that managed to incorporate a restored building alongside the new.

Coseley Tunnel

The brick-lined Coseley Tunnel is not very long and, with towpaths either side, comparatively spacious.

Land Slip

The towpath between the tunnel and the last bridge before it was closed - the landslip is just before the tunnel entrance.

Deepfields Junction

Not long after passing Deepfields Junction the first shower arrived and gradually became more continuous as the day progressed.

A lad's day out?

Just before the entrance to Broad Street Basin near the centre of Wolverhampton, we moored for lunch and the last helpings of Christine's latest soup. Afterwards we walked into town to find a supermarket for a few supplies. It turned out that Wolverhampton is a Guardian-free zone. Even Tesco had no space for it on its stands.

Wolverhampton Top Lock

Two o'clock and we set off down the Wolverhampton 21. From here onwards the rain was non-stop, somewhat taking the shine off what was otherwise quite a good passage through the flight. At one time these locks had quite a poor reputation but they are now all in reasonably good condition and almost all of the paddles were smooth to operate. Each has a security lock - the so-called handcuff lock - which has to be opened and reset after use to help combat water loss from vandals who open paddles and drain off large quantities of water.

One of the locks sported a splendid group of cowslips looking very decorative.

We passed under the main electrified railway line a couple of times - just after this viaduct we were half way down the flight.

Lock 17 is different in that it has a tail footbridge which makes using the lock much easier. None of the others in the flight has this feature which is common on some canals such as the Staffs and Worcester which we join briefly at the bottom of the flight. The lock was also different on this occasion as it was the only one with onlookers - the little child was intrigued but could not be persuaded to help!

Wolverhampton Bottom Lock

Lock 21 - hooray - but Mike suspected that we had picked up something around the propeller in the previous pound so we stopped under the junction bridge to investigate. Indeed there was a collection of heavy plastic sheeting and some binder twine. Ugh!

Aldersley Junction

Now going much better we turned northwards and left the BCN behind us. Just a short distance further and we passed Oxley Marine - too late for diesel tonight but a mooring we have used before is just opposite. We pulled in and tied up just as the rain turned even heavier. At least this time we were able to find a tv signal!

8.1 miles - 21 locks