Another hot day - at the outset the sky had quite a bit of blue but with high level cloud and haze. Mid afternoon a light breeze arrived as scheduled and gradually more overcast lower cloud dominated the scene. The later part of the day was kinder on steerers!
We did not have any need to be off quickly as we planned to make a visit to the Dudley Tunnel, if only in a trip boat. Whilst waiting for the first trip of the day - 10:30 - Mike found a paper shop not very far away (it took as long to get through the gate as then to walk to the shop!) Fortunately they did have the right one, but only one (and then there were none!)
We took the opportunity of moving the boat across to the service block and then to turn around in the awkward space formed by the former entrance to the dock which is now part of the Black Country Living Museum.
The new visitor centre, courtesy Lottery money - is still expected to open this September!
When Christine booked the trip tickets as they opened at 10, it seemed as if we might have been only us but by the time of departure, there were around fifteen of us on board.
The trip lasts 45 minutes and takes visitors into three caverns. Originally this was a limestone and iron ore mine rather than a through route and miners dug down from the surface to extract the rock, creating large caverns as they did so. To simplify the removal of the rock, tunnels were driven horizontally and filled with water so that boats could be floated in.
Although the once-abandoned tunnel was re-opened in modern times, some of the original was in too bad a condition to restore and so some new lengths were driven using up-to-date techniques. These use pre-cast concrete sections but to make the tunnel look a little older the inner surface was sprayed irregularly with concrete.
After a short distance we stopped and watched a video about the geological history projected onto a large screen.
Two of the caverns were opened out by the miners but the third is indeed cavernous. As well as being part of the tunnel route, it is also used as a venue for concerts, weddings and other events!
From the open caverns we could see entrances to other tunnels in what was a complex network when working at full capacity.
A new video show - a little history but mainly music and light. It has only been in use for a few weeks.
The boat has to reverse out but uses an alternative tunnel for the first part, in which the modern tunnel sections have been left for us to see.
At the end of the trip we returned to our own boat and set off on a day with no locks!
At first we headed north west along the Old Main Line, passing the top of Factory locks which is where the New Main Line joins. The Birmingham and Wolverhampton levels are three locks different - linked in several places one of which is the Brades flight we came up yesterday.
Much of the canal today is lined by recent housing development, replacing large swathes of disused industrial waste land. Some if the developments are attractive, others very bland. In this case, it looks as if an older building has been Incorporated amongst newer blocks.
The short Coseley tunnel is built to much the same standard as the much longer Netherton Tunnel.
About the only boat we saw moving today was just setting off as we passed it.
We continued until we reached Deepfields Junction where we turned onto the Wednesbury Oak Loop. Today this only runs for nearly two miles to a dead end where the Bradley canal Workshops are located. Originally the line, one of the older through routes, continued to Doe Bank, just below the locks whdere we had to turn around yesterday.
It was quite slow but the water was clear and only occasional patches fully covered with surface weed. Nevertheless, about two thirds of the way along we had to stop to remove the usual detritus from the propeller. We made a little better progress then but it was still not speedy!
The workshops a
With a cleaner prop - and perhaps having cut away some of the weed in the central channel - we returned to the junction about ten minutes quicker!
Is this a sculpture?
The traffic and the Metro cars might be speedy but we certainly were not!
We were now back on the main line once more and another hour brought us to Horseley Fields junction and onto the Wyrley and Essington Canal, generally nicknamed Curly Wurly, with good reason! At the junction a cyclist asked which was was towards Birmingham. Just as well as he had failed to see the sign right behind him and he was going totally the wrong way and would soon be in Wolverhampton!
Again, although the canal was not especially weedy, it is known for not having a lot of depth so progress was gentle. We took a look in the small arm which was once the start of the Bentley Canal but the space available was right outside a pub and, on a Friday night, we opted to carry on.
There are few obvious places to moor although we did not feel that the surrounding urban areas presented too much of a threat. (we were passed by a patrolling police officer on her bike who waved cheerily at us. She was making much faster progress that we were!
We felt that it was perhaps just a bit too far to aim for moorings at Sneyd Junction and also did not want to be within too close a range of the M6 so we eventually called a halt for the night in Rough wood Country Park. Although we were able to come alongside reasonably easily, we still have the defensive moat of water between us and the bank!
Along this canal there have been plenty of the white floating water lilies - elsewhere we have seen plenty of the more common and less distinguished yellow ones.
17.1 miles - 0 locks
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