I told you a lie, there are actually 4 tunnels between Hockley Heath and Tardebigge. However, yesterday (Thur) we only did the trip between Hockley Heath and Hopwood which included 2 of the tunnels. We weren’t really sure where we were going to stop and thought we may have to go all the way to Tardebigge in one day, We left at a reasonable hour just in case and were soon absolutely frozen! It was dull and the wind was very chilly. We ended up with nearly all our winter clothes on!
We didn’t make much headway before we encountered the first of many hold ups. this was a lot of inline moorings at Earlswood Yacht Club which was quite a long slow process to get past. The next obstacle to overcome was the Shirley Drawbridge which is electrically operated and obviously closes the road. It is easy enough to operate but just as I was lowering the barrier which closes the road a very impatient Morrison’s delivery driver drove straight over the bridge and I nearly brought the barrier down on top of his van!
After this we encountered some CRT chaps chopping down a tree on the off side of the canal and dragging the logs across the canal to the towpath to be taken away. This held us up for about 5 minutes. A bit further on there were some contractors resurfacing the towpath and they had a barge and tug to take supplies down the canal to where some more work was taking place. Just outside Lyon’s Boatyard they made a rather aggressive manouvre just in front of us which resulted in our boat being thrown across the canal by their wash straight into the bank at the boat yard! We had to be pushed off by a chap working there!
We got going again and caught them up doing their delivery. Fortunately this time they waited until we had gone past before they pulled out. As we did go past I heard one of the workmen say their barge had become detached from the bank round the corner and was right across the canal. He didn’t say anything to us though.
Sure enough when we got round the corner there it was. We just shoved it out of the way and went past. It wasn’t as if they didn’t know it was loose and they had a tug there so they could have rescued it themselves.
Immediately after this was the first tunnel, Brandwood. It is only a small one 352yds and we were soon through it and through King’s Norton Junction. We stopped here for water and to empty the loo but couldn’t find any trace that there had ever been an elsan disposal there although it said there was in the Nicholson’s.
Underway again and the Wast HIlls tunnel beckoned. This one is a bit longer at 2726yds and took 30 mins to get through. About half a mile after this, at Hopwood, we spotted some nice moorings opposite a caravan park and there was a pub too. Bonus as we were looking for somewhere to have a meal for our wedding anniversary. We stopped and last night we had a very nice meal in the Hopwood House pub.
Unfortunately the caravan side opposite the moorings was not a touring site but a traveller site and we were plagued by small motorbikes and quadbikes with excitable children and even more excitable adults riding around and generators running until all hours.
Today we have travelled the rest of the way, 5 miles and 2 more tunnels, to Tardebigge where a flight of 30 locks awaits us in the morning. Well, 29 actually because after mooring at the top, opposite the sanitary station, walking 2.5 miles down the locks to the Queen’s Head and then 2.5 miles back up we decided to do the top lock and moor below because the moorings were a lot more pleasant down there.
We have started a trend again because when we moored there was only one other boat here even though it was gone 4pm and several other boats have since joined us, including an Anglo Welsh which managed to clunk us up the backside while mooring. God knows how they did that because there is loads of room behind us!
So it’s locks, locks, locks tomorrow.
