Apart from listening to a drunk, who obviously thought he could sing and seemed to walk back and forth along the canal in the early hours of the morning, we enjoyed staying in the Gas St Basin in Birmingham. We were surprised at how few narrowboats there were at the overnight moorings. There is very little boat traffic on the canals so far, which helps get through locks faster, no queueing. The early morning in Gas St Basin was beautiful, no wind, reflections, old buildings, new buildings and just a great place to be. It was a pity to leave.
The weather went a little downhill during the morning, became cooler and windy. Had to put on a jumper. The weather forecaster told us that this would be a respite from the warm, humid weather. We followed the canal map carefully and took the new main line out of Birmingham, built between 1823 and 1838, rather than the old main line (built in the late 1760s), saving many locks. The Birmingham Navigation is a maze of canals and once out of Birmingham, we had to make sure we took the right branch to lead us into the tunnel we needed. Todays tunnel was longer than the previous long one, at 3.9 km (2.4 miles), the longest in the UK network. 2 way again fortunately and we had to pass another boat with inches to spare. We passed the Bumble Hole conservation group on the way to Blowers Green. Names can be a little unusual. Almost a 180 degree turn out of the Dudley No. 2 canal into the Dudley No. 1 canal and straight into a lock.
Stopped at a shopping centre (as bad as Chadstone) for groceries and bought a combination of Marks & Spencer food hall and ASDA stuff. Some good meals coming up. Bought a selection of Australian, South African and Spanish wine. Passed down the Delph locks (Delph Nine), there were 8 of them. They were built in 1779 and the middle 7 locks were rebuilt as 6 in 1858 after subsidence due to mining in the area. We’ve stopped for the night in a very peaceful spot on the Stourbridge Canal.
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