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2023 - The BCN.

Crew :  Pete W, Stan, Alan, Pete M, Dave [BTS1], John & Chris

Boat :  Danny Boy 

From :  Anglowelsh, Tardebigge

Route :  Tardebigge > Birmingham > Tipton > Walsall Town Basin > Wolverhampton [w] > Netherton > Delph Bottom Lock > Fens Branch [w] > Delph Top Lock > Netherton > Hawne Basin [w] > Gosty Hill > Birminhgam > Alvechurch > Tardebigge.

Coverage :  92 miles and 37 locks.

Notes : Following last year's abortive attempt to pass through Standege Tunnel - caused mainly by C&RT's inability to actually maintain the canals in a navigable state, we decided to find:

a) A route which does not have too many locks, any one of which could potentially fail and delay us

b) A route which in the event of a lock failure actually occurring, would probably have an alternative route available around the closure.

Finding such an alternative route would be extremely unlikely were we to do one of the standard "ring" routes. On a ring route, any single lock failure would pretty much guarantee that we wouldn't get the boat back on time. This in turn causes issues to ourselves, issues to the hire company and issues to any subsequent hirers. 

As it turned out, there was already a lock flight closure on the BCN  [Ashted Locks]  and there was also a diversionary route available around that closure - thus vindicating the choice.

One difference with this year's trip was that there was no specific route set in advance. We decided that in the light of the state of the system, it might be better to get somewhere - well, wherever we can get to, then once there, to decide where to go next.

Saturday 20th May

Morning :  With Alan having ascertained that the boat was out on hire the previous week and would need to to be prepared, we decided to meet at the boatyard at about 13:00. John & Chris took Alan and Pete W took Stan and Dave, and picked up Pete M at Trowell Services on the M1. Pete W et al arrived at the boatyard at about 12:45 to find that the boat was ready, and the staff were prepared to start the handover process straight away. They were part way through the handover when John, Chris and Alan arrived. We eventually departed the boatyard at 13:30.

Afternoon :  No stop. Despite the relatively early getaway, and the fact that there probably was enough time for a quick stop at The Weighbridge in Alvechurch, we decided against it as today was their Spring Beer Festival, and the pub would probably be extremely busy. This was seen to be the case as we passed by.

Evening :  Birmingham. We arrived at Gas Street at about 18:00. The whole area was extremely busy and very noisy with drinkers enjoying the sun and the crappy lager. We crept through Gas Street trying to avoid the goboats - whoever thought that the idea of small boats full of pissed-up partygoers mixing with big heavy steel narrowboats would be a good idea, needs their head examining !  Sadly, it may only be a matter of time until there is a serous incident. We crept on past The Worcester Bar and on to Cambrian Wharf. Here, Pete W began the turn towards Farmers Bridge to see if our usual mooring spot alongside the NIA by Tindal Bridge was available, but it wasn't, so he had to reverse out again. We eventually found a spot just before Sheepcote Street Bridge, where we moored. We then went to The Prince of Wales. Having been "tinned-up" [i.e. closed and secured with steel sheets] and up for sale the last time we were here, it was extremely pleasing to find that it is now a thriving Black Country Ales pub, and it would be the first of several we would visit. We had numerous pints of Pig on the Wall Mild followed by heading to The Barajee for a curry. When Stan suggested he would prefer to stay in the pub and just have a cob or two, Pete W [..rather surprisingly - as he has never been known to turn down a curry..] decided to join him. Neither of them went for the curry. Instead, they stayed in the pub and had several more pints of Mild, a couple of cobs and a rather nice pasty, while everyone else went for the curry. After the curry, the curry-ees returned to The Prince of Wales for a few more pints before all retiring to the boat for the now obligatory port & Stilton.

Sunday 21st May

Lunch :  Tipton.  Sunday's plan - such as it had been - was to go to Walsall for the lunchtime stop. This was not to be. We left Birmingham at 07:30 and traveled along the main line to Pudding Green Junction where we turned on to The Walsall Canal. Yet again, we had issues with the Ryders Green flight, though not quite as bad as in 2018. [ see 2018 ] This time, we were coming down the flight, and so were bringing some water with us - though nowhere near enough. The bottom three pounds were already low, and the longer pound between locks 7 & 8 was almost empty. Attempting to run water down from the two pounds above it only succeeded in almost emptying them as well. In the end, Pete W walked back up to the top and ran water down the whole flight until that bottom pound was passable. This took well over an hour as it included having to refill all the low pounds in between. Due to the delay, we decided to stop at Tipton instead of pushing on to Walsall.  We moored on what looks like an old wharf near Hempole Lane Bridge and went to The Rising Sun. After several pints here, we left the pub at 15:30 and set off for Walsall.

Afternoon :  Another round of 'Down the weedhatch'. . .  As we approached Woodwards Bridge, we caught something serious on the prop. The engine almost stopped and there was a load of 'banging and clattering' in both forward and reverse gears. Pete W went down the weedhatch first to find the prop covered in the usual sort of rubbish, but there was also a metal bar wrapped round it. He managed to get some of the rubbish off but could not get the bar off as it appeared to be held in place by some sort of un-tearable fabric. Unfortunately, as Pete W had a bad back at the time, he found he could not get the necessary leverage to get it off, so Dave then took over. Bit by bit this fabric was slowly cut away until the bar could eventually be removed.  After about an hour, the prop was cleared and we could continue to Walsall. After all his sterling work, Dave was awarded a Token-pass, which meant that he didn't need to buy the round the next time he had the Token, but instead was allowed pass it straight on.

Evening :  Walsall.  After a bit of a struggle to reverse the boat into the pontoon in Walsall basin, we repaired to The Black Country Arms for a well needed pint or several. As we were quite late arriving in Walsall, we did not go anywhere else to eat. Instead, we had beer and cobs in the pub, and we decided to go to Wolverhampton the following day.

Monday 22nd May

Lunch :  Wolverhampton.  We left Walsall Town Basin at 08:00 and had climbed the Walsall flight by 09:00.  At Birchills Junction we turned left on to The Wyrley & Essington Canal [... also known as the Curly-Wurly...] and we headed towards Wolverhampton. We passed under Raybould's Bridge [ see 2018 ] with no problem this time. The plan had been to take water in the basin at Wolverhampton, to wind, then to moor on our usual spot between the basin and the station. When we arrived, there were already two boats on the mooring, which left only one space for us. That's OK then we thought - we'll take water and moor there - but by the time we had filled the tank, another boat had arrived and had moored there so we had to nowhere to moor. Pete W went for a quick recce and found there were moorings available just above the top lock, so we reversed the boat out of the basin, reversed under Broad Street Bridge and reversed on to the moorings. After mooring, we repaired to The Great Western for a nice long lunchtime session.

Afternoon :  Whilst in The Great Western, we decided that we would stay in Wolverhampton that evening. After leaving the pub, we returned to the boat for a short afternoon siesta before we set off into the town.

Evening :  After the afternoon siesta, we set off for The Posada - which for some reason triggered a new game worthy of ISIHAC - how many words can be used to name The Posada.. It became The Pegoda, The Passander and The Poseidon among others. After a couple of pints here, we went to The Dilshad for an excellent curry followed by The Lychgate (another fine BCA pub) where we had a couple more pints. After deciding to go to Netherton in the morning, we returned to the boat for the port and the Stilton.

Tuesday 23rd May

Lunch :  We left Wolverhampton at 08:15 and set off for Netherton. We arrived at Bishton's Bridge at about 11:30, where we moored. We then walked up the long [..but not very steep..] hill to The Olde Swan - also known as Ma Pardoe's  for the lunchtime session. The pub was fairly busy even though the front bar was not actually open when we arrived. Soon, one of the barmen showed us through to the front bar and we had several pints and a long chat with the landlord. We eventually left the pub at about 16:00.

Evening :  We departed Bishton's Bridge at about 16:20 and headed for Delph Locks. We descended Delph locks, and were moored in the small basin above the bottom lock by 18:30. We had a pint and a meal in The Tenth Lock before tackling the long hill up to The Vine - more commonly known as The Bull and Bladder where we had an excellent evening session.

Wednesday 24th May

Morning :  In the morning before we set off, there was a short discussion as to whether we should go down the Stourbridge 16 to either Stoutbridge itself, or even on to Kinver. We decided that Kinver was probably too far with the remaining time, and that doing 32 locks just for a session in Stourbridge might also prove a little too much for us. Instead, we decided to do The Fens Branch, then go back up to the top of The Delph. We knew full well that there was nothing on The Fens Branch, but like so many bits of canal, we had to do it  just because it's there ! 

As we prepared to set off, another boat came down, moored and the steerer began to work the bottom lock. At the same moment, a C&RT maintenance team arrived. At first we feared there was going to be a delay, but they said they were not doing anything to close the lock and that they could work around us. The steerer of the boat then told us he was single-handing three boats to Nantwich - we were all curious to see how he was going to do that - one boat towing the other two perhaps ?  It turned out that what he actually meant was that there were three boats all single-handing to Nantwich, and they were following him down the flight. We set off after he had cleared the bottom lock, and before the others arrived. He advised us that he had left his boat on the lock landing to go back up to help the other two down, but it did not cause us any problem. Sod's law says we'd probably meet them all on our way back from The Fens Branch !

Lunch :  We left the basin at Delph bottom lock at 09:00 and headed for The Fens Branch. At Leys Junction, we turned on to The Fens Branch. One of our more recent copies of Nicholson's states that the disused railway bridge just beyond Brockmoor Junction is the limit of navigation, so we decided to wind here rather than risk getting stuck. The Stourbridge Extension Canal beyond the Brockmoor Junction Bridge looks navigable, though looks can be deceptive. As there is nowhere to wind on that canal, we would either have to go forward-in-reverse-out or reverse-in-forward-out. 

The Fens Branch.  Brockmoor Junction [under the bridge] leads to The Stourbridge Extension Canal. This looks navigable, but looks can be deceptive.

After winding at Brockmoor Junction, we returned the way we had come. As sod's law would have it, we did meet the three boats on our way back... The first two we met were close  together on a blind corner, and the third was on a narrow bend opposite a boatyard/mooring. Having successfully passed all three, we eventually climbed Delph Locks and were moored at the top by 12:00. We repaired to The Bull & Bladder again for a little light sustenance.

Evening :  We left the mooring at at Delph at about 16:00 and headed for Netherton again. We stopped at the services at Blower's Green to take water, eventually arriving at Bishtons Bridge at 17:30. We made a brief foray to the local Aldi for some groceries, and some cash for Pete W. The groceries were bought, but unlike Pete W's two local Aldi stores, this one did not have a cash machine. We then made our way back toward Ma Pardoe's where Pete W was finally able to get some cash at a garage on the way. On arrival, we ate, we drank and we made merry.

Thursday 25th May

Morning :  After some discussion as to where we could get to next, we decided to go down to Hawne Basin and wind, then investigate The Boat at Gosty Hill [...or is that Gorsty Hill ? ] As it no longer appeared on the CAMRA Whatpub app, we assumed that The Boat would most probably be closed, so we located two alternative pubs to try.

Afternoon :  We left Bishtons Bridge at 09:30, had winded at Hawn Basin by 11:10 and were moored up at the northern end of Gosty Hill Tunnel by 12:00. Initial investigation showed that The Boat was in fact closed. There was also a "for sale" sign up, but it was unclear whether this referred to the pub or the land next door. Either way, the pub did not look like much a pub as it had had some very modern and somewhat incongruous uPVC windows fitted. There were two alternative pubs - The Bell and Bear  and  The Lighthouse. Both seemed to be a bit of a walk away. The nearest one seemed to be the Bell & Bear so we set off. Pete W used his phone map to find a short cut through an estate, but what the map didn't show was the steep climbs. The first road was fairly steep, the second was much steeper and that last bit was steps !  We eventually arrived at the Bell & Bear wheezing and sweating, to be greeted by Batham's bitter and Wye Valley HPA. At one point, while Pete M went outside to set fire to himself, he decided to take a quick look at The Lighthouse, only to report that it was advertising itself as some sort of modern cafe bar and we probably wouldn't have liked it anyway - even if it had been open. After several pints in The Bell & Bear, we walked back down the steps and the steep hill to the boat and departed for Birmingham at 15:15.

We passed through Gosty Hill Tunnel, and winded at the entrance to Hawne Basin.

Evening :  Birmingham.  We left Gosty Hill and passed through Netherton Tunnel. We arrived in Birmingham at about 18:55 and moored in exactly the same spot as we had on Saturday evening. We repaired to The Prince of Wales again for a few pints, then we went to The Barajee again for a curry. This time, we all went. We then returned to The Prince of Wales  for a few more pints before returning to the boat.

Friday 26th May

Morning :  The previous evening, we had had a short discussion as to where else we could possibly go between here and Alvechurch. The Blue Bell Cider House at Waring's Green and The Drawbridge at Shirley were mentioned, but all seemed a little too far. The consensus was that we could have a late-ish start, then go straight to Alvechurch and stop there for the rest of the day.

Lunch :  We left Birmingham at about 08:45 and were moored in Alvechurch by 13:20 where we repaired to The Weighbridge. In previous years, this pub had closed at 15:00, but now it is open all day Thursday to Sunday. We had numerous pints of Hobson's Mild and booked a table for an evening meal at 20:00. After numerous pints of Hobson's Mild, we returned to the boat at about 16:00 for another afternoon siesta. 

Evening :  At about 19:30, we returned to The Weighbridge where we ate and had several more rounds of Hobson's Mild. Towards the end of the evening, Chris asked for some stout instead of the mild. This stout had just gone off but had been replaced by Enville Ale. This resulted in 5 and a half pints pints of Enville Ale and probably the most expensive round of the week, even though Alan had already failed and been taken out of service. After a long chat with the assistant manager, we eventually left the pub and returned to the boat for the final night's port and Stilton.

Saturday 27th May

Morning :  We left Alvechurch at about 07:45 for the short run back to Tardebigge, arriving back at the boatyard at about 08:40. We unloaded the boat, loaded the cars and set off back. John & Chris took Alan, and Pete W took Stan, Dave and Pete M. Although we had picked Pete M up at Trowell Services, he had arranged for his wife to pick him up at a lay-by on the A610 instead. After an emergency pee stop at Trowell Services, Pete M said that she was already waiting at the lay-by. This was at the next junction and was only a couple of minutes away, but when we arrived, she wasn't there. It transpired that she was waiting in the lay-by on the opposite side of the dual carriageway, so after a short scenic tour of a local estate caused by Pete W taking a wrong turn off the roundabout, we eventually met up and dropped Pete M off. We then made our way to The Karachi in Bradford for a curry, followed by a visit to The New Al Halal  supermarket before heading back to York.

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