Day 37 - still in Birmingham.

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0 locks, 200 in total.







Our second day in Birmingham and I braved the shopping area for replacement glasses (to be delivered to their Nantwich branch) and Esme's birthday present (to be ordered online now as their stock was so limited).







We paid dearly for my smug comments yesterday about lack of rain – the heavens well and truly opened during the evening and water came in the stern door and round 3 of the windows but we caught it quickly and no damage done.







We have had a change of plan thrust upon us. The main route out of Birmingham and through Wolverhampton has a flight of 22 locks and 2 nights ago vandals drained several sections of this by opening up top and bottom paddles on some locks. When engineers came to check after it was refilled they noticed that the wall of one lock was collapsing inwards. We waited all day for the verdict which was that the repairs should be finished by 12^th July – according to the lady at the local BW office, this section is the canal equivalent of the M25 with the amount of usage it gets so there will be many unhappy boaters. We have decided to turn left onto the Dudley and Stourbridge canals a short way out of Birmingham, turn right onto the Staffordshire & Worcester and this will lead us up to the Shropshire Union and back onto our route. The downsides - more than twice the distance to travel, I think almost double the number of locks, we miss the Black Country Museum and we go through Netherton Tunnel which is nearly 2 miles long. This is why you can't plan a canal trip! I scoured the shops for the canal guide to this new area but to no avail – we have some apps and the internet but it's not the same.

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Photos

Farmers Locks, B'ham & Fazeley
And the BT Tower!

Hope this will enlarge for you....
.... it shows all the old canals, not just what remain. There were 180 miles of canals in Birmingham in the canal heyday but there are only 100 miles now.

Town Hall - very pale grey stone
It looked better than this in real life.

Joseph Chamberlain tribute
A Victorian mayor who set in motion a huge civic building and public works programme.

!
Perhaps leading tourists around different routes? They do this in St Helier Hospital too!

The Mail Box
A very upmarket shopping development on the site of the once largest postal sorting office in England.

BBC HQ in The Mail Box
Couldn't resist this.

Wall of a house....
.....showing where there was a canal tunnel going underneath.

Site of the Worcester Bar
The actual site I believe

The new cut through the Worcester Bar
Am I repeating myself? - I hope not.

Typical local authority!
All measurements on canals are miles and locks so B'ham have put up a vast number of these local markers along the canals - in km.

Waterstones in New Street....
..it was like entering another world - gorgeous.

The collapsing lock wall....
... picture taken from computer screen.

Comments

[Matt Hamilton]

Change of plans...
...a bit of shame but avoiding Wolverhampton has got to be a good thing!

[Dunlin]

Wolverhampton....
....we go through the other side of the town but quicker as there will be no locks this time! xxx