Sunday 20th – Saturday 26th July
Sunday started as Saturday finished. Wet and ‘orrible. We are not moving, well not till 3.30pm when we are booked into the Tom O’ The Wood pub for a late lunch.
The rain over the last few days has given us another problem – electricity or rather the lack of it. When the sun shines and/or we are on the move we are able to charge the domestic batteries, via the engine or our solar panels, but when we stay put because of rainy weather we use more electricity than we produce. This has been exacerbated by our recent purchases of 240 volt TV, soundbar and portable fridge/freezer. The TV and soundbar do require the inverter to be on when watching but this is for a relatively short period each day, the real battery killer is the new fridge/freezer which must, obviously be on 24/7. We brought the Jackery power generator with us, planning to charge it, via the inverter when running the engine, to run the fridge/freezer but hadn’t realised that the inverter is not big enough for the amount of power the Jackery tries to suck up.
We have had a long chat with a marine electrical engineer who has given us a possible solution but until we get somewhere we can purchase correct sized cables and fuses we have to get by as best we can.
The rain had stopped by 3.10pm when we left the boats for our late lunch which turned out to be very good indeed, Bev, Sue and I all opted for a Sunday roast while Dave went for steak and kidney pudding which is not often seen on menus today, all were excellent. Despite the generosity of the mains we each ordered pudding, again all were excellent.
Monday dawned bright and sunny but with a forecast of heavy rain and thunder storms from early/mid afternoon. We set off at 8.00am planning to do all the chores at the Kingswood Junction services, where we would join the Stratford Canal and go up just 6 of the 19 locks that will take us to the Birmingham summit pound.
The Stratford Canal, like the majority of our trip is a narrow canal and we, or rather Bev and Dave, had discovered a method of getting two boats through narrow locks in as short a time as possible with the guys playing as equal a part of operating the lock as possible while still helming the boats.
Get your headache pills ready for the explanation!🤔!
It started well at the first lock, while Dave moored I went into the lock that Bev and Sue had already prepared, Bev and Sue then closed the gates and opened the top paddles, at this point Sue would normally go to the next lock and start to prepare it but on this occasion took the rubbish from both boats to the disposal point. When the lock was full Bev and I dropped the paddles and Bev opened the top gate, I left the lock, Sue meanwhile returned and assisted Bev to prepare the lock for Dave. I stopped at the next lock to prepare it for Dave who would come straight into this lock and the whole thing would repeat with the rear boat leapfrogging to the front at each lock. Understand? No? Nor did we!
It seemed to work but we had no chance to perfect the system as we were then joined by a pair of “Volly Lockies” (voluntary lock-keepers) The first went ahead and prepared the next lock and because Bev and Dave had stopped between the locks to fill their water tank, Sue and I took their turn in the next lock assisted by the second volly lockie. After preparing the next lock the first volly lockie went back to assist Bev and Dave. Our volly lockie Judith assisted us almost to the top of the flight, and was intending help us to the very top but we found that the volly lockie helping Bev and Dave had left them to assist a hire boat couple who were absolutely clueless, a danger to themselves and everyone else on the flight, so we started “back emptying” each lock after we left it. Having been assisted so efficiently we were still feeling quite energetic so asked Judith to go back and help Bev and Dave who had no help for some while.
When we had passed thro’ 15 of the 19 locks we decided to call it a day.
Tuesday morning and just four locks and two lift bridges to our planned mooring place for the night. We stopped at Hockley Heath where we did some shopping but before settling for the night decided to move just a short distance further up the canal to where we could easily walk to The Blue Bell Cidery this afternoon and Wedges Bakery in the morning for breakfast.
The BlueBell Cidery was a visit best forgotten. The cider was not special, just run of the mill supermarket type stuff, the beer was OK the coffee was dire and the staff looked as though they would rather be anywhere but there, the idea had been to eat dinner there. We ate at the boats.
Wedges Bakery was very different.
We arrived shortly after 9am to an already very busy bakery and ordered breakfast sandwiches, Bev – sausage on granary, Sue – toasted cheese and tomato on granary, Dave – sausage, egg and bacon on granary and Steve – sausage, egg and bacon on white (nothing healthy for me thanks 😁) all were well filled, very fresh and delicious. After breakfast we looked around the goods for sale. WOW. So much great looking produce. We all bought far more than we needed. Sue and I bought great slabs of cake, a couple of cherry and almond slices, a scotch egg, two huge cream eclairs and two huge Cornish pasties which we were told were made in St Just, Cornwall but baked on the premises – they were not just good they were sensational.
After our breakfast sandwiches we returned to the boats and got underway. With no more locks between us and Birmingham city centre we were hoping to reach Bournville but with a late start were prepared to stop earlier.
We reached Bournville and found two moorings. We also found that the railway runs just a few feet away from those moorings
Despite the closeness of the railway we slept well and bright and early Thursday morning set of on the final stage of our journey into Birmingham city centre. The journey was pleasant with despite following the railway closely for some miles and being so close to the city had a rural feel.
On arriving in the city centre we were amazed at the number of four day moorings very close to hundreds of bars, restaurants and clubs. We found two moorings on the Sheepcote Street Visitor Moorings which was just a few steps of the main “promenade” area which was quiet(ish) and felt safe and secure.
.We spent a great few days in Birmingham, Bev and Sue decided they would not cook while we were here. On Friday we visited the Jewellery Quarter where for hundreds of years craftsmen had been making jewellery with diamonds supplied by diamond merchants in Hatton Garden, London. The merchandise on display was exquisite, despite which both Bev and Sue exhibited great restraint in liking much but buying nothing.
We had lunch in the Rose Villa Tavern a grade 1 listed pub where Bev celebrated her 21st birthday a couple of years ago.
After returning from the Jewellery Quarter we went for a walk in the immediate area around the boat moorings, we crossed the canal over the Black Sabbath Bridge, the Black Sabbath Bench was, Ozzy Osbourne’s death having been announced two days ago, covered in flowers and surrounded by a crowd of appropriately dressed fans paying their respects.
We had planned to eat dinner at Cosy Club, the restaurant directly opposite were playing a very loud tribute to Ozzy as were a number of other eateries and when we walked into the Cosy Club there was no Black Sabbath tribute but there was an equally noisy stage act going on – no thanks. We left and went looking for somewhere quiet and eventually settled on Rudy’s Pizza Napoletana which, although the restaurant was noisy inside had a cool, quiet outdoor space. Had we seen the size of the pizza’s before we sat down we may have reconsidered – they were huge. We would have had more than enough sharing two between the four of us. However when we finished there were four empty plates and four very satisfied people.
Saturday dawned, despite the forecast, wet and horrible. Today Bev and Dave were taking Sue and me on a city centre tour – in the rain?? First breakfast, we went to the Cosy Club where it was now quiet and peaceful, the decor restful Art Deco style and the food very tasty, so tasty we have decided to repeat the experience on Monday before we leave the city centre.
By the time we had eaten breakfast the rain had stopped although the sun was still hiding behind thick clouds the day was brightening and sun was promised for later.
We had a super day exploring, Birmingham is a great cosmopolitan city with so much to see and do that by the end of the day we had seen/ so much and done so much it did somewhat all blur together, the one disappointment was when we arrived at the “Back to Backs” a museum of housing in the area we were told it was guided tours only and the last tour for the day was already underway.
As a result of Sue and me making disparaging remarks about burgers we went to Five Guys for dinner last night and despite our misgivings thoroughly enjoyed the experience. A good end to a good week.
