Another late morning....! However we were in sight of a lock and Chris set off to set it and through we went, but there was a boat sitting in the middle of the next pound waiting to be able to move on and we soon discovered why.
There was very little water left in some of the pounds and there were a number of very distressed fish. A CRT man came and had a go at sorting us out which he did in that we were able to go up the flight, however the long pound at the top was very low when we got there and some of the pounds we'd been through between locks had been overflowing, so I think the young man in his efforts had taken more water from above the flight than he should. Anyway, we did in the end get through.
I had time to admire the complete mess of the environment that HS2 was making both sides of the canal. i assume this is not going to be a train jump?
Looking back from a couple of locks up you can see how the pound we have just left is full to bursting, and in fact water was passing around the locks in the overflow channel.
Chris presented me with one of the outcomes of the low water. As you can see, it was not quite large enough for a meal!
Having got to the top of the 7 locks we entered quite a long pound which was very low in water. It went through this significant lump of rock in a very short tunnel as you can see at the bottom of this picture. The quality of misty light in the warm afternoon air was amazing. As we came out through the tunnel there was a cloud of midges which soared above the boat as we came through.
I love reflections!
As we came along this low-watered pound you could see just how low it was from the places where water would normally flow off if the canal was full. It's about 2 feet short I think. The boat that had been in front of us was incredibly heavy and had as result the need for a greater depth of water. He was stuck on the bottom not far out of the last lock in the flight.
Having visited a cathedral yesterday it was sobering to see a cathedral to consumerism across the green fields....Amazon of course!
After the low water pound we came to another flight of three locks, quite far apart, but still a flight. This then took us to a stretch of about 4 miles without any locks, to the place where we are now moored for the night. What is amazing is that we are 3 miles from Birmingham city centre, but within the last couple of miles it stilled looked like this. There were plenty of cyclists using the route too.
We came under this structure which was rather odd. Its not a tunnel because it has one open side, and the OS map doesn't really know how to mark it.
We passed some lovely bridge names. Trout pool bridge and New trout pool bridge. I wasn't convinced. This doesn't much look like a trout pool to me!
We were about to come to a junction where we turn south for Birmingham City Centre. We have to go up the Aston Flight of 11 locks and then the Farmers Bridge flight of 14. That's going to be about 4 and a half hours of effort tomorrow! But the turning is directly under Spaghetti Junction. It's all a bit surreal.
This is the route we have taken. The first bit is an aqueduct over the Tame River which the canal has followed for a long way.
You can just see the river down there. Its not very big, but has been significant nevertheless.
So we are moored at a place that said moorings on my map, but it transpires are really residential. However there was a Spurvehog sized gap and our next door neighbour was happy we should stay. So here we are! Until the morning - a bit of an early start is planned! Hopefully so!
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