Oldbury to Aston

 Saturday 14^th May

Yesterday was the official end of the Explorer Cruise and today we started our journey home.

Engine House and Oldbury Top Lock

We have a long day planned so we (or actually Stephen) started early. The first thing we had to do was go back down the Oldbury Locks. At 6.30, Steve moved the boat along to the first lock and then went down the flight making sure there was enough water everywhere. By the time he got back, I was up and ready to work locks. Because of Steve’s preparatory work, we were quickly down, off the Titford Canal and on the Old Main Line again at Oldbury Junction, turning right towards Smethwick. 

We crossed the New Main Line on an aqueduct and travelling very close to the M5 for much of the time, we made our way through Summit Tunnel to the three Smethwick Locks. 

Blakeley Hall Bridge and M5

New Main Line below Old Main Line

Just beyond these locks, the Old and New Main Lines meet and the canal leads into Birmingham. We stopped for water before starting to go down Farmers Bridge Locks – 13 of them. We had hoped that there would be volunteer lockkeepers on duty, but none were.  All the locks were set against us, so we had to fill them all. Nonetheless, we were pleased that we completed them in under two hours. 

We stopped for lunch and decided that as it was a lovely sunny day, we would carry on. Since the top of the Farmers Bridge Locks, we had been on the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal and we stayed on that through to Aston Junction and the Aston Locks. We just did 8 of the 11 Aston Locks before mooring at Aston Cross Business Park where we have moored before.

I think we’ll sleep well tonight having done 30 locks.

Today’s miles and locks – 7.50 miles  30 locks

Total miles and locks – 117.00 miles  102 locks