Tuesday 10 May 2022

Walsall to Wolverhampton

 Up bright and early – well, early anyway. The boat moored alongside us moved off at 6.30 and we didn’t sleep after that, so we were ready to move off before 8.00, as were two other boats. We led the way from the town wharf to the main channel and I hopped off the boat to go and prepare the first lock (today’s flight in the 8 Walsall Locks). I then realised something was wrong as the other two boats were approaching the lock and Steve was stationary at the side of the canal. He had picked up a load of rubbish on the propeller which took some time to clear. He ended up with a pile of heavy plastic, clothing and cable!

Leaving Walsall and its fishy mural 

So it was 8.30 by the time we entered the first lock. However, they didn’t take long to do and we were at the top at 9.45. We went on as far as Birchills Junction where we turned left on to the same section of the Wyrley & Essington that we had explored on Saturday. Almost immediately after the junction, we had to stop again – this time it was to remove a coat from around the prop.

We stopped briefly at Sneyd to dispose of the rubbish and then we moored further on at Wednesfield for lunch, shopping and another visit down the weed hatch.

Chyandour reflected in an art structure bridge .....

..... and a goose family in its shadow.

We have now learnt (via WhatsApp) that 4 of our number were stuck on the Walsall locks after a problem with the paddles on one of the locks made it impossible to fill the lock. C&RT were working to fix it, but the delay meant that 4 boats did not make tonight’s scheduled stop at Wolverhampton.

Meanwhile, after leaving Wednesfield we carried on to Horsley Fields Junction where we turned right back on to the BCN main line, but this is a section we haven’t done before on this trip. It didn’t take long to reach Broad Street Basin in Wolverhampton where we filled up with water before mooring with the other boats of our group who had made it this far.

Some of us moored at Wolverhampton

Today’s miles and locks – 9.75 miles  8 locks

Total miles and locks – 95.00 miles  64 locks

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