Voyages of Gabriel: Warings Green to Birmingham

Fri 19^th May Warings Green to Birmingham

As we left Warings Green, a hire boat was coming into view, and another pulled out behind us, so we had two hire boats following, but we left them behind. One caught up at Shirley Drawbridge, because we had to wait for a day boat to come through very slowly. They were trying to take out their key before they had raised the road barriers.

There were some lovely rural views until after Brandwood Tunnel

Just before Kings Norton Junction, we stopped for a bite of breakfast, and the rain came down, and the hood went up.

The hood came down again for the low railway bridge 79, just before we stopped for Sainsburys at Bridge 80. This store is unannounced to people on the canal. You have to walk on sandy gravel through a tunnel and then across a car park.

The next stop was at Holiday Wharf, to fill with water and empty cassettes. There are no rubbish facilities here.

Then we moved around the corner and through Gas Street Basin where the Worcester and Birmingham Canal ends and the BCN begins, mooring finally just after Bridge 2, opposite a Lego exhibition, and large yellow giraffe. As we tied up, the rain came down and the hood went up once more.

The others had gone to the bakery first before leaving, and they arrived a lot later, a bit wet. We all ended up on Spirit for a Mexican noodle dish prepared by Roger.

Early morning at Warings Green

Leaving the fleet

The arm at Lady Lane Wharf

Buttercup meadows

Heron

Hazel on the tiller

Brandwood Tunnel

Emerging

Guillotine Lock

Kings Norton Junction

Bournville Station

Cadbury's factory

Rubbish on the prop

Moored in Selly Oak for Sainsbury's

Anonymous Sainsbury's

The railway runs alongside the canal

Victorian railway engineering at Edgbaston

Buildings and graffiti

Holiday Wharf

The Cube

Worcester Bar where goods once had to be transhipped

Broad Street Tunnel

Approaching Old Turn Junction

Moored on the Main Line

0 locks, 13 miles, 1 lift bridge, 2 tunnels. Dep 0910, arr 1210 Kings Norton Junction. Dep 1250, arr 1350 Sainsburys. Dep 1500, arr 1555 Holiday Wharf. Dep 1635, arr 1655 Br 2, opp Legoland.

Sat 20^th May Birmingham

We went to Boots to collect a pre-ordered prescription for Hazel, only to discover that they are closed on Saturdays and Sundays! If we had known, we could have come last night, as we were only a few yards away. We went for a coffee at Caffe Nero, and watched people abseiling down from a tall building in aid of a hospice charity.

We were amazed at the number of bars in the area, many offering two cocktails for the price of one. Many restaurants were offering bottomless brunch, where you order a meal, and get unlimited alcohol for 90 minutes. There were some very inebriated people around.

At least three companies were operating trip boats, and there was a company hiring out Go Boats, electrically powered open fibreglass boats that seated up to eight people. There was an incident with a Go Boat full of ladies on a birthday outing, and they crashed into Kairos, which has just been blacked, and the propeller was bashing against the hull. Chris was not pleased, and the ladies could barely stand due to alcohol.

In the evening we wanted to go to Turtle Bay, but it was full. We thought we had booked Perio’s for 7pm, but they had emailed to say a later time and we hadn’t seen the email. We tried a Chinese place, but when the menus arrived, we realised that it was beyond our preferred budget, so we left and went to Jimmy Spices. The food was very good, and it was a sensible choice in the end, as there was something for everyone. Laurence from Beef Olive joined us. He will be staying on Spirit for three nights.

Chatting to people

Marilyn and Alan

Lego giraffe

The fleet moored up

Water art

Busy trip boats

Anna and Joe and family turned up

Night scene

No boating today

Sun 21^st May Birmingham

We went to Gas Street Church for their 9.30 service. Nick Drake was leading the worship and Tim Hughes preached about the Holy Spirit and creativity. It was very appropriate, particularly for Jo. Laurence came with us. It was the first time he had been to a church.

The others left for the Black Country, and we stayed to meet Jasmin and Rob for a meal in the Canal House, which was unusual, with hanging kebabs. We then went for a boat trip, taking in Icknield Port Loop, Soho Loop, and back along the Main Line. We left them at Holiday Wharf, near to where they had parked their car in the Mailbox. We took the opportunity to empty a cassette while we were there.