Pulled away from our moorings at 10am, not quite sure how far we are going to go today as we face the Tardebigge Locks - all 30 of them which will raise us 217 feet. Plus we have the Stoke and Astwood Locks before them (11 locks in total and another 84 feet). Through the Dunhampstead Tunnel and up the Astwood Locks and then we stop for water by Bridge 42 at 12.45 - move off the water point and then moor for lunch. We're away again at 1.40, wondering where all the other boats are. Hopefully there is a whole stream coming down the Tardebigge flight so that we will have plenty of assistance as we go up.
We are through the Stoke Locks
and at the bottom of Tardebigge by 3pm;
It's a lovely afternoon and we have to decide do we stay at the bottom
or make a start. I'd been playing around with the Canal
Route Planner (excellent website for sorting out where you might get
to in a given time, how long it would take to do a certain journey, etc),
it had us moored up for the night by Lock 39, so we think we'll start
it and see how far we get. The sun has come out and it is very warm so
I'm not expecting that we will make it all the way. The first lock is
with us - excellent, hopefully they all will be. The 2nd lock is almost
with us but has been leaking, so I have to empty it a little. This pattern
is repeated quite often so I am walking the distance between each lock
3 times; the routine goes Ian gets Per Angusta in and I close the back
gates, open the front paddles, walk up to next lock and open it (or the
paddles if there's been some leaking), walk back to the previous lock
open front gate, close paddles, close gate, walk up to the next lock where
Per Angusta is waiting to be shut in. We make steady progress, but meet
nothing coming the other way, refine our technique so that Ian now closes
some of the gates to save the 3 way walk. After 12 locks, moor up for
a drink and a bit of a rest. Wouldn't you know it - a boat comes the other
way! 5 blokes out on their first day of their first ever canal trip and
the first thing they have to do is the Tardebigge flight. When asked where
they were heading, the response was 'The pub at the bottom'. 
They
were only 2½ hours into their holiday and thought that they were
doing badly as they had only done 18 locks!
It really is a beautiful afternoon
and the scenery is fantastic and we carry on upwards. Ian says we should
aim to get to the reservoir and moor. There's a pub at the top and we
can walk up to that to eat. 
We
pass another boat. By the time we get to the reservoir I realise that
we are at Lock 50 so only 7 more to go - let's carry on I say then we
can moor right outside the pub. The reservoir is lovely, it is a shame
that there is not a stretch of mooring there.
We get to Lock 57 knowing that
this is as far as we are going - Tardebigge Top Lock is a bit apart from
the others - there is a couple of chaps standing around and we chat with
them as the lock fills. They had driven to Tylers Lock - the
'pub' at Lock 57 - and were planning to eat there like us, except Tylers
Lock wasn't open and it wasn't a pub, it is some sort of club. Some
locals walk past and we ask where the nearest place to eat is - The Queen's
Head we are told. Great, that's 29 locks away at the bottom of the flight.
Oh well, sausages for dinner tonight, but Ian can cook. 
We
moor at 7.30 between Bridge 55 and Bridge 56 having taken 4¼ hours
to do 29 locks.
I think I'm going to be a bit
stiff tomorrow - here is our back yard for the evening
8.5 miles, 41 locks, 8 hrs 35min (107.25 miles, 147 locks, 62 hrs 45min)
Tuesday 6 September
We have a lazy start to the day and don't pull away from our moorings until 10.20. We do the final Tardebigge Lock - it will be our only lock for the day - and then into the first of three tunnels. This one is only 580 yards but has a very long BWB barge moored half in and half out of the tunnel - no explanation as to why and only a very small notice at the North Portal; I imagine some people coming south through the tunnel will get a real shock. There are some little roadwork type lights on the barge.
Shortly after we have the 613
yard Shortwood Tunnel. Ian then hands over the tiller to me and takes
the dogs off for a walk along the towpath. We pump out at Alvechurch Boats
- commenting about the lack of traffic.
The Alvechurch Boats man says he can't understand why as they are sending
about 30 hire boats every week, and they must be somewhere.
At Lower Bittell Reservoir there are some lovely moorings, but they are only for long term permit holders - shame as it would have made a nice place to have lunch.
We take on water at Bridge
67 - there are some pleasant visitor moorings just past the water point
and we were going to stay there for lunch, but the road is quite noisy
so we move on to just past Bridge 68 where we moor at 1.30. After a long
lunch, and a siesta for Ian, we set away at 4pm and are almost immediately
into the 2726 yard Wast Hill Tunnel. 
Togged
up in our waterproofs we enter the darkness and emerge half an hour later
into a much more urban environment than we have seen for some time.
We are looking to dispose of our rubbish at Bridge 71 but are unable to
find the disposal point. We are then at King's Norton Junction
and turn off the Worcester & Birmingham Canal onto the Stratford,
passing through the old guillotine stop lock which used to guard the separation
of the water of the two canals.
The canal has got noticeably dirtier with rubbish and on this stretch, for some reason, there is a lot of chopped wood floating - Ian is playing dodge the tree trunk so we weave about a bit. Lots of graffiti on the bridges and not the cared for look we have seen in other urban areas. Don't fancy stopping here overnight.
Looking at the maps, we had
marked some likely mooring spots - by the golf course opposite the Frank
Lyons boat yard was our first, but the majority of the boats permanently
moored there have wire mesh protecting their windows. Whether this is
from vandals or stray golf balls we don't know (there are quite a few
signs saying beware of golf balls) but you can't see the golf course for
the trees so we decide to press on - just past Bridge 13 looks as though
it might be OK on the maps, but when we get there the small housing development
now has a huge development going on - as we approach it, it looks like
an enormous block of flats spreading in several directions, and the non-existent
bridge 14 looks to be in the process of rebuilding to provide access.
There is a large set of steps leading down to what will be an open area
the canal side - be interesting to see if there will be retail units at
canal level. Then we are into a long and
gloomy cutting, getting gloomier as the light goes. OK, mooring looks
a possibility at Lady's Lane Wharf - it is between the cutting we are
coming out of and the next one. Luckily, this is a relatively wide stretch
as there are permanent moorings stretching the whole length of the open
area. Moor up at what looks like the widest part at 7.45pm. About half-an-hour
later, a Vikings Afloat boat goes past, they must have a very pressing
deadline to be travelling at this time and heading into another cutting.
14 miles, 1 lock, 6 hrs 25 min (121.25 miles, 148 locks, 69 hrs 10 min)
Wednesday 7 September
Set off at 8.50, intending to stop at Bridge 20 where there is said to be bakery. Indeed there is - Wedge's Bakery appears to be on a road in the middle of nowhere, but given the quantity of bread they have baked and the size of their car park, they must have a lot of loyal customers who travel to them. As well as bread and cakes, they sell cold meats, cheeses, jams, milk and fresh vegetables so they are useful stocking up point. (We also stopped at Hockley Heath a bit later and whilst there was a convenience store, Wedges was probably the better bet food wise).
We now reach the top of the Lapworth Locks on the Stratford Canal - we have already done from Lock 21 downwards last week. We go through the first 4 locks - numbered 2 - 5 as the stop lock at the junction with the Worcester & Birmingham Canal counts as Lock 1. Moor in the sunshine between Locks 5 & 6 for lunch at 1pm. Very pleasant this sitting in the sunshine - dare we say we have been really lucky with the weather or will it be jinxed?
Set
off at 2.30 and continue somewhat slowly down these locks. The gates are
heavy and the locks leak a lot so most of them are half full. I really
must be weak & feeble today as I have had to get Ian to come and help
move some lock gates. We meet only two boats coming up - the second one
a couple who had been out for the day and were returning to their moorings
part way up the locks - can't say that I would like to moor somewhere
where I had this many locks to do any time I wanted to go anywhere.
Down through Lock 18 into the Kingswood Junction area - watched by a woman and a young child who seems a bit afraid of the movement of the water. Child is probably now off canals for life as they were watching us take on water just through Lock 19. One minute I was standing with one foot on the boat and one on the quayside, getting the hosepipe out, the next I'm standing on the bottom of the canal! I can only assume that there was an almighty splash as I went in plus a scream. I don't know what happened, but it certainly winded me and even with Ian's help, I couldn't get out for a few minutes. Sodden, I eventually got back onto the quayside. Stripped off in the cratch and went and took a hot shower, whilst Ian sorted the water and rubbish - a rubbish disposal point at last, maybe if there had been a few more, there wouldn't have been so much in the canal earlier.
Showered and changed, I have a few scrapes on my left ankle which is ballooning up nicely. Still only two more locks today to get us back onto the Grand Union. Below Lock 19, you have a choice of two locks, one off to the left (lock 20) which takes you onto the Grand Union or Lock 21 which takes you down into the pound with the pump out facilities and the little channel we came through last week. We go through Lock 20, but for a long boat like us this is probably a mistake as the turning space is such that I have to sit on a wall and push Per Angusta's nose round. 60 foot or over, I would say go down the other lock and turn in the pound to come out through the little channel.
Back onto the Grand Union and we are heading for the nice moorings we spotted on the way down between Bridges 62 and 61. We plan to stay there all day tomorrow (even before my dunking). I have a little project I want to do on the computer and it's the first day of the 5th Test which a certain gentleman wouldn't mind catching.
7 miles, 19 locks, 6 hrs 45 min (128.25 miles, 167 locks, 75 hrs 55 min)