Lister Street Bridge to 78A Damson Lane Bridge
Up early again! Emails to sort, and a catch up with Frank before our locking crew arrived at 9:30. Christine and Paul had come back for another fix of boating. Once bags had been dropped off on board we headed to our first obstacle of the day, Ashted Tunnel!
We’ve been through Ashted Tunnel twice I think, both times it has left it’s mark. First time was on NB Lillyanne, taking out a nav light, second time was Oleanna leaving a big gash along the grabrail. We really didn’t want either of these things to happen now she has just been repainted.
Ashted Tunnel has the top lock of the flight directly above it, then beyond the tunnel is a short pound before the second lock. Paul walked ahead through the tunnel to drop the pound by about 4 inches whilst Christine and I operated the lock above. Once Oleanna was down I got hold of the centre rope and kept my weight on it to encourage Oleanna to stay close to the towpath and away from the arch of the tunnel on the offside. Mick slowly, gradually brought Oleanna through, I could sense the tunnel getting narrower as we went as I had to get closer to Oleanna.
Phew! We made it without a mark.
Between the three of us we leapfrogged each other at the next four locks, filling the next lock as the one above emptied, speeding up our descent. Just by the bottom lock HS2 is taking over the sky! When I’ve finished panto this route won’t be open to us as they will be working on connecting up the structure over the canal so there is a stoppage for quite a few weeks.
Paul and I walked ahead through Curzon Street Tunnel, on through Warwick Bar where two sets of gates sit chained open. Across the aqueduct is an Annatomix artwork of a fox and rats, she likes her foxes. This was a commission for CRT.
The bridge over the top of Bordesley Junction has fencing over it, we pondered if this was there to stop people climbing onto the pipe bridge alongside.
As ever at the bottom of the Camp Hill flight there was lots of rubbish in the water. As Oleanna came into the lock she wedged against the bottom gates, a full tyre had got caught between the brickwork and the gate and was stopping her progress. Mick tried reversing and going for it again, but a gate waggle was required to free it. Would she be able to come in now, it was tried twice more, but in the end Oleanna was reversed out of the lock and we lifted paddles at the top end to flush all the rubbish out of the way, tyre and a large log included.
Onwards and upwards. I walked up to the third lock only to see from under the bridge what looked like three chaps totally out of it, maybe I should wait for someone else to join me before setting the lock. A sleeping bag sat in the middle of the channel just waiting to ensnare someone’s prop, Mick was warned about it.
The chaps at the lock were on another planet, but gradually moved themselves away to stand shouting at each other in the nearby road.
More rubbish in the water, including an apt road sign for a diversion. We opted to flush this all out of the way before attempting to get Oleanna into the lock.
Between the third and fourth lock the pound was down. I’d walked on ahead to open up, but I could tell Oleanna wasn’t moving. So I closed the bottom gate and started to send water down. It’s better to do this with gates closed so that detritus doesn’t end up against the cill. She was soon afloat again, maybe the initial wave had just lifted her enough.
At the top lock a boat was just coming down so we could swap over. Soon we’d achieved our twelve locks of the day. We pulled up towards the end of the lock landing, plenty of room for another boat to pull in, time for lunch. It was around midday. Paul checked his emails. An update about Lock 17 on the Lapworth flight, it was now mended and open again.
I opened up the boat and went to check where Tilly was, so she wouldn’t make a dash for it with an open door. Not on the bed. Not down behind the pillows. I checked every window for that feline bulge. Not in the Escape Pod. I checked the bed again, removing the pillows this time. Not a sign of her! I was starting to wonder if she’d managed to get out the back earlier today when we picked Christine and Paul up! Oh gosh, was she all the way back where we started!
No noise from behind the sofa, but she’s sussed how to get in there. I peeked through the 2 inch gap between pouffe, sofa, books and shelf unit. There two eyes glinted back at me! You silly stupid TWONK HEAD!!! I was only playing hide and seek! ‘You’d not be pleased if we’d left you behind!’ Tilly was not in my good books!
After a slice of Orange crunch cake each, Paul and Christine stayed on board through a couple of bridges for ease of getting to Small Heath Station. Thank you for your assistance again, your company and for the paper bags.
Now we wanted to get close to Catherine De Barnes, here is deemed to be out of the bad lands, plus we wanted somewhere for Tilly to go out as she’d been cooped up inside for nearly a week, PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK!!!
The going was pretty slow, we grounded out after one bridge and had a couple of submarines to ride over too. Once under Damson Lane Bridge we aimed for a stretch of towpath with a gap in the trees. It took a while for us to be able to get somewhere close to the bank, we’ve moored here before without too much trouble, but maybe the pound is down.
Tilly headed off and the mooring was deemed to be suitable for a stamp of approval. I tried calling the discharge nurse at the hospital, but only got her answerphone. Maybe she’s not in this week!
We opted to finish the orange cake this evening after some left over roast chicken pasta, well it would only tempt us tomorrow if it was left lying around!
12 locks, 8 miles, 2 tunnels, 1 answer phone message, 1 tyre, 1 sign, 3 spiced up, 1 orange cake, 1 low pound, Lock 17 mended, 2 lock helpers, 20 bags, 1 request for information, 2 hours shore leave, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.
