Damson Parkway Bridge 78A to Cast Iron Roving Bridge, Birmingham

Now yesterday I said we’d be starting our ascent into Birmingham this morning, well before we could start the climb there was a matter of cruising almost 6.5 miles before we actually dropped down 12.92 m, then we could start our ascent.

An alarm was set and there were no cuppas in bed this morning, tea was had with breakfast. Surprisingly a boat came past a little before 8am, but it was a C&RT tug parting the water as it went, hopefully it wouldn’t be going as far as Camp Hill Locks.

Back in 2015 this route out of Birmingham seemed to take forever, we’d come down and up the locks and then cruised for what felt like an absolute age before we reached Catherine De Barnes all the time wondering if there’d be any space for us. Heading the other way still took time but today there was plenty to look at as C&RT work boats numbered many.

On a floating pontoon sat a generator and attached to it were some little paddle motors. We thought that maybe these could be used where the depth is very shallow on the off side, they almost looked like they were a new section for Mouse Trap. A tug was moving more of these along to a new site.

Dredging was happening at two sites, well one chap was engrossed with his phone, another had a tug with it that had to be moved out of the way to let us pass. All very busy.

Soon we started to see red gates and panels on the bridges, these are so that the fire brigade can drop their hoses into the canal should they need to. At Bridge 82 there are actually two Bridge 82s. Once they have crossed the canal they join together. One the far side of the bridge someone has painted Kingfishers and Herons.

I’d just been remarking about graffiti artists and what a shame it was that they didn’t start off with their masterpieces and had to practice their tag so many times. Back in February 2019 we got to see the evolution of Ghost from scrawled tag to multicoloured art work around the northern parts of the BCN, then there was one of his, an intermediate tag quite close to Top Cat.

Passing through Tyseley all you can see is the large incineration plant and the bridge that leads to it. Once the area was known for it’s tube works which attracted numerous bicycle and motorcycle manufacturers. I used to have a Dawes Bicycle which was made here.

Up ahead modern tall buildings appeared as we passed old factories and warehouses, all showing blocked up windows and archways from decades of change and decline. Then our first lock came into view, the top of the Camp Hill flight. Alongside the top lock is a service block with all facilities, we pulled in to top up on water, empty the yellow water, dispose of rubbish and give Tilly’s pooh box a refresh as she’s likely to be using it more than she has been recently.

With a handcuff key in my back pocket and windlasses at the ready we could start on the locks. The top lock was empty which meant unless top gates leaked most of the flight would be empty too. I lifted a paddle and then walked down to lift a paddle at the next lock so that it could be filling as we made our way down. We soon got into our stride, me setting the next lock ahead as Mick lifted a paddle on the lock with Oleanna. I then walked back to open and close gates. Most locks had handrails on the bottom gates enabling me to kick them open, then Mick helped to close the offside gate with a pole, saving a lot of walking round.

Walking ahead at Lock 3 there is a big pool as the canal curves round under road bridges. There was the bow of a boat ahead, was it moving or just moored up? It was moving, an Aqua Hire boat, so I walked back to set Mick free the next three locks now in our favour.

Big chunks of steel sit alongside gates on these locks and boast their age, still going since 1891.

Around Lock 6 is surrounded by graffiti. Some good, some not so. Having time to read some of it I realised a lot was in memory of Jason. Was Jason a graffiti writer or a local lad who died at the locks?

Straight on for us at Bordesley Junction.

The canal to our right, the continuation of the Grand Union Canal, is still one to tick off the list on the BCN. We cruised on to Digbeth Junction now on the GU Digbeth Branch.

By Warwick Bar there is building work ongoing. Most of the area is listed, so buildings are being refurbished for new uses. Residential and food outlets will dominate, the area being transformed due to the proximity of HS2. Through the bar itself with double gates at each end, then a right at Digbeth Junction leaving the Typoo Basin behind us and now on the Birmingham and Fazeley Digbeth Branch.

All of a sudden we were greeted with floating rubbish, earlier in the morning we’d seen a lady litter picking whilst feeding the ducks, it looks like the entrance to Curzon Street Tunnel could do with several like minded people.

Building work surrounds you as you come out of the other side of the tunnel. Six years ago it was Birmingham City University buildings going up, now added into the mix is HS2 which will cross the canal over the bottom lock of the Ashted Flight.

The locks were all full, so now we started with our uphill routine, the locks however were mostly close enough together for me to come back and close the top gate instead of Mick stopping to close it. The bottom gates are now also single gates, so no kicking to open them or walking round required, just a little bit more umph!

Between Locks 1 and 2 there is a tunnel, a renowned tunnel! Six years ago Lillian lost a nav light here having come down the lock and being a touch too close to the offside, it really was a horrible grating crunching noise. Today I wished Mick luck and left him to close up at Lock 2 as I walked through the tunnel to lock 1 to empty it and then sit and wait.

Below Mick had a passing thought, maybe he should drop the level of the pound a bit to increase the air draught in the tunnel. The top of the chimney was removed and a bucket of toilet solids was moved into the well deck, just in case! The tunnel light went on along with the nav lights, from the far end I could at last see Oleanna making slow progress through the tunnel.

The handrail along the towpath is beefy wood and mentally pushes you towards the offside wall. But today Mick blocked that out. I could hear the bowthruster nudging the bow away from the wall, from my position it almost looked as if Oleanna was crabbing her way through the tunnel, there isn’t enough width for this to have happened. Slowly they made progress a bulge in the wall very obvious to me towards the northern end. Out came Oleanna’s bow, both nav lights still in tact, hooray!

Up she rose in the lock, Mick giving the pram cover a checking over. Had the tunnel struck again and damaged the fabric? As Oleanna came up to the top the damage could be seen more clearly. The fabric had a few scuffs from the tunnel wall/roof, but more to the point was a scratch along the grab rail. Then we noticed another and another, some of them right down to bare steel! Mick should have listened to that little voice in his head and dropped the level of the pound. Ashted Tunnel had struck again!

A pause for lunch on the bollards just through the next bridge was finished with a slice of chocolate banana loaf to help us up the last flight of the day, Farmers Bridge.

At Ashton Junction we turned left onto the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, a right would have us descending locks again heading towards Spaghetti Junction. Left however meant thirteen locks and arriving into the heart of the canal system of Birmingham at Cambrian Wharf and Old Turn Junction.

The bottom two locks are slightly set apart from the others, so I wouldn’t be returning to close gates behind Oleanna. Just after I’d lifted the paddles on Lock 12 we could see a volunteer walking towards us, he’d come to tell us to leave the gates open as a boat was heading down. We swapped with them in the next pound and the volunteer continued on downhill.

Lock 11 has it’s bottom gate beam on the off side and as I stood there waiting for Mick to bring Oleanna into the lock a man walked up, climbed over a low wall on the off side and then walked down the steps below the lock. It was fairly obvious that he was looking for somewhere a touch out of view, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a rizla packet. I closed the gate to the lock and was about to walk up to the top paddles to fill it when the chap came back up the steps.

‘Are you going to fill down there?’ he said in a slightly alarmed voice pointing to the pound below the lock. ‘No just where my boat is’. I could see the relief on his face ‘I thought I was going to drown!’ He returned down the steps now knowing he’d stay dry to smoke his spliff in peace.

Now we were in the thick of the flight and the locks ahead empty or just about. So it was easy to start filling a lock and walk up to open the gate on the one above, then return to close the gate behind Mick. The volunteer walked back up the flight, not stopping to help us directly, but instead he opened up the locks ahead of us as he climbed back up the hill, a great help. Thank you.

We were on a roll now up the flight, each lock waiting for us.

The locks under buildings are quite atmospheric, modern architecture meeting old transport. The lock under a bridge even more so. Above here masses of scaffolding engulfs the buildings, cladding work going on. Extra supports over the canal have had to be fixed to pillars on the existing building to hold the scaffolding up. In a weeks time the towpath down the flight will be shut for even more scaffolding to be erected.

At lock 6 we were greeted with the bottom gate shut. Maybe the volunteer didn’t want to set too far ahead of us. But as I emptied it the reason became clear quite quickly, the top gates leaked a lot, so in the time we’d take to get there the pound above would have emptied itself. The lock above was also full for a similar reason.

Then I spied a downhill boat coming out of lock 2. We could now leave gates open for them, we rose up lock 4 and waited for them. Plenty of crew on hand to work NB Kew down the flight, but it being a full length boat time was taken to position her in the lock, the tiller pulled right across and tied in position the arm removed so as not to snag on the lock walls. We wondered how far they would get before dark and which way they were heading.

Up the last of todays locks, we’d reached Birmingham, now we had to find a space. Back in February 2020 this had not really been a problem, but today spaces were few. One space in the corner of Cambrian Wharf, it can be shallow in that corner and awkward to get into.

Oozells Street Loop was chocka. There was one space left towards Sheepcote Bridge, but would it be big enough for us.

We pulled in, a chap from NB Chyandour came out to take our centre rope. We touched both at the bow and stern, slightly overlapping to be truthful, but neither of our neighbours minded.

Oh Blimey! BUMingham again! At least the small sideways trees have a touch more cover to them this time!

Time to dig out the sand paper and primer, get something on the grab rails before the rain brings with it rust and makes the job a bigger one. I chipped off loose paint, sanded back the gouges and applied a coat of primer. I’d intended repainting the grabrails this year, but time is now running out both weather wise and before panto starts. So a patch up will have to suffice for this winter. Hopefully in the next few days there won’t be constant rain so I can get undercoat and top coat on it too.

25 Locks, 9.73 miles, 1 straight, 1 right, 2 lefts, 2 tunnels, 12.92m down, 35.9m up, 4 paddle boats, 2 dredgers, 2 tugs, 1 full water tank, 1 empty wee tank, 1 clean pooh box, 3 boats met, 2 slices cake, 1 volunteer, 1 weed smoking survivor, 6 inches too long, 1 cosy mooring, 1 disappointed cat.