Sunday 22nd June "Brian & Susan's Blustery Day" Got up late (something which was to become a habit on this holiday - Tam Lin's bed is VERY comfortable) but not too late to see and photograph the vertical lift bridge (formerly in use at the railway transhipment basin at Lloyds Proving House near Factory Junction at Tipton) being operated for departing tug Nansen II from BW's historic fleet. Indulged in the trolleybuses (Bradford, Belfast, Bournemouth & Newcastle), decided not to queue for the chips but did visit the canalside café. It was windy, very windy................ Set off back along the Summit level and decided to have a "TNC Moment" and visited Grovewood Basin, a former unloading facility which is now surrounded by a high class housing development, but not a single boat in sight, even though some of the houses have a mooring in front of them - such a waste! Judging by the number of heads poking out of windows, boats don't come in here too often!
It's interesting to note the changing attitudes to having a canal next to your house. Older houses tend to shun the canal, with high fences, walls or hedges cutting off any possible views of the cut. More recent developments often have back gardens open to the canal - sometimes with areas for sitting out built by the home owners. New developments turn all this on its head - having a waterside frontage is seen to be A Good Selling Point and houses have been turned around to face the water rather than back onto it - often with access for cars twixt canal and houses, with nicely cut grass and railings along the canal or towpath edge. Having negotiated the Brades Hall Locks <anorak> the only staircase pair on the BCN </anorak> we threw a left onto the New Main Line (no trains today - must be even more engineering work) and took the next left into the Netherton Tunnel branch. The tunnel wasn't too wet (but guess who didn't put his waterproof on..........) Coming out on the other side of the ridge, the wind really made its presence felt; we got blown all over the place as we went along the Dudley No 2 Canal to Blower's Green, where somebody hadn't shut one of the bottom paddles properly........ we ended up at the impressive new moorings at The Waterside, a new office and bar complex adjacent to Merry Hill and on the site of the old Round Oak steel works - a totally different view to 30 years ago. Digi TV - zilch! Tiller Pin of the Day - Swimming Duck. Total: 19 miles, 0 furlongs, 6 locks Brian L Dominic Web Sites: Canals: http://www.brianscanalpages.co.uk
