On to Alvechurch

Sunday 9th July 2017 at Alvechurch.
A pretty morning sky greeted us.

Captain Guy was wearing his hat at a jaunty angle after supervising us through all those locks yesterday.

The sound of a classic "put-put" engine preceded the arrival of a beautiful working boat. The steerer said that they were on their way to Worcester to pick up a load of coal. A lovely and very rare sight as there are few commercial boats still operating these days.

It was at Tardebigge, where we are moored, that Tom Rolt and Richard Aickman first met in 1945 and decided to set up the Inland Waterways Association, without which the canal system we have today would probably not have survived.

In addition to a memorial bench, there is a plaque at the site where Tom and Angela Rolt's boat nb."Cressy" was moored for most of the Second World War.

We walked into the village of Tardebigge, which appeared to consist of few houses, and admired the skills of Sarah, signwriting her first ever boat.

Later as we passed on MM, we saw the other, finished, side. We wished her well in the future.

Finally after lunch, we did lock number 58, the Tardebigge Top Lock.

A family gathered curiously to watch the operation of the lock. It was clear that this was all very new to them and they were thrilled when we invited them to take a look round on board MM (which was still in the lock!). The little girl, Lisa, was very coy but seemed taken with Guy!

They were such a lovely family, of a variety of nationalities including French, Polish, Irish, English, Russian and Kurdistan. We caught some of their names - but not all! They seemed delighted with it all and we were so glad they had come on board.

While pausing to drop off our rubbish at the sanitary station just above the lock, we caught a large plastic animal food sack on the propellor. So, down the weed hatch went R.

There are two tunnels between the top lock and Alvechurch. M decided to walk across the top of each and photographed MM approaching the first tunnel.

The old horse path over the tunnel started with a pretty footpath that looked very inviting.

Unfortunately, at the top was a busy dual carriageway and M took her life in her hands trying to cross it. When half way across, a car came very quickly round the corner and hooted at her. Scary!

By the time that M made it across the top, R and MM were waiting for her at the tunnel end.

Soon came the second tunnel, Shortwood. A much nicer walk over the top through woodland and a field of ripe rape.

Unfortunately, at the other end, there was nowhere for R to stop and pick M up because the vegetation beside the canal was so dense. So, M had to walk on to the next bridge hole, where R could get to the side to pick her up.

A pretty damselfly alighted on our geraniums as we sailed along.

Our mooring tonight is outside Alvechurch Marina. Tomorrow, MM is booked into the marina for a two week stay while we take the train home from the station just around the corner.

We plan to be back in two weeks to continue our journey into Birmingham before going down to Stratford and then down the Grand Union Canal towards London and eventually Guildford - so watch this space please! Back soon!
Today: 3 miles, 1 locks and 2.5 hours.
Trip: 111miles, 138 locks and 95.2 hours.