We are now in the centre of Birmingham, on a lovely mooring and the place is lovely. We shall come again I think!
We started badly with me going aground waiting for the lock to open, and the weather had turned cold and threatened to rain, so optimism wasn't high on the agenda. The other thing was that although we had got up early (for us) 2 boats went up the locks before we left at 9, meaning that they were now against us.
Once we got past the first one though, they were all close together and so John was able to stay on land and I could bring the boat from one lock to the next, which is much easier. We got up the top 8 locks in just over an hour which we thought was pretty impressive.
At the top of the Aston Locks there is a cafe and you could smell the baking from the lower lock. A chap came out and said hello and I commented on the lovely smell. He explained that they ran a small training kitchen that then sent the students out on apprenticeships. I said that they ought to advertise the fact further down the locks so that people could ring an order ahead, since there was no-where to moor to stop and buy. He thought that was a great idea and said he'd tell his boss, he then asked if I'd like a muffin - you can imagine the reticence that I replied with! so he disappeared and came back with 2 muffins in napkins for us and thanked me again for the idea!
At that point we had reached a junction and so turned onto the one that would lead us to the Farmers Bridge Locks.
We met a boat coming out of the first lock so I told them about the cafe, and then met another boat at the second lock where I did the same. I hope that the word spread about the wonderful muffins! If you're in Birmingham try the Top Lock Cafe - it's worth it!
So after meeting no boats for ages we suddenly meet a stream of them coming down, which was great as it meant the locks were in our favour, but the small pounds didn't make life easy. A lot of shuffling went on.
Finally we came to the last but one lock and suddenly there are about 50 (I kid you not) young schoolchildren, accompanied by far too few adults in my opinion, learning about how locks work. They seemed to have no idea how dangerous the area was and having had to complete 5 x A4 sides of paper to take 16 - 20 year olds into Yeovil town centre, I couldn't imagine the paperwork that they would have needed to complete for risk assessment!
The little darlings not only went perilously close to the edge of the lock but some of them came up and started taunting Paddy by making barking or miawing noises at him. He was less than impressed and if I'd have been him I'd have wanted to kill them as well!
Some were asking reasonable questions and I was as polite and informative as I could be and THEN as we moved up to the top lock they all came with us to watch the whole process again. JOY!!!!
We finally move off, no children drowned but some nearly shot (oh to have a gun at times) (and I'm a pacifist!), and find ourselves in a different world. Moorings, flower displays, pubs, bars, restaurants, it was like dying and getting to heaven. We moored and found that we had done all 21 locks in just over 3 hours. Thought it would take all day so we treated ourselves to a rest and have been out and tested the locals and found them more than adequate!
Looking up some of the Aston Locks.
an old and obviously unused wharf alongside the Aston Canal that is full of mud, tyres, bricks etc. and amazingly a selection of pink heart shaped balloons!
Looking up at the BT telecoms tower as we pass almost underneath it!
This is one of the rather small pounds where we had to cross with another boat - note the rather sculptured footbridge that goes over the pound - this suddenly filled with gongoozlers while we were doing our moves and then just as suddenly emptied when we'd passed with no blood spilt!
The view from the bar where we were sat earlier!
We are moored just out of sight of this and we have been investigating the area. Gas Street basin is just behind us from where we took the photo. The National Indoor Arena is just ahead and to the right is the Conference Centre, which is amazing. Unfortunately we are just a few days too early to see Michael McIntyre performing there - maybe another time?
Tonight we are going just over the canal to eat at Strada as I still have some vouchers left over from our London trip and it seems a shame to waste them.
Paddy is now insistent that he has his walk so I'll finish for now. Tomorrow we hope to get to the top of the Wolverhampton flight, which isn't too far away and only 3 locks between us and it!
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