26th - 29th April 2016. The Black Country.

Our mooring was at the Dudley Tunnel Canal Trust and right next door to the Black Country Living Museum. There were 12 new ducklings and their dozy mother bobbing about in the cold.

Harold moored up - the museum is on the other side of the fence on the left and the tunnel directly ahead.

Jo feeding the ducklings junk food (better than nothing in this weather!)

We spent Wednesday and Thursday having a lovely time exploring.

The Dudley tunnel is the oldest in the country. Boats can only go through with a guide and must have to be pretty low to get through. We went on a trip on one of the Trust boats through some of the underground network. This was built with the tunnel to service limestone and coal mines. There are covered caverns and open areas where roofs have fallen in. We were volunteered to try 'legging' the boat out of the tunnel at the end and general good fun was had.

Mind your head!

The hanging gardens of Dudley!

Inside the tunnel. The bricks were hand made in the 18the century.

We went in one entrance and out of the other.

The Black Country Living museum is a large area with local historic buildings which have been moved to the site to recreate shops, businesses and homes and the history of the Black Country from the late 19th century to the 1930s. The buildings were interesting and there were lots of vehicles that Robin loved. It is also where the canal-side scenes in Peaky Blinders was filmed. We met a lovely couple in the pub who were locals with broad black country accents and a wealth of local knowledge. A great day :)

Peaky Blinders was here... 

and here.

 On Friday we reluctantly moved on, cruising the 6 lock free miles to Wolverhampton in a perishing wind. We moored in the town just before the start of the 21 lock flight which will take us down to the Shropshire Union canal. For the next week or so it will be pretty rural so we needed to stock up on food. We crossed the ring road and sortied into Wolverhampton town centre, which is sprawling and rather uninspiring. The mooring is noisy from the road and not far from a tented settlement of homeless people in the park, but it seems quiet enough for the one night. Still, we are glad to have Scooby (for a change).