After the rain, Thursday morning was blue and glorious, showing the rather grim Birmingham canals in the best possible light. After turning round we went up the three locks at Tipton Green and onto the Birmingham Level Main Line. After that it was a straight run to Gas Street with just a short lunch stop below Smethick pumping station. We saw just a handful of other boats and lots of herons, which obviously do well in the canals green corridor despite the grotty water.
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A glorious start to the day.
What you can't see us the railway or the abandoned industrial sites just the other side of the trees!
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| The main line ploughs a straight furrow |
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| Scooby tests out his new blanket (after 20 turn arounds and a bit of digging). |
Apart from herons, bridges presented the most interest.
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| This is the M5, imposing if not beautiful. |
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| This has a station on the top so that disembodied announcements floated down to us as we went underneath. |
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| The Galton tunnel; short but sweet. |
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| And this fancy thing is an aqueduct, taking another bit of canal off somewhere else. |
After 8 miles or so we reached Gas Street basin which, as we were told, had restricted mooring in parts for an upcoming floating market (the same old tat we come across at regular intervals), but we found a spot with no difficulty. The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to exploring and shopping in the new station complex just a stones throw from the canal. Good oh!
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