Where the Dickens are we

We pulled pins at 08.45 and where soon in wast tunnel. It was wet in places with a lot of water dripping off the roof.

                                                      Wast tunnel roof

                  Coming out of the tunnel. It took us exactly 30 minutes as the guide book said it would.

Next it was onto Kings Norton to fill with water. We had half a tank left from Friday But as we were passing a water point we thought we would fill up.

The taps are inside a locked box and you have to use a special waterways key to open it.

 

 The hose going into the front of Inca where the water tank is.

 

We are now travelling through the outskirts of Birmingham and when we reached the moorings at Warstock Carolyn did a quick shop in the local co-op.

 

Next it was our first lift bridge which is named Shirley draw bridge and off went Carolyn to operate it. The guide book said that it was a one button simple operation electric bridge. After waiting for several minutes and nothing happening i could see Carolyn talking to a women. Then all of a sudden the bridge went up.

What happened was that Carolyn pressed the button and the barrier came down to stop the traffic and all the cars stopped. Then nothing happened until after several minutes the woman explained that you had to keep your finger on the button through out the whole process, which she did and it worked a treat. What a shame about all those people having to wait in their cars....Anyway another lesson learnt.

                                               That train made us jump.

                                      We are now in the peace and quiet of the country.

                                     This is right on the canal at Dickens Heath.

We are now moored just outside Dickens Heath in a lovely country setting with a very fast broadband speed of 16 mbps but no TV reception. Never mind i can still watch Emmerdale on catchup TV.

 Today we have covered just over 8 miles with no locks and it has taken us nearly 4 hours.