Wolverhampton

We left our mooring as planned this morning, to begin with all went well. The day had dawned chilly but dry and when the sun broke through it was quite pleasant. We managed not to run aground on any shopping trollies, there were no sunken fridges and most the overhanging branches on the offside have been cut back. Our luck continued as not only were the locks with us but the gate on the first lock had been left open so we were straight in. 

At the second lock our luck ran out, the temperature gauge was rising and the water flow on our cooling system was non existent. Now I'm sorry to bore anyone that already knows this but we have what is called raw water cooling. This means that water from the canal is pumped through a heat exchanger and then back into the canal. In the circuit there is a water filter so that it is only water not rubbish, weed and tiny fishes that circulate. Unfortunately the filter becoming blocked is not a rare occurrence, fortunately it is normally quickly resolved. This time however it was the pipe not the filter that had blocked and it took longer to sort out.

We managed to get moving again after about 40 minutes and were pleased to see that the rotten lock beam at Lock 4 has been replaced. We completed the rest of the flight without any of the trials and tribulations of lock gates blocked with rubbish which frequently occur. A short trip along the Wednesbury Old Canal took us onto the BCN mainline and onwards to Factory Locks. Yet again the locks were in our favour and we were quickly up them. The mouth of  the top lock was blocked with rubbish and branches so we had a clearance job to complete before we could exit.

We had considered dividing the journey over two days but decided to continue through to Wolverhampton so we took a late lunch of homemade soup and made our way to the moorings at Wolverhampton. Urban moorings aren't my first choice at any time, even less so on a Saturday night but the moorings here are only accessible by boat. It is very noisy with traffic and We will be glad to get down the Wolverhampton 21 tomorrow and onto the Shroppie and into the country.

Today's journey was 9.7 miles, 11 locks and 2 tunnels

In 2014 we travelled 425 miles, 334 locks, 2 swing bridges,17 lift bridges and 23 tunnels

In 2013 we travelled 459.1 miles, 434 locks, 7 swing bridges, 15 lift bridges and 31 tunnels

In 2012 we travelled 876.9 miles, 675 locks,  55 swing bridges, 22 lift bridges and 31 tunnels

In 2011 we travelled 461.4 miles, 444 locks, 3 swing bridges, 34 lift bridges and 15 tunnels

During 2010 we travelled 740.3 miles, 642 locks, 53 swing bridges, 4 lift bridges and 25 tunnels

Since Ray retired we have travelled 2972.4 miles, 2540 locks, 120 swing bridges, 92 lift bridges and 127 tunnels