Not wanting to embarrass ourselves we were up and out by 8am to turn the boat around before we had many spectators! Having moved it yesterday to give our cousin’s a ride, it was facing in the wrong direction for the 20 or so single locks awaiting us, taking us down through Birmingham. Adjacent to the first lock there were CRT services which meant we could offload our rubbish and fill up with water. There was even a shower and toilets if needed so a useful pit stop. Whilst filling with water a single handed small cruiser arrived and entered the first lock chamber. I had a bit of a groan because now, unless we met a boat coming in the other direction, we would have to fill up every lock ahead of us! He would also be rather slow as a single handed boatman. However things were speeded up by the arrival of a CRT volunteer who went to assist him. Then shortly after we entered the flight we saw a very long boat with 8 people aboard behind us. They couldn’t have been more helpful and we completed the first flight of 13 locks in record time due to all the extra pairs of hands. There’s a break of about ten minutes travelling time between the end of the first flight and the Aston locks ahead so I was looking forward to more help. Sadly they never materialised so I think they must have gone straight on at the interchange. Either that or they grew wise and stopped long enough for coffee so that we were too far ahead of them to help! We soon caught up with the single handed boatman as his CRT help only stretched to the first flight but after a couple of locks he pulled over for a cup of tea so that we could pass him. I saw him filling the lock ahead as we emerged from our lock and sighed slightly thinking we would be slowed up for the remainder of the morning but then realised as he stood and opened the gate, he had filled the lock for us, which was incredibly kind of him as he had enough work of his own. He cheerfully waved us on and I felt warmed by the human kindness and chastened by my own thoughts which hasn’t been nearly so generous!
An eye opener seeing some of these locks in what used to be a very run down part of Birmingham. We went walking around the vicinity and it is very industrial. This is where my dad was raised as my grandfather was the vicar of Aston for a time, long before the arrival of spaghetti junction. Not sure any of the area would be recognisable to them now.
We are trying to keep slightly isolated as dday draws ever closer for our son’s wedding but a lack of lager on the boat meant R went off to find the local store. Being Easter Monday it was closed and quite a time elapsed before R returned. He had found a very large Oriental food cash and carry, also open to the public but assured me he wore his mask and didn’t touch anything! He did remark that it was quite impressive and I was tempted to go and see for myself. However I didn’t think it wise and anyway we decided to move through three more locks to a place called Cuckoo Wharf, very near to the M6, where we will stay all tomorrow. Not because it is particularly appealing but because we are in no rush and it will be good to have a day to catch our breath and do some boat chores.
It was getting late as we approached the third lock and a young lad came up to us in a bit of a state. The young lady he was with had somehow managed to drop her mobile phone into the canal. Could we help fish it out? We do have a magnet on board so we gave it to him to try and locate the phone. When that produced no joy R tried fishing for the phone from the end of the boat as I pulled the boat slowly along the canal. Not knowing exactly where it had fallen in did not make this an easy task. Sadly, after about 40 minutes we had to give up the fruitless search. We felt very defeated leaving them but there really did seem little point continuing although I was reminded of the shepherd who goes looking for his one lost sheep and continues on until he finds it!
We finished the evening watching the Wintershall Passion play on You tube. It had been performed twice on Good Friday in Trafalgar Square and it was incredibly powerful and well worth watching. A friend of ours was performing in it so we had an added interest and were pleased to actually find her in the crowd scenes.
I was tidying out the cupboard under the sink and came across a dark chocolate Easter egg that our friend D had given us when he came to visit a couple of weeks ago. I think he was a bit disappointed I didn’t open it there and then but I feel Easter eggs should wait until Easter Sunday so I popped it in the coolest part of the boat – any chocolate that we store above stove height tends to melt once the stove is lit and the boat warms up like a furnace! I have to say it was a great unexpected treat to suddenly find it and so post supper we cracked it open!
NarrowboatTLC 