Day 4 Wednesday 24 September
Almost Alrewas to Alrewas via Barton-under-Needwood

As we didn't quite reach Alrewas yesterday evening, our original plan today was to just chug down the 1 lock & stop and then spend the day visiting the National Memorial Arboretum, but once we started off we changed our minds & will visit the NMA tomorrow.

Let me start my recap of the events of the day from the beginning!  Stuart was so impressed with his breakfast this morning that he took a picture!

Eggs Benedict....with rather a lot of sauce!

After our leisurely breakfast, we set off down the 1 lock & into the village of Alrewas, which is very pretty with many canalside properties & thatched cottages.  They used to make baskets from the Alder trees in Alrewas.  Once through the village you drop down 1 more lock & onto a managed section of the River Trent.

Highest navigable stretch of the River Trent

After about a mile of river we reached Wychnor lock & back onto canal.  The canal runs alongside the A38 which is dual carriageway; very noisy & we could hardly hear ourselves speak.

Back in 1988, when we'd been going out for about a year we took a little break & went to Alton Towers.  We stayed in a Travel Lodge at Barton-under-Needwood which was on the edge of the canal, today we've been past that Travelodge! We then turned at Barton Marina & headed back to Alrewas.  Just as we came back into the village we heard these 2 planes, which were part of a dedication of the new Normandy Campaign Memorial, they had 600 invited VIPs & guests at the NMA today - we will be going tomorrow so hopefully can find out more then.

A Dakota & a Spitfire

So now we're moored in Alrewas & this evening we're off to The Crown for a meal

Wildlife we've spotted today

A coot - it's usual to see ducks, swans, geese & moorhens so this coot was more unusual

Lazy day today, only travelled 3 hours through 5 locks

Day 3 Tuesday 23 September Cudworth to Alrewas....almost!

Today is a special day as it's Stuarts Birthday & to celebrate he did a bit of foraging for blackberries whilst waiting for a lock!

Birthday treat...a bit of foraging!

Our journey today took us down the 11 Curdworth locks & luckily Tuesdays are volunteer lock keepers day so we had some extra help which is always welcome.  At the bottom of this flight of locks the canal passes Drayton Manor Theme Park where there is this rather unique foot & swivel bridge.  The swivel section opens & closes to allow vehicles to cross the canal to a farm.

Drayton Foot & Swivel Bridge

After this, it was only a short distance before Fazeley junction, where the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal meets the Coventry Canal.

As the signpost above shows, the canal then heads towards Fradley, where it meets the Trent & Mersey Canal.  Fradley junction is probably one of the most photographed junctions on the whole canal system but by the time we reached it the sun was setting & the light was starting to fade.  We'll be back this way on Friday so I'll aim to get some better pictures that do it the justice it deserves as it's a very pretty place

Fradley Junction, with the T&M canal ahead - we turned right

Our mooring this evening is 4 locks down from Fradley Junction; we'd hoped to get to Alrewas but the light had almost gone so we have moored about half a mile away.

Todays Wildlife Pics

Why do cows like standing in the water?

If you look really carefully you'll spot a kingfisher, the second one we've seen this week & I just caught it on this photo

Today we travelled for about 9 hours through 15 locks

Day 2 Monday 22 September.  Birmingham City Centre to Curdworth

We set off from the centre of Birmingham along a short section of the BCN (Birmingham Canal Navigations), leaving our mooring in Gas Street Basin & passing under Broad Street heading through the centre past The Symphony Halls where today they were holding student graduations, Brindley Place & towards the NIA & Old Turn junction where the Birmingham & Fazeley canal meets the BCN

The BCN goes right under Broad Street

The area around The Symphony Halls is always buzzing with people & tourists; I'm sure we must be on some holiday snaps! The green bridge ahead links Brindley Place on the left with The Symphony Halls, the NIA is ahead

The NIA sporting a new look

Ahead we turn right under the bridge onto the Birmingham & Fazeley canal, this canal weaves its way through & under buildings in the heart of city passing down a flight of 13 locks

At the bottom of the flight of locks we reached Aston Junction where we headed down the 11 Aston locks which lead to Salford Junction which is directly under spaghetti junction

Ahead the canal crosses the River Tame with the M6 above

After a further 3 locks at Minworth the canal had entered the countryside again where we chose to moor for the night so we could fire up the barbecue.

This evenings rural mooring

Our BBQ - steak, sausages, courgette & peppers to go with salad & coleslaw

Sunset over the canal

The sun setting through Broad Balk bridge

Today we travelled for around 7 & half hours through 27 locks.

Day 1 - Sunday 21 September.  Alvechurch to Birmingham City Centre

We arrived at the boatyard a little later than expected as there were a couple of delays on route & quickly got our belongings & the shopping on board & set off towards Birmingham.

The Worcester & Birmingham (W&B) canal between Alvechurch & Birmingham is varied; it starts off in rural countryside with open fields where you can see plenty of wildlife & works its way through some fairly run-down industrial areas before reaching the very centre of the City.

After about half an hour we passed Lower Bittell Reservoir where last week I heard that the W&B canal was closed due to a boat fire.  I felt very sorry for the owners of the boat involved as it looks like it was a well kept, reasonably new boat.

From Bittell, the canal winds through more rural surroundings until it reaches Wast Hill Tunnel; this is almost 2.5km long & takes about 30 minutes to travel though.  If I'm honest, I'm not that keen on tunnels; they are cold & damp & Wast Hill is no exception!  We always have to put up a brolly as I don't want tunnel water dripping on me.

Information sign - you get these at the entrances to tunnels

Inside Wast Hill tunnel

Shortly after Wast Hill tunnel we reach the junction with the Stratford Canal, a beautiful rural canal which takes you to the heart of Stratford-upon-Avon, but we were not turning right today.

Looking down the Stratford Canal towards Lock Number One

Another 20 minutes along the canal we reached Bournville where the Cadbury factory is - Cadbury's used the canal to transport milk from farms to their factory until the early 1960's

Sometimes you come past Cadbury's & you can smell the chocolate!

Shortly after Cadbury's the canal now crosses New Road in Selly Oak by means of an aqueduct that only opened in 2011 - there's something quite odd about being on a boat on a bridge & crossing a road!

Ariel Aqueduct, Selly Oak

The final part of the W&B canal takes you right into the centre of the city, past The Mailbox & the new Cube building where the canal takes a sharp turn towards the Worcester Bar, where it meets the BCN, Birmingham Canal Navigations.

Looking back along the W&B Canal with the Mailbox building straight ahead & The Cube slightly to the right

The Worcester Bar

Once through the Worcester Bar, we moored in Gas Street Basin on a mooring which is reserved for the Conservative Party Conference Boat later this week whilst they are in Birmingham for their annual Party Conference

Eos moored in the centre of Birmingham

Wildlife we've spotted today

This Heron flew off into a tree as we passed

Three years ago we bought a share in a narrow boat as we were keen to get some quality time away from our work life where we run a mail order clothing business.  Life for us is hectic; we seemed to be dashing here, there & everywhere at flat out speed so when I saw a share in a brand new boat was available we decided we wanted to at least find out more.

Eos was perfect; large enough for the two of us but also giving us the flexibility to bring another couple away with us if we wanted and at only 54' long she's small enough to take around the whole network.  So we couldn't resist & signed-up straight away & have spent many happy holidays chugging around the area from our home base in Alvechurch on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal.

Recently, I've been reading a few people's blogs; they are in my opinion the lucky folks who spend all their time on board, so now we are about to embark on a 3 week trip & I can pretend I am just like them!

Today, we are busy sorting out our things, you know the essentials - we have more bottles of red wine than I wish to admit to & a box of cider that's almost too heavy to lift so it's going to be a merry old trip!  I've also arranged for Waitrose to deliver our shopping straight to the boat tomorrow before we depart so we'll be all sorted.

Our trip will take us from Alvechurch, along the Worcester & Birmingham Canal into the centre of Birmingham.  We'll then be heading out of Birmingham down the Birmingham & Fazeley and onto the Coventry Canal before turning right towards Burton on Trent.  We will then turn around & Head up the Trent & Mersey to Anderton.  We'll then turn around & head back to Middlewich, along the Middlewich Branch & back down the Shropshire Union Canal.  If time allows we may turn left along the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal to Great Haywood, but if we're short for time we'll go straight up the Wolverhampton 21 & back through Birmingham to Alvechurch - I hope you'll follow our blog.  

In Birmingham at the end of our very first trip on Eos