A visit to zombie town

Saturday 22^nd April; Birmingham to Dickens Heath

We started a little later than usual, around 10.  The weather was dry with sunny spells and a biting wind, which of course seemed to be in our faces all morning, and started as we rounded Old Turn junction.

Turn right at the tulips

That craze for lovers to put padlocks on bridges and throw away the key seems to be going strong, or else the council just haven’t bothered to remove the hundreds of padlocks.

The bridge axross to the Mailbox

We moored on the new(ish) rings beyond bridge 80 and I went to Sainsbury’s while Dave crossed over to Wilco’s to get some sealant.  We put the kettle on and packed the stuff away before carrying on towards King’s Norton Junction.  It’s pretty industrial along here, but there are some surprisingly floral sections.  These red blossoms are growing alongside industrial units behind a long wall which has four or five similar trees or bushes along its length.  I remember they have red fruit or leaves in autumn, too.

The toll house at the junction is looking good, though it’s still not complete.  Evidence of the fire can still be seen above the ground floor window on the right.  Some of the hoardings have gone but the gardens are still fenced off and being worked on.  I wonder if CRT will rent it out?

We turned onto the North Stratford and pulled in for lunch shortly before the guillotine stop lock.  We had hoped to stop for water at bridge 5, but a boat was in the way so we’ll top up tomorrow when we plan to be at Kingswood Junction.  Shirley draw bridge worked perfectly today.  We held up 6 cars, three each side, though one idiot rushed through just as the barriers were about to come down, which they do quite quickly.  Lucky he wasn’t a second or two later or he would have caught the gate and bust the bridge.

It had been almost warm out of the wind, but it was getting cold again as we neared Dickens Heath and moored for the night after bridge 12.  The towpath was a bit muddy but not too bad.  I went for a short run to see if the nearby footbridge was a short cut to the Tesco Metro in Forshaw, which is the name given to the new settlement.  If there was a quicker way than the road bridge I didn’t find it.  Apart from 2 chaps getting out of their cars there wasn’t a soul to be seen.  I followed the road signs to the village centre, which took me all round the houses – literally! I followed signs to the village school – Dickens Heath Community Primary, which is in an older building and must have been part of the original village, now utterly swallowed up by Forshaw.  I did find the village centre - there is a gym, a Sports Bar, a coffee shop and a couple of other businesses which I have forgotten.  And the Tesco of course.  Apart from a couple of friendly people drinking outside the coffee place, and some children playing in a playground, it all looked empty.  Zombie Town.  It’s nothing like any of the villages I know.

When I got back Dave had been touching up the area on the port side between the gunwales and the rubbing strake.  We lit the fire and I checked the cabin bilge – the nappy was sodden and there wasn’t enough water left to bother with the sponge so I put another nappy down.  It came on to rain later and rained through the night.

11 miles, Edgbaston and Brandwood tunnels, Shirley Drawbridge.

Hello Will