Sunday 21st April; King’s Norton to Birmingham
There was a far amount of sun filtering through the trees, though it is still cold so we wrapped up well as we would be facing the northerly wind. We left just after 10. After a flurry of hire boats yesterday and the day before, the canals were rather quiet. I thought, shall I snap the toll house yet again? Maybe not the whole building, so I chose just the board with the toll rates.
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| The different rates make interesting reading |
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| The fingerpost needs repainting |
At the junction bridge, or maybe the one after, cowslips have been planted to vie with the rather ugly graffiti.
The canal is wide, deep and concrete-y enough to increase cruising speed and lots of boats do, but the wind chill factor was too great to even consider it. At Bournville station a trainload of potential Cadbury tour visitors was being disgorged onto the platform.
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| Mmmm – chocolate! |
The towpath, which had been very quiet, started to swarm with runners, walkers and cyclists. Most cyclist ding their bells and most pedestrians are used to them and move aside without looking round, or even looking up from their phones. I wish they did out in the country too, especially the mixed-use trails round our way.
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| A welcome splash of colour by the railway |
We moored at Selly Oak for a trip to Sainsburys, using the towpath-side moorings rather than the prettier basin as there are no steps to negotiate. After lunch we carried on to the city centre. Jess is a bit baffled by all this cruising – why is there no running along a grassy towpath?
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| Are we nearly there yet? |
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| Yes Jessie, there's the BT Tower |
She didn’t seem at all impressed when we moored at our usual place opposite the Arena car park, though she was happier once she’d had a run up past the new developments at Icknield Port loop. We were glad to have had a gentle day’s cruising today, as we are both laid low with colds and coughs.
5½ miles in a cold wind
Sorry to hear about your colds (or worse, lets's hope not) and that you get proper treatment. At least you are in a good place to access what you need.
ReplyDeleteWe did not spot you until we had set off - I had not spotted that when your blog said you were at Kings Norton on Sunday I did not realise that you meant Saturday!
Christine is a little bruised but nothing broken, thankfully. She says that I have not done the trauma justice and that it was a whole lot more frightening than my blog suggests. I last fell in properly 10 years ago and I still remember every detail! That's why we bought the rescue ladder. We were so grateful to the two ladies who came to help.