Wednesday 7th October
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| Smuggler on the Boat |
The weather wasn’t too good when we got up this morning,
overcast, chilly and windy but by the time we set off at 10am it had got a bit
brighter and not so windy and chilly.
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| Shortwood Tunnel |
We now have Smuggler with us for the next ten days. He has been really good since he came
yesterday afternoon. He is used to being
on a boat, so nothing really fazes him. We put his lead over the back door and
then he can stay out the back with us.
We chugged on along the canal, past Alvechurch and then we
were approaching Shortwood Tunnel. It is
613yds long and doesn’t have a towpath and until the turn of the century a company
tug used to pull all boats through this tunnel and also through Wast Hills and
Tardebigge.
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| Tardebigge Tunnel |
Safely through the tunnel we carried on along the canal and
before we knew it we were entering Tardebigge Tunnel which is 580yds long. We didn’t meet any boats in the tunnel and
soon was coming out the other side.
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| Sign at Tardebigge Top Lock |
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| Smuggler taking boat down Tardebigge Top Lock |
We stopped at the services just after the tunnel to get
water and get rid of rubbish, etc. Once
topped up, we carried on to Tardebigge Top Lock. This is a flight of 30 locks, but we are
only doing the top lock today and saving the other locks for tomorrow. When this canal was built, there was a
vertical boat lift here, but technical problems caused it to be replace by the
lock, and there is no trace of it now.
It didn’t take long to get through the lock as it empties
quite quickly and there was a boat coming up so I could leave the gates open
for it. We moored just along from the
lock in the visitor moorings.
We are staying here tonight then an early start down the
locks tomorrow.
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| Moored at Tardebigge |
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