Queens Head to Before Top Lock Tardebigge (Worcester & Birmingham Canal)

In first lock only 28 to go!!

Into another lock we go

Well this is it, our big day today, we have 29 locks to do to the top of Tardebigge, well there is another lock and a tunnel to the very top, but we will doing that another day!

We decided to have an early start today, so set off just before 8.30am and the sun was shining.  Fortunately for us, a boat came down late yesterday afternoon so all the locks should be set for us.  I walked up to the first of many and opened the gates and as Kev was just setting off a boat came along the canal, we thought they were going to go straight past Kev but they didn’t and in the lock we went.  Another boat that was moored up where we were came out as well so there was three of us going up the locks one behind the other, but we were first, so that was good.

On and up we go

My singing thrush

The  boat behind us had a crew of four so one of the chaps was coming up to the lock we were just going out of and he closed the gate for us which was a good help and I went on and got the next lock ready.

We worked up the flight with our usual routine at a steady pace and met three boats coming down.  Usually when we do this flight all the locks are set against us so it was a nice change for them all to the be set for us.

We were at one of the locks waiting for it to fill and there was a lovely bird song in one of the trees so I looked up and in the tree above my head was a thrush, it was such a lovely sound.

Passing Reservoir

At the top, hurray!!

The sun was out for most of the morning so it was quite hot working up the locks, but before we knew it we were passing the reservoir which told us we only had a few to go and sure enough we were soon in the last lock for us today and that was 29 locks done, hurray and we did it in exactly four hours which is a record for us and we didn’t rush either, we just went at a steady pace so really pleased with that.

Duckling Family

We chugged under the bridge and moored just beyond there for a well earned rest!!  Just after we moored up, a duck and 9 ducklings came past the boat, we had some duck food on board so I fed them, they were very sweet.  We haven’t seen that many ducklings yet so nice to see.

We are staying here for a couple of days now as the forecast is not good for tomorrow and on one of the maps we have it shows that there is a craft centre not too far away so we are going to have a walk up there and see what that is all about.

Moored before Tardebigge Top Lock