The 50th Anniversary Trip - Day 4: Lapworth to Gas Street

 Monday, 4th October 2021

Most hire-boat trips are necessarily relentless affairs and a one-week transit of the Warwickshire Ring is no exception, so we were due an early start from Lapworth. Despite all the crew having been hire-boating for many years it still surprised me that detailed knowledge of the canal system could be a little lacking at times. Admittedly, the geography and history of the junction at Lapworth is complicated and bound up in canal company politics, but I was a little surprised when Pete announced that he had set lock 21 ready for the off, whereas our obvious route would be via lock 20. The following illustration might explain.

Lapworth, as explained by the Canal & Rivers Trust. Which way would you go?

Having got underway, the rest of the ascent of the Lapworth flight was uneventful and, with a large crew, very easy.  Pete was keen to replace the missing washer on the hosepipe connector  so he persuaded us to call in at the Earlswood Motor Yacht Club, where not entirely to my surprise they announced that they did not have such a thing and had no idea where one might be obtained!  Perhaps if we had been on a "motor yacht" rather than a hire boat things might have been different? 

There then followed the straightforward passage of the northern Stratford Canal, interrupted only briefly by the electrified lift bridge at Shirley, where we suffered a slight delay when the crew member sent ahead to open it wandered off on the wrong side of the cut to find the control box!  There was also a slight contretemps between the steerer (me) and one of the crew who insisted that we had to tie up here to wait for the bridge, because the notice said so!

Now where's he gone?

After a fine sunny day yesterday, the rain returned in the afternoon, but despite it being particularly heavy at the time we stopped at Yardley Wood for water, on the basis that we had only taken on half a tank at the Cape the previous day.

Taking water at Yardley Wood

The connector was still leaking badly, but somehow we didn't feel the need to worry about getting the towpath wet. With the tank now refilled I took over the steering again and noticed that the ignition light didn't go off immediately we got underway, which I thought strange. However, a few revs on the engine quickly extinguished it and I thought no more about it.

Mark had bagged the steering for the awkward turn onto the Worcester & Birmingham Canal at King's Norton, which is much tighter than it initially looks and quickly leaves you with very few options if you misjudge it. Like many, he started the turn too soon and then failed to give it enough welly, but he did get round and under the bridge with only a few shunts and without hitting anything, so I gave him a B+, upgraded to A - on appeal!

Lost Property Aplenty

After an initial attempt to tie up opposite the Mailbox in central Brum was abandoned due to the downdraught from the surrounding buildings blowing the boat away from the bank we headed around Salvage Turn and tied up near the Tap & Spile, where we went for an evening meal.  The food was good, but the beer range was a bit restrictive for our party - and very similar to that in the previous two night's pubs - so I offered to lead us to the Wellington on Bennetts Hill, which has more than a dozen beers to choose from, and to which the quickest way was through the Convention Centre and Symphony Hall complex.

After we were settled in the Wellington, Spike began agitating for a return to the Tap & Spile, on the grounds that he had left his waterproof jacket there. This was rejected on the grounds that it was now raining heavily! Unfortunately for Spike it was still raining heavily at closing time, even more so as by now, with the route through the Convention Centre being closed, we had to follow the tram tracks from Victoria Square to Broad Street. This went well until we reached Paradise Circus where the pavement stops and "No Pedestrians" signs appear as the slip road from the Inner Ring Road crosses the tracks. Fortunately traffic was light, so we carried on walking until, eventually, we were able to get off the road - and the tram tracks - and back to Gas Street.  

The Tap & Spile was closed and locked-up for night, so no hope of retrieving Spike's coat and when we got back on board, Hugh announced he had lost his wallet - probably in the Wellington!  No one was in the mood for another wet walk and a phone call to the pub elicited the advice that they were too busy to look for it, but would do so in the morning!  Hugh then announced that he had now found his wallet - in a pocket of his new coat that he didn't know existed!