Unplanned Move

We don’t usually move on a Saturday but somehow today proved the exception.  It was a lovely day although slightly misty and cold at the start.

It was a short cruise to Ilshaw Heath where we temporarily moored just beyond Bridge 20 to allow Jan to visit Wedges Bakery some 100 yards down the road from the canal.  After earlier researching on the internet she went off with her day pack so readers you might assume the plan was to return with more than a handful of yummies.

It’s more than a bakery and might be described as a farm shop.   Jan returned with a couple of home made pies for dinner tonight and freshly baked buns for lunch.

We’d scarcely moved when it was time to moor again.  This time at Stephen Goldsborough Boats for a pump out.  I commented on how close the bottom of the canal was to the top and the man doing the pump out informed me one of the CRT sluice valve above the Tardeibigge Flight  had been vandalized.  A foot of water had been run off the summit pound before CRT identified the problem and closed the valve. The summit pound covers the area from the Wolverhampton 21 Locks to the Lapworth Flight and the Tardebigge Flight, approximately 50 miles of canal.  That’s a huge volume of water to lose and it’s from the summit.  I asked how CRT were going to replace the water and was told they are back pumping.  I did some quick calculating and CRT need to replace approximately 33 million gallons of water or the equivalent of 60 Olympic swimming pools.

We first passed this interesting residential complex at Dickens Heath on a hire boat in 2007.  At the time we couldn’t understand why it appeared beside the canal.  It looked palatial and out of place.  Today the water feature facing the canal didn’t have the same volume of water.

 

The cascading water feature is located in the area between the two sets of steps.  Jan said she wouldn’t want to live in one of the nearby apartments because the sound of the running water would have her getting up all night to visit the small room.  I wouldn’t have that problem.  There are some advantages to being slightly deaf!

However the poor hearing proved to be an impediment when a passing boater called out something which I didn’t understand.  fortunately Jan was able to tell me we were being informed a tree had fallen across the canal at the other end of Brandwood Tunnel and we should keep to the right.

We are now moored just short of the swing bridge

Which as you can see, has been removed!