Saturday 26 July 2014

More than 21 locks in Wolverhampton

Somehow the boat we overtook yesterday beat us to the locks this morning, despite our prime mooring at the top. By the time Jan had been for a paper and I had hunted for O-rings Jura Reve (there should be a circumflex over the first "e") was about five locks down. Not to worry, there were plenty of boats coming up the flight so I didn't have to turn many.

Do you see the large building behind Jan? I noticed it yesterday.

The question was, WHAT was founded in 1818?

The other side of the building provided the answer.

Chubb's lock works.

Back to the other type of lock. Exiting the top lock Jan steers Jubilee under Littles Lane Bridge.

There are several interesting bridges over this flight, including one railway bridge over another one over the canal. I saw a freight train pass over the lower bridge - unfortunately I wasn't in a position to photograph it. Here's the high skew bridge instead.

It took us three hours and five minutes to clear the flight; here Jan does a rare bit of gate work.

Shortly after turning right onto the Staffs and Worcs we topped up with diesel at Oxley Marine. At 86p/litre they claim to be the cheapest in the area.

Approaching Penkridge we were buzzed by a couple of microlights.


As soon as we were on the S&W we noticed the difference in the amount of boating traffic. We even had mini queues at locks, with plenty of novice boaters.

2 comments:

Andrew said...

Two points:
1: "Jan does a rare bit of gate work." - you are lucky to have someone to do most of the steering! I much prefer lockwheeling on a big flight. Such great exercise.

2: Diesel is 83p at Streethay, often considered one of the pricier filling points. 86p is fairly high right now. Wheaton Aston is always cheapest, for some reason.

Halfie said...

Andrew, yes, it is indeed fortunate that I prefer to lockwheel while Jan prefers to steer.

Oxley Marine was cheaper than the previous place I used. Had we been going down the Shroppie I would have filled up at Turner's.