I had intended to update the blog via my phone, but that hasn’t been very succesful. Especially as all the draft blogs I’d save on my phone were lost when it became water-logged – more about that later. Instead I shall post some short excerpts that will cover the weeks cruising.
On Monday afternoon Josie had to go into the office. That meant, as we were slightly behind schedule, an early start to go through Birmingham’s Gas Basin and down the Farmers Flight of locks.
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| Cruising through the Gas Basin |
After topping up with water by Old Turn Junction (why does filling up the water tank always take ages, even if you only topped up the day before?) we then went down the locks (13 in 1 Hr 55 Mins) and moored at Faraday Wharf at the back of Aston University. The mooring although busy, with pedestrians, during the day is quiet at night. The area is well lit and we felt quite safe leaving the boat to go the Sack of Potatoes for our tea.
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| Framer's Bridge Locks - Passing under an office block |
Farmers Bridge locks pass under several blocks of flats and offices in the centre of Birmingham. These include the Assay Office, the BT Telecom Tower and the train lines as they emerge from Snowhill Station.
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| Faraday Wharf |
The Sacks is a CAMRA Good Beer Guide listed pub and only 5 minutes walk from the mooring. The beer as to be expected from a GBG listed pub is always excellent and it has just recently increased the range of beers on offer ( the number of hand pumps has increased from 3 to 6). Of those 6 on this occasion 3 of them were ‘hoppy’ beers all under 3.8% in strength, just right for quaffing. The food although just ‘standard’ pub grub is filling and just what is needed after working through the Farmer's Bridge flight of locks.
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| Josie with our friend Keiren outside the Sacks |
