Monday 18th July 2016

VWe left Birmingham at 9.30 after filling with water and the first boat we passed was this beautiful plant boat. We were talking to the owner yesterday and he just cruises the canals all year round selling plants. Very impressive as I can just about keep a small mint plant alive for the Pimms!

We then passed the famous Gas Street Basin.

This whole area is "party centre" in Birmingham. Very quiet on a Monday morning but heaving with people on Friday and Saturday evening. I'm sure many of them end up in the canal!

One way to clean the windows.

Leaving Birmingham we turned down the Birmingham & Worcester canal and passed the Cadbury factory. As we turned left down the Stratford canal there were some workmen repairing the tow path. It would have been helpful if they had moored parallel to the side and not at 90 degrees.

As you can see we have a lots of locks ahead of us.

The first lock is not used anymore as the fall was only 1 inch. When canals were completed the different owners didn't want to share water so stop locks of only a few inches were installed. This one is unusual as it was a guillotine type.

We only did 4 locks today but these are the first 'down' locks since leaving the marina. They are not in great condition as either one paddle didn't work or they were too stiff to move. We have a long flight ahead of us so let's hope that they improve.