FAZELEY JUNCTION
Woke up early to rain. Decided to wait it
out. Finally continued our journey around 9:30 this morning. The sun soon
greeted us as we glided down the canal.
Only had two locks to navigate today. I am
feeling much more comfortable with operating them, but there is one thing that
can freak me out a bit. After opening the paddle on one side of a double gated
lock, you need to walk across a twelve-inch plank to the other side. The deep lock
is filling up with rushing water, and it can be a little unnerving looking
down. There are handrails but they are sometimes quite low so reaching out to
them before stepping on the plank, can make my heart race. I am not a fan of
heights.
There were two large tree branches that had fallen across the canal today. When we passed them, David put the engine in neutral to help avoid a section of the branch from tangling up with the propeller. We were told that one boater did have a branch jammed in his propeller. Big problem.
We are keeping close tabs on any canal closures. The Canal Trust closes sections of the canal to dredge, general maintenance or to repair locks. One story we heard was of a boater getting caught behind a long-term closure and could not return their boat before the next renter was to have it. A crane had to be sent out to retrieve the boat. Cost the stranded renter $2,000.
We only encountered two boats going in the
opposite direction today. Both of their bows suddenly appeared as we were under
a bridge on a blind turn. We had the right of way, but it took some quick
thinking and maneuvering to make room to pass. There was a lot of “back peddling”.
When we cruised through the last bridge arriving at the junction, we had a sharp left turn on to the Fazeley/Birmingham Canal. David had to do at least a 4-point turn to aim our boat through the narrow passage under another bridge. The wind was starting to pick up so once through the bridge, we quickly pulled over to a handy District mooring area and tied up.
Sharp left turn once through the bridge
View from our mooring. You can see the narrow passage under the bridge
We took a walk to a pub/restaurant called The Longwood. It was the first to have Christmas decorations up and twinkling. We decided to have starters only, so it was a deep-fried food fest…fried mushrooms, fried cauliflower, fried chicken strips, fried cheese, and nachos. We were all greased up.
David asked for sauces and a young man
brought over 6 different jars of various toppings and dips. David loved the
Coleman’s mustard because it had a kick to it. David raved about it to the young
man and as we were leaving, he came back to the table and said, “You can take
that mustard with you.” We made sure it was OK and then dropped it in our
backpack. Such a nice gesture. Hope this will not cause an international incident. The Great Mustard Caper!
We were going to stop by a pub we saw on the way to the restaurant and enjoy a drink and play cribbage before returning to the boat. We discovered that the pub was closed and as we were walking away, a gentleman stopped us and asked, “Are you looking for a pub?” We answered, “Yes”, and he began to direct us to two pubs in the area. We thanked him profusely for his kindness, but we were both so tired that we ended up aiming ourselves toward the boat. A warm fire, a soft chair and a cuppa were just what these tired bones needed. It turns dark around 4:40. Bedtime comes early for us.
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