The curly Wyrley

On the Main Line

About to enter Cosleley tunnel

 The boats on the cruise set off at different times during the morning.  Those wanting to explore one of the now blocked canals left early whilst we waited until 10am as we were happy to travel directly to our destination.  A short distance down the canal the old and new main lines merge at Tipton Junction.  The subsequent journey was slow but pleasant with much of the surrounding industry and derelict land hidden by trees.   We passed through the 360 yard Coseley tunnel and 4 miles later reached Horseley Fields Junction in Wolverhampton where we turned right onto the Wyrley and Essington Canal which follows a very winding path around the north of Birmingham hence its nickname of the "curly Wyrley".

From here on the boat felt heavy and sluggish although the GPS indicated a speed of 2.5mph which is reasonable particularly if the canal is shallow.  Our designated mooring was about a mile up the curly Wyrley next to a large shopping and entertainments retail park about half a mile from Wednesfield, a town that now forms part of the Birmingham/Wolverhampton conurbation. After mooring there I opened the weed hatch to clear any rubbish picked up by the propellor during our journey and found what turned out to be sufficient torn plastic to fill a kitchen rubbish bag wrapped around the propellor.  How the boat managed to move at all, let alone reach a moderate speed, I dont know.

Boats moored in the short stub of thr Bentley Canal

Sadly the retail park was constructed directly over the Bentley Canal and so what would have been a useful route across Birminghham has been lost forever.  All that remains at this location is a short stub where 7 of our group's boats were able to moor.

After lunch we spent some time in the adjacent Sainsburys to stock up again with groceries and while I took the shopping back to the boat Denise explored the other shops.