Yesterday I drove the South Coast to Birmingham megabus service and, as mentioned in an earlier posting, started to explore the Digbeth Branch Canal during my free time there. The megabus is parked in Curzon Street so it it’s only a few yards along Curzon Street to the Ashstead Bottom Lock which is where I joined the canal. I then walked through the tunnel which runs under the railway lines

And then to Digbeth Junction which is also called Proof House Junction because of its proximity to the Proof House. At this point a short branch to Typhoo Basin joins the Digbeth Branch.

I then followed the canal past the Banana warehouse, Granville Wharf (The Bond, Ice House) and the Fellows Moreton Clayton warehouse. All can be seen in this photo.

Then to Boardsley Junction which hasn’t changed in 20 years. I spent the night moored there after an exhausting afternoon of opening the Grand Union to traffic! The water level was too low to allow a narrowboat to pass, after checking with the BWB they agreed that water could be allowed back into that section. It took an afternoon of opening and closing locks in order to achieve this and by the time we got to Boardsly Junction is was getting dark and we were far to tired to start on the Camp Hill Locks so we moored on the side of the canal to the very right in this photo. Behind was a huge wall with razor wire at the top and with no towpath on that side of the canal no one could get to the boat. We did however spend the evening and first part of the night listing to airguns going off and pellets whizzing as they richoched off everything around us!

Bordsley Junction is the end of the Digbeth Branch but I did continue my walk for about another mile along the Grand Union canal. However, it became less interesting as it went on. When I’m next in Birmingham I explare the other half of the Digbeth Branch from Curzon Street to Aston Junction where it joins the Birmingham and Fazely Canal.

Today I’m doing 95 duty (writing this in Victoria Library before driving the 17:00 from Victoria to Winchester). On the way up this morning I took the usual route using the M3 as far as Junction 2, normally I’d then then join the M25 clockwise to the M4 and then into London. However, the matrix signs were warning of an ‘incident’ on the M25. When I was a few yards short of the point of no return I saw that the clockwise M25 had a speed lmit of 20mph indicated – when it says that it’s bad! So I swopped back to continue up the M3 and use the A316 into London. Once I was past the point of no return I could see a bit more of the M25 and the problem was in the first 100 yards – after that all clear. Oh well, the A316 is only about 10 mintes slower than the preferred route I thought to myself. Not today it wasn’t, I crawled all the way :-(

My 10:30 departure to Brighton didn’t happen due to the coach I would use arriving late from Cheltenham. At least I got to have a chat with Nik of the twistedkites.co.uk blog, his departure for Manchester was also delayed. I got away at 11:05 but Nik was still loading as I passed him.

If you like spoonerisms you may have enjoyed my PA system announcement on the return from Brighton “…….. and the first aid extinguisher is located behind my seat, the fire kit is in the overhead locker” :-)

At last I’m clear of the cold I wrote about here. Thoughtfully, my son drew my attention to this short video which shows how debilitating the common cold can be;-)

Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) is a network of navigable canals connecting Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and the eastern part of the Black Country. The BCN is connected to the rest of the English canal system at several junctions.

The first canal to be built in the area was the Birmingham Canal, built from 1768 to 1772 under the supervision of James Brindley from the, then, edge of Birmingham, with termini at Newhall Wharf (since built over) and Paradise Wharf (also known as Old Wharf) near to Gas Street Basin to meet the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal at Aldersley (north of Wolverhampton).

The Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, from Birmingham to Tamworth, followed in 1784 with the Birmingham Canal Company merging with the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal Company immediately, to form what was originally called the Birmingham and Birmingham and Fazeley Canal Company. This cumbersome name was short-lived, and the combined company became known as the Birmingham Canal Navigations from 1794, as the network was expanded.

I love narrow boats and the BCN. I also like what what I describe as ‘weeping willows, green fields and kingfisher’ narrow boating but it the industrial BCN which I love best. I’ve cruised the canals of Birmingham for the past 15 years trying to get a last feeling for a location before it becomes gentrified and the old works at the canal side are demolished with yuppie apartments replacing them. Or the warehouses are turned into wine bars and boutiques.

I’m writing this because where we park the megabus during our break in Birmingham is not far from the Digbeth Branch Canal (infact the canal is in a tunnel at that point and almost runs under the spot on which the bus is parked!). I walked to the canal this week and took this picture, but by the time I realised I was that near to the canal I didn’t have enough time left to explore. I will do that on my next Birmingham trip.

…. if I’d been five or six vehicles ahead of where I was I’d have missed it, three or four vehicles ahead and I’d have been part of it, but where I was meant I got delayed!

It was 05:30 this morning and I was driving a ‘Not on Service’ megabus to Bournemouth which would then become the 06:00 Bournemouth to London. I was on the A31 at Ringwood when suddenly hazzard warning lights came on, I braked from about 60 mph and came to a halt at which point I could see a car in front of me straddling the centre crash barrier, one in the nearside lane sideways on with lots of side damage and a couple in the outside lane at least still pointing in the right irection. I could also see a couple of cars stopped on the hard shoulder of the other carriageway – I guess they saw it and jumped out to help. There seemed to be enough people in the road for me not to be needed and nobody seem to be panicking about anybody/anything. I was amazed that an ambulance was there in less than 10 minutes, the cops a little after and then two fire engines, the first put up a tall mast with a floodlight on top and the second cut the door off one of the cars. I’m pretty sure the person in the car wasn’t badly hurt, the medics weren’t attending to them all the time, I guess it was simply the easiest way to open a door which was jammed! By now my view was obstructed by more police cars which had arrived and then the Highways Agency van. Suddenly, all the emergency service vehicles moved over and we were given one lane to pass the accident. I checked my watch and I’d been stopped 45 minutes. I found that pretty amazing considering an ambulance had to arrive, the police do their thing and the fire brigade illuminate it all while their colleages cut their way into a car! I calcualted that with a good run I’d end up only about 30 minutes late to Winchester after doing the Bournemouth pick ups. No chance! My maximum speed on the M27 and the M3 was never above 35 mph and often around 10 mph. When I finally made it to Winchester I was an hour down.

My thanks to Bob Smith for drawing this to my attention. The good news is that no one was hurt and everyone got to complete their journey.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/south_of_scotland/7074972.stm

The megabus in question wasn’t the old Olympian pictured on the BBC site but a much newer Neoplan. Infact, I belive this photo is of the actual bus; fleet number 50148!