March 29^th

Left Mooring at 8.00 am and as we moved off Nb Lady Dawn came round the corner and was to follow us all the way to Birmingham. They lived on board and had two lovely black Labs.

Our route took us past Bromford and

Lord/Windsor Street

where I first worked for BG.

 We also went under the a 150yd long old factory shed built over the canal, a strange thing to do as there seemed to be plenty of land for building on. Erdington Hall Bridge

We made a sharp right turn under Spaghetti Junction and headed for Birmingham centre. The locks were in generally good shape although two pounds were particularly low and we scrapped the bottom all the way to the next lock. As luck would have it we got plastic bags wrapped around the prop and I could not stop as we entered the lock. Not good for the boat or the gates. Managed to limp out of the lock and remove the rubbish assuming that Lady Dawn would pass us and be behind Autumn Years. However, we managed to clear the problem quickly and looked back to see Lady Dawn stuck on the offside bank. I went back to help them get off and luckily their stern rope just reach the bank so that we could get her back into deeper water.

Very impressive entering Birmingham with the Post Office Tower in the background and as we progressed up the Farmers flight of locks we went under several of the city’s buildings.

Talking about hard work doing the locks, this is what we mean

It was lunch time and the workers were enjoying the sun as they walked down the locks, two young men gave June a hand with some of the heavy locks and said how much they had enjoyed themselves. Even went under our very own version of the Millennium.

On reaching the top of the locks we headed for the

Oozell  Street

Loop and found two good moorings next to the Sea Life centre.

Lovely Cherry Trees and grass in the Brindley Place Sqares

March 30^th

June decided to go home and see her mom and also have her hair done at the same time, so we caught the train and bus back to Solihull, thank goodness for the bus pass, home in less than half an hour. It took us 6 days to get to Birmingham!!

Returned to the boat in time for tea and cake with C & G and went to Café Rouge for dinner in the evening, just 2 mins from the mooring.

During the day Claire from Guide Dogs phoned to tell us that she was to be Carly’s trainer and would be collecting her on Monday and taking her to Shrewsbury for training. Carly would be staying with boarders over night and in the local office during the day whilst she was not with Claire doing training.

Macrh 31^st

What a change the morning was damp with a fine mist and a little drizzle but soon brightened up in the afternoon.  After little shopping with the girls and coffee at M & S, the boys went off to Millennium Point to the Think Tank, the latest version of the Science Museum. Some good interactive units but still have the City of Birmingham Train, Light House and tram from the days when I was a visiting child.

Despite all the noise, open steps, glass walkways Carly was excellent and seems to have grown in confidence over the last few days.

In the afternoon June’s brother and family visited for tea and home made lemon cup cakes.