Brewood

Saturday:  A late start this morning (7:30).  We needed fuel and I thought we could try the Old Main Line and stop at Oldbury Boat Services.  There was only one other boat moving, and that was in the distance ahead of us on the New Main Line.   We turned right at Smethwick Junction and took the three locks up to the Wolverhampton Level.  After the first lock, where the approach had been surrounded by decaying industry, the remaining two were in stark contrast, open and grassy.  At the top we had a good view of the engine arm and the Telford Aqueduct looking down on the New Main Line in the cutting below.   From here the Old Main Line travelling north west was dirty, shallow and full of rubbish.   I was beginning to wonder if we had made a wise choice of route.  Once over the aqueduct crossing the lower canal the canal snakes under the motorway giving it a rather sinister feeling and soon after we arrived at the boat yard which looked derelict.  However, the sound of my engine must have woken the inhabitant because a man emerged from a nearby container and was ready to serve us.  Business is very quiet he agreed because few want to suffer the trials and tribulations of the BCN in his opinion.  Certainly we saw no other boats on the move, and very few moored, until Wolverhamption.  There are some good safe moorings above the lock there, with no land side access whatsoever.  Setting off down the Wolverhampton 21, we passed two or three boats nearing the end of their climb and then met a bunch of 4 children who claimed to come from a nearby "gypsy" camp.  They were curious in a mischievous way and irritatingly gung ho around the lock-side and gates.  All effort to explain the dangers fell on deaf ears.  This caused a break in our routine as it was necessary to lock up the boat and for me to stay at the helm instead of working lock-side as I would normally do.  Fortunately they only lasted for 3 locks  and we continued down unhindered, occasionally passing other boats.  We made Brewood on the Shropshire Union Canal that night.