Heavy rain first thing, however the Met Office rainfall radar video sequence suggested that it would not last long. By the time we reached the bottom Lock of the Wolverhampton 21 it had stopped and, moreover waited until we were moored at the top before resuming. It took us 3 hours to make the climb, just slow steady methodical work. All the locks were in our favour until nearly at the top when we met a clutch of 3 descending boats. A telephone call had been made to the last of the three by the first, so that all the gates had been left open for us. Nice teamwork! There were no nasty surprises. The top lock gear is pretty worn out. The gears are no longer meshing properly and have a jerky feel. One jammed briefly, but a bit of jiggling got it working. Reaching the top we found to our surprise and dismay that the few moorings there are were marked 24 hours apart perhaps from the newly renovated moorings between the CRT maintenance yard and the railway bridge. We were intending to stay 48 hours. One could be forgiven for reasoning that there is actually no reason to justify staying longer, so 24 hours is enough time to overnight before or after the lock flight. The towpath throughout the lock flight has just been renovated with asphalt throughout and is now an ideal cycle speedway. Work seems to be continuing with that work onwards towards Birmingham, but no moorings there. I walked on a little way to see if there was any direct access to the station from the towpath, but could find none. There seemed to be no way of exiting the canal at all and all the development that is taking place in this old industrial area seems to have its back turned on what could be a real amenity.
We moored up initially on the towpath
side beyond the bridge to allow a brief exploratory expedition and found a Sainsbury Local on the station footpath bridge over the dual carriageway. However, it wasn't long before a youth popped his head in the window asking Pat if she had the time. Yes, that old chestnut, but polite with it. No doubt scoping the boat out for further interest. So we moved opposite to the secure moorings but that means we cannot leave. There is absolutely no access here. Sorry Wolverhampton.
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