Middle of Nowhere back to Fazeley Junction.

The rain of the other day gave us the opportunity to plan the trip for our next guests/lock slaves who will be with us shortly.

This planning gave rise to a serious lack of facilities (Pump out, Diesel etc) around Birmingham itself. We need to have full tanks in one department and an empty tank in the other as there will be four of us aboard for a while.

We know there is a BW office at Fazeley and all facilities are there so back we went,

and here we are........ again.

Whilst filling with water this push/pull tug came through with its hands well and truly full.




Those two barges were over sixty feet each and with him in the middle would make the total length somewhere near a working boat and its Butty in days past.
These canals must have been a very different place back then.
No prima donnas worrying over a small scratch in a narrow lock or a slight knock from another boat.
Admittedly they would not have had to navigate around all the pleasure boats moored alongside as this chap is doing here, you can see that he has had to move to the "wrong" side of the canal to get around the bend and take up his line, there was nothing coming the other way this time which must have helped quite a bit.



This boater was filming himself taking his boat around the junction, you can just make out the camcorder stuck to his eye.
Of course, he hit the side of the bridge, probably couldn't see where he was going!!!

Staying here for a day or two now as the sun has come out and the forecast is good for the near future, Ubique needs a polish again.

We polished all the Brasswork yesterday only to be sitting here today watching the rain falling once more and ruining all our efforts.

Weather forecasters just don't seem able to forecast the time of day at the moment.



Until tomorrow............................