Getting ready for Tardebigge (losing the internet)

On Monday we thought we would cruise down to the top of Tardebigge where there is a flight of 29 locks all next to each other.  We wanted to get as close to the top lock as possible so that we could get up early on Tuesday and crack them all and maybe a few more of the 11 that follow soon after.

As we passed under this bridge, the walkers congratulated Karen on her pots of spring flowers.  There were about 20 walkers the other side of the bridge and most of them were taking pictures of the flowers.

 

This was rather a sad sight – the boat was badly burnt and mainly at the front where the stove would have been.

We went under yet another motorway – the M42.

Karen, as ever, was on the look out for logs as she walked along with Buddy.

The canal is nice and wide coming into Alvechurch from the north.

We stopped at Alvechurch for lunch and popped across to the boatyard to pick up a couple of things including an up to date version of our out of date waterway guide for the area we are currently cruising.  Unfortunately they had sold out but we managed to get a couple more bridge plaques representing two of the recent canals we have been on.

We went through the 613 yard long Shortwood tunnel.

When we got to Tardebigge wharf Karen popped in to see if they had the waterway guide we needed. 

Fortunately they had the guide we wanted and much to my delight the 2014 edition has put back the capitalisation that was lacking in our 2004 edition.  More importantly I suppose is that the new edition has details on the Droitwich canal that has been restored between editions – we will be travelling along the Droitwich after the next 40 locks and then on to the River Severn.  As we will be going onto the river we have to get a few things organised like ringing the authorities to arrange for the locks to be manned for us.

Soon after the book stop I went through the 580 yard Tardebigge tunnel and Karen and Buddy walked over the top.

We went down Tardebigge top lock because we knew we could moor overnight in the pound below before the main flight starts.

After mooring up we wandered down past the next half a dozen or so locks on the off chance we would find a pound we could moor in overnight.  This would have been good because we could have done some of the locks in the evening and have fewer to do on Tuesday. Unfortunately we had no luck but saw this old barge with trees growing through it.

When we got back we found out we had used up our internet allowance for the month – the first time since moving on board. Our allowance of 30gig a month is usually ample but we have had poor TV reception recently and watched a few programs on live streaming which really uses up the allowance.