Birmingham to Kingsbury
Chalice moored by the National Indoor Arena and the SeaLife Centre - in the rain.
We woke up to a very rainy day, but set off down the 13 Farmer's Bridge locks towards the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal.
We were followed down by a British Waterways maintenance crew who were going to make a 'stoppage' for repairs at the second lock down in the Aston flight from 4 pm that afternoon until midnight. Not perhaps the kind of place that you want to be stopped over night, so once out of the Aston flight we began warning other boat crews that they might want to go a different way around if they were not likely to be through there in time.
Halfway down Farmer's Bridge I began to get a serious pain in my right knee, which I tried hard to ignore, but it persisted until I couldn't put much weight on my leg.
We waved the BW crew past, I dug out an instant ice pack and strapped up my knee with an elastic bandage and then took over steering.
It rained continuously for hours, all through the Farmer's Bridge 13, the Aston flight of 11 and the Curdworth flight. We moored up between locks 10 and 11 of the Curdworth flight at Kingsbury, by a huge lake - I believe a gravel pit originally but now a wildlife centre. By this time the rain was mostly done, it was quiet and peaceful, with no-one around.
My knee was very painful, and I had considerable concerns about being able to get the boat home in a sensible time.
Daily Total: 11.93 miles, 37 locks, 1 minor tunnel
Running Total: 198.4 miles 258 locks, 15 tunnels
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