Netherton Tunnel Branch

After a shower in the warm, clean facility, Will left the lovely community at the Engine Arm. It was a dull but windless day, which made the difficult turns that much easier.

He had been warned that the Spon Lane Locks are notoriously difficult and approached them with some trepidation. It was interesting to steer under the M5 motorway fly over, before turning right into the first of the three locks. Will let the dogs out for a walk while he set this lock. While attempting to extricate Rainboat from the lock by bow hauling her, she seemed to stop moving. He eventually realised that the rooftop canoe was wedged under the bridge! It took about half an hour to get it dislodged and off Rainboat's roof and the dogs back on board. This was all watched by a very interested Community Payback Group who warned him that the next pound was almost empty. Upon inspection he found there was only about 20cm of water, leaving zero chance of getting through!

After 20 minutes of trying to fill the pound it looked as though he may be able to get through so he closed the top sluices and chambered back aboard Rainboat, now towing Little Green. Will managed to get about 20m out of the lock before he grounded again and it started raining 😭 The Payback Team were about to leave, but kindly grabbed a thrown windlass and reopened the top sluices, which eventually let in enough water to get Rainboat to the final lock of the flight. Phew!

Finally, safely in the bottom lock, the sun came out and after some lunch it seemed like a good time to continue the journey. 15 minutes later it began raining again! Will found a likely spot to moor but after dragging a fishing rod overboard with the centre line he realised that there was nowhere to hammer in the mooring pins. Unable to find the lost fishing rod, he set off once more, eventually finding the turnoff for Netherton Tunnel. Very shortly afterwards, he moored up at just after 2pm and settled down for a quiet afternoon with the furries. A short trip to the chippy for the Black Country 'delicacy' of battered chips was a good way of rounding off the day.Leia mais