Wolverhampton Main Line – Wednesday 4 July 2012
Today I started out at 09:00 along the ‘New’ canal, built by Telford in the early 19th Century to improve traffic flow by straightening the old Brindley canal (which followed the contours).  He managed to reduce the distance by seven miles.  It is a very wide cut with tree lined embankments, factories on one side and a railway on the other, no idea that you are travelling through a major city.  The old canal wasn’t made redundant – it follows at the top of the cuttings.  After the two canals rejoin at Bromford Junction the Birmingham Level is straight for almost three miles with branches heading off.  Tipton Green has three locks giving a rise to join the Wolverhampton Main Line.  This canal is totally different it is a bendy, narrow, weed grown, polluted stream.  There was all sorts of rubbish (including lots of plant tubers which will probably grow again unless collected and removed).  Unlike the Telford canal this one is obviously going through an industrial area, factories and old ‘brown land’ sites.  Again very few boats about, I have had the canal to myself for hours.  I have moored in the centre of Wolverhampton in a deep cutting by the ring road, having covered twelve miles and three locks.  It was overcast with light rain this morning but the sun came out this afternoon.
Tomorrow there are the     Wolverhampton Locks to go through – 21 locks with a total drop of 132 feet in just 2 miles!