Leaving Las Vegas, finally.

We had moored two tics from the water point at The Cube the day before so at early o'clock in the chilly damp we arrived to find one boat moored exactly on the said water point.  Not at all annoying.  We tried to fit in front of them but they were long and so are we and the hose didn't fit.  I gesticulated through the window as David had to pull alongside.  It was a Time Share boat and they popped their heads out.  It turned out Reader that it was their second day, they had had rudder problems and had called out the engineer who had said the rudder was very worn, they had spent 7 hours getting the boat there and were heartily sick of everything.  Poor things, they were trying out narrow boating to see if they liked it.  As of that morning they were not terribly.

We filled up and departed.  Down the Birmingham to Worcester canal.  A tree lined route going through Edgebaston which I liked very much and on.  We didn't really see any traffic that afternoon and as time went on we arrived at Hockley Heath for what proved to be a bit of a treat.  David fetched the car from Edgebaston, and that evening we met Nick and Lynda (Pub recommender extraordinaire) to have supper at The Boot Pub in Lapworth.  Just a smidgeon further on down the flight.  Well it was great but totally different from the glorious Black Country pubs he sent us to, they were all great too. We had a lovely evening, thank you Nick for all your help and advice during our stay.
Here is The Boot HERE

The next morning we toddled off to the do the Lapworth Flight.  I thought these locks were pretty rickety, nice scenery around these attractive single locks but the workings to my mind were rickety.  We met a pretty fit looking pair coming up I would estimate they might have been in their late sixties, he was doing the locks and as we waited we chatted, they too loved going to Birmingham and moor at Calcutt, they go to Birmingham every year, which means that they have done the Hatton Flight, the Stockton Flight all on their own. Phew I say.

David in full golfing wet weather gear.

First half of this guillotine type thingy lock

Second half of it.

Lovely green weed that beautifully messes with your prop.

We got to the bottom of the Lapworth and carried on to moor at the top of tomorrows little challenge.  Good Oh.