Gas Street Basin, Birmingham

Sorry we haven't been in contact lately. We've been having trouble with our "dongle" and getting very limited access to the internet. Finally we went to a "3" Store and they confirmed that it has packed up. No problem we thought, it must be under warrantee. Except that the warrantee was up a few months ago. Actually the "3" warrantee is one year but the dongle manufacturer's warrantee is 2 years so we'll go after them. But now we are the proud owners of a new and improved dongle!
Since Kinver we moved to a great mooring spot about 1/4 mile short of Wordsley Junction near Stourbridge. It turned out to be a perfect spot to do the painting under the gunwales so we stayed there 3 nights. The only excitement was when I was turning the boat around to paint the other side. In the process of reversing, and then running aground, I picked up what turned out to be a winter jacket on the prop. While I was floating aimlessly (Ann had gone into town) in the middle of the canal, the only boat we saw all day came along. Anyway, I got it sorted and the only problem now was that Rhapsody was now pointed back toward Kinver. Our plan was to reverse back to Wordsley Junction early in the morning and then have a clear run up the Stourbridge 16 locks. The reversing went fine, but JUST as we approached the junction and the first lock, another boat came out of the Stourbridge Arm and started up the flight. Oh well, just another flight where the locks will all be set against us... It actually went well as the folks in the other boat knew what they were doing and didn't hold us up much at all.
It's been a while since we've been on this section so we couldn't remember whether there was any place to moor between the top of the 19 and the Delph 9. Well, there isn't, so we continued on up the "9", which is really only 8 locks. Why, you ask? It was redone at some point and one of the locks was eliminated by a couple deeper ones. A nice chap helped us up this flight. This is a beautiful area and flight of locks. We have a really nice picture of us going down this section a few years ago.
So this meant that we would moor at Merry Hill for the night. This is an area that has gone through massive reconstruction. We never saw it before it was redone, but apparently a huge shopping mall stands now where there was once derelict buildings and industrial decay. There is every type of store you can imagine within walking distance and lots of quite good mooring. Well done.
Our plan was to leave Merry Hill and then turn right at Windmill end to explore the Dudley #2 Canal down toward Blackheath and Gosty Hill Tunnel. Unfortunately the weather was turning iffy and was definitely going to be punk the next day so we decided to push on through Netherton Tunnel and on to Gas Street. Actually we moored at the first 14 day mooring we came to in Birmingham, and good thing because there are more boats here than I've ever seen. Some have moved on and it's probably more busy than normal due to the fact that it's half term break this week.
So, we'll continue with some chores on the boat and probably take some side trips over the next few days. We really like this area. Some other boaters we talk to show almost shock that we would even cruise through, much less stay in, Birmingham. They're missing the boat!
All the best, John and Ann http://www.birminghamuk.com/gasbasin.htm