Friday 6th September 2013
Ramble 22: Kingswood
Bridge (Bridge No. 65) to Olton (Bridge No. 84).
We set off again along the towpath with John, Julie, Peter,
Sue, Hugh, Margaret, Sue and Jem. This
time the weather was not so kind to us and the towpath was wet and slippery in
places. The wet conditions hadn’t stopped the mower man cutting the grass along
the towpath, but the wet cuttings stuck onto to the canal boat sides causing hands
with small brushes to reach out from under tarpaulins to clean them off!
We had the canal pretty much to ourselves; very few people
were out walking and hardly any boats were moving. Everywhere looked very green; leaves and pots
were shiny with rainwater on them.
For several weeks before now the weather had been sunny and
warm, but today it was markedly cooler and wet. It caused a slight mist or haze
above the water and the reflections in the water were beautiful, especially of
boats and bridges.
We kept up a good pace in the light rain. Sometimes it
didn’t rain and the umbrellas came down but mostly it was steady, gentle rain.
After passing the Black Boy Pub we saw the Black Buoy
Cruising Club with a boat in the slipway (for repairs perhaps).
In 1974 the
club site was split by the ‘new’ county boundary which is down the centre of
the canal at this point. The clubhouse is in Warwickshire, whereas other parts
are in the Metropolitian Borough of Solihull, part of the West Midlands county.
The Heronfield Animal Centre seemed to be providing some
nice conditions for rescued goats, chickens, pigs and alpacas alongside the
canal as we approached Bridge No 70 where the Warwick Road passes over.
A little further on are the series of five Knowle Locks and
by the bottom lock a canal boat was turning around (the first boat we had seen moving
for some time). As it wasn’t raining at this point we decided to break for a
picnic and while sitting beside one of the side ponds, watched some gulls
squabbling.
Soon we were pressing on and made good progress (we all had
trains to catch afterwards, some of us to local accomodation and some were going back
home). It was really quiet and countrified along here with many sections of
cuttings, green with overhanging trees.
In the distance we heard the drone of
traffic noise which gradually became louder and eventually we passed under the
M42 Barston Lane motorway bridge. We had been seeing herons standing beside the
canal in front of us that flew off as we approached. Then we thought that perhaps it was just one
heron we saw several times, but by the motorway bridge we definitely saw a different
heron that was much darker in colour fly off.
After the canal passes over the River Blythe via a small
aqueduct and a couple more turns we went through the village of Catherine De
Barnes, known locally as Catney Barnes, often abbreviated to Catney. It is from
this point onwards that the area beyond the canal corridor becomes very
built up, as it enters the outskirts of Birmingham.
To us just by the canal, it
still appeared mostly very green and tranquil, especially in the cuttings. In
some places gardens had been extended with staircases down banks to improvised
landing stages constructed from scaffolding. Ducks seemed to enjoy using these.
We completed the walk by the canal, estimated to be between
9 and 10 miles, by mid-afternoon and went off in search of a nice drink and
Olton Railway Station.
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