On Thursday (10/06/2021) we continued on down to Alvechurch. Before we set off Steve and Vera walked back along the towpath to investigate the Wast Hill Tunnel.
There is no tow path through the tunnel which is 2 miles long as unpowered (horse drawn) narrowboats where pulled through by tugs.
Unfortunately the C&RT water point at Hopwood had been deactivated so we had to skip our 100 gallon tank refill plans. Four months on the canal have taken their toll on Hilary.
We moored up opposite Withybed Moorings after bridge 62 and after lunch Steve and Vera walked down to checkout Alvechurch Marina as a source of diesel and water tomorrow.
It would be busy there tomorrow as all the holiday boats would be returning to base. Sadly the CAMRA-loved pub at the marina, the Weighbridge Inn, was not open until 19:00 hrs.
We walked back to the boat where there was another pub. Alvechurch Marina was home base for some of our SPICE (Special Program of Initiative, Challenge and Excitement) narrowboat weekends in the late nineties and early noughties. See https://www.spiceuk.com/join-spice/what-we-do/ to see what the club is like now.
Alvechurch Marina is where Steve & Hilary first met on a SPICE narrowboat weekend in April 1997 and they went on to get married at Langar Hall on 31/07/1998. See https://steve33.tripod.com/travel/narrowboats.htm for details of our narrowboat holiday together.
We watched the final episode of “Time” on BBC iPlayer and read our books in the afternoon.
We went for a drink in the Crown Inn where the dog friendly policy meant that we were soon chatting to other dog owners in the beer garden.
Steve transformed himself into the image of a 90’s psycho serial killer with his Body Shop face mask, part of his beauty regime to prevent grumpy skin.
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