After a McBreakfast in Warstock we set off through King’s Norton Junction and turned onto the Worcester & Birmingham Canal, reaching Gas Street Basin in the centre of Birmingham at 13:00 hrs.
We chugged passed the Cadbury Factory at Bourneville and ran alongside the railway track and a well maintained towpath full of walkers and joggers passed Birmingham University. Bearded hipsters whizzed about at alarming speeds on electric scooters, which seem to be the Brummie equivalent of “Boris Bikes”.
There is a Canal & River Trust water point and toilet and shower facility here. We set off to find the nearby launderette and walked passed it without spotting it lurking in the side of an Esso Service Station.
We spent most of the afternoon here, having to wait half an hour after our wash had finished to use the dryer, which was in use by a lad who narrowly beat us to the smaller 8kg washing machine.
We got back to the boat and put the Webasto central heating on to warm up.
Note all the padlocks on the bridge in the picture above. Today we have seen magpies, a heron, swans, moorhens and squirrels.
Oh look! Laundry facilities as seen in various shopping centre car parks in France! Shame about your recent paraphernalia losses 'into the drink'! And I thought you had taken a fantastic photo of a kingfisher. At least you saw one.
Cheers Katrina