BCN – Narrowboat Firecrest

Stourbridge Glass Museum

We have a special affinity for all things glass in our family, as our daughter is a lampworker- that is someone who works with glass heated by an oil lamp, (or for the past few centuries a gas torch, but the name stuck.) As opposed to glass blowing which is heated till molton in a furnace. She specialises in glass beads which she makes into knitting accessories. So when we realised we were cruising right through the traditional heart of the English glass industry it would have been a pity not to visit the museum.

Set over 2 floors there was a collection of historic glass dating from Roman times following the transformation of utility functional pieces through to the highly decorated cut glass crystal. And if I’m honest that section didn’t excite me, but upstairs I was overwhelmed by the modern colourful art glass. Which begs the question, museum or gallery?

Very hard to do justice to the glass on a phone camera

Either way, in our dreams, if we weren’t already living it, we would live in some fabulous architect designed house, with huge windows letting the light shine onto our white walls setting off beautifully displayed pieces of art, like the glass we were looking at today. And of course because this is fantasy land, it would never need cleaning, although I’m sure this piece that made us chuckle, wouldn’t mind the flick of a feather duster

The contemporary glass really did cover a huge range of styles and techniques

Although I was particularly impressed by this artist who included her love of knitting into her glass

Emmy had been featured on the BBC Make it At Market show earlier this year and consequently had sold out of these quirky little bowls otherwise I’d have been tempted to buy one. However there is an artist in residence who regularly gives demonstrations. Although he wasn’t demonstrating when we visited, we spent quite a while chatting to Alistair. Glass production is one of those industries that seem to have slipped through the support network dealing with fuel price rises. His gas bill has risen from around £4000 to over £70000 in the past 18 months and he is currently installing solar panels and replacing his gas kiln with an electric one.

Alistair at work (photo from museum website)

It wasn’t a difficult decision to decide to buy some of his glass, the difficult it was choosing just one piece

Next to the museum is the Red Cone museum,

Its undergoing some renovation work right now so we could only look through the open doors, the furnaces are in the centre with coal fires underneath and the cone shaped chimney to draw the flame and gain the searing 1000° temperature needed.

We got our timings wrong so didn’t get a chance to do the full walking tour of all the glass in Stourbridge, but I’m sure we will make the effort to do so next time. But until then I’m sure Heather will give me an impromptu lesson in her studio.

Just an assortment from Flameknits, our very own artist in residence

Locking down

After 28 glorious lock free miles we were about to be brought back down to reality. We waved goodbye to the beautiful Bumblehole.

And set off, only one lock at Blowers Green pump house where the Dudley 2 meets the Dudley 1. (If we had turned right we would have reached the dudley tunnel which is restricted access only)

Blowers Green lock, junction of Dudley 1 and 2

And just as we were safely in the lock, we heard sirens and a police car skidded to a halt, 2 officers leapt out, luckily they didnt consider our windlass a deady weapon, they were chasing a suspect on a motorbike last seen on the towpath, fortunately not by us, and they declined a ride on firecrest when they realised they could walk faster than we cruise. We carried on south for an overnight stop at Merry Hill because despite the beautiful blue sky we were being buffeted around by some force 9 gales.

Tempting though the M&S food hall is, if you have too much of a good thing it stops becoming a treat. And sadly we also experiences some unwanted attention from the locals. We heard a suspicious sound outside the boat and found 6 lads in their 20s sitting on the roof taking photos. There was nothing malicious in their intent, just obliviousness to it being our home. They were very apologetic. And then a school kid, who was with his family decided to kick the boat as he walked past, he got yelled at and ran off before I got the chance to throw a bucket of water over him cause he was anything but apologetic. Where are the police when you need them – chasing proper criminals we hope. We’ll give this mooring a miss in future. But now fully fuelled with adrenaline, we set off. The plan was just to do the Black Delph flight,

can’t see the bottom, but its only 8 locks

8 locks dropping 85′ but we struck gold with 2 volunteers and between us preparing the lock ahead meant we were down in well under an hour.

We thought we’d found a safe place to moor

But the sun was now shining and we were intent on going down not up. The Stourbridge 16 isn’t the most salubrious areas at the top,

But again we struck gold, not with an official volunteer, just an old guy with a windlass who liked to work locks, he didn’t stop to chat, he just walked ahead to prepare the next lock leaving us to work our way down. We did persuade him to accept a pint to show our thanks, because not having that extra step of having to fill the lock ahead, made all the difference between us enjoying the journey and it becoming a hard slog.

The flight drops 145′ and it does get prettier and the industrial heritage more interesting. Stourbridge was known for its glass making and the Red House Cone is a prominent feature. Built around 1790 the 100′ chimney is designed to draw the heat from the furnaces below so the temperature reaches 1000°C. Originally the glass was used for windows but in the 1830s production changed to bottles and tableware. Stuart Crystal was made here until 1930s.

The Red House Cone, one of the last remaining chimneys.

There is visitor mooring outside the cone, but with the last off the locks in site we decided to make the most of our helper and continue to the bottom.

24 locks over 5 miles all in 1 day. I could have done with a fish and chip super, but we made do with a dine in for 2 from M&S instead. 158miles to go and 118 locks

Moving swiftly on

We have mixed feelings about being in built up areas, sometimes they appeal and other times we yearn for the countryside. And having explored Birmingham last January the busyness of the Easter Bank Holiday encouraged us to move on after only one night.
Last year we had travelled into Birmingham on the Old Line, so this time we decided to explore a new route and leave on the New Main line

The two lines run parallel to each other for quite a stretch,

The advantage being that the improved new mainline tackles the summit with a tunnel instead of 6 locks, making it a much quicker and easier passage for the barges.

And also reducing the workload for the Smethwick pumping station

And whilst I’m sure they weren’t built at the same time, the M5 motorway provides a canopy over the Old line for quite a section, whereas the New line creeps underneath the two, although you cant see it, there’s also a railway line crossing at the same point.

Duck, going under the Old line and the M5

Last January we had taken 3 days to do this journey on the Old Line it was cold and bitter and section’s of the canal were still frozen. This time we had reached the Netherton tunnel branch in 3 hours.

And we were able to moor up in the very pretty and peaceful Bumblehole

The Midlands March, breezing through Brum

Much as a big city has lots of exciting things to see and do. This time, we only stayed a few days.

We needed water so set off onto the Fazely branch for the water point and rubbish bins, not a pretty sight.

But the backdrop was of the Birmingham BT tower, and many years ago this was were Eric began his career as an enthusiastic electronics engineering student with a sponsorship from the GPO. He tried to locate some of the offices he’d worked in but alas the landscape hasn’t stayed the same.

I bet he never thought he’d be back by boat

Then it was back onto the main line, under the Black Sabbath Bridge

Renamed in 2019 in honour of Birmingham’s famous sons

And through Gas Street basin

Capturing the significance of this place on camera isn’t that easy whilst you’re on a boat but fellow blogger, Captain Ahab has recently shared some historic photos of the development of the area and I really can’t do any better than refer you to their blog please take a moment to read what Captain Ahab says

But we do love seeing the old and the modern nestling in together.

With the television studios in the Mail Box,

the area attracts creativity, some amusing

We’re not sure if this is or isn’t a Banksey

Some weird

And some just out of this world

One of our favourite iconic buildings is the Cube

But all these buildings funnel the wind making it tricky cruising, we rounded the corner onto the Birmingham and Worcester canal

And half an hour later moored up in the university quarter.

Outside the Shackleton buildings in the university quarter

The Midlands March, Made it to the middle

And we’ve made it, we are now moored in the centre of Birmingham, just a stones throw from the popular canal hub, celebrating heritage and entertainment.Admittedly it doesn’t look a very exciting mooring,

but we weren’t sure if or when the brummies went to bed

And we were only a minute from the some real culture

But the first thing I did was get us some tickets for a Symphony Hall concert We hadn’t planned our arrival so we had to take what was on offer, I was hoping for some classic orchestral magnificence and I think we struck gold

What we got was an orchestrated Abba tribute evening. Not quite the sort of classical we had hoped for, but definitely a classic, and it was fun. We both love Abba and we were encouraged to join in and dance. Brilliant to be moored 5 minutes walk from the ICC, home of the symphany hall. We were set us up for a good few days exploring.

Birmingham is getting ready to host the commonwealth games later this year, so there’s quite a bit of revamping the attractions, unfortunately the big museum was closed. But the famous library was open. It’s quite an iconic modern building from the outside,

but if you take the time to climb up to the very very top, not only is the view spectacular, (if you look beyond the construction)

But you can still the 1882 Shakespeare Memorial room, that was dismantled and reassembled in its new home, combining the old and the new

Birmingham seems a progressive city which embraces changes in society. In 2014 a controversial sculpture called “A Real Birmingham Family” was unveiled outside the library, it depicts two single parents, who are sisters, and their children. Whilst I love the support they obviously give each other, I hate seeing fathers sidelined.

But I’m sure my favourite sculpture in Birmingham has to be the giraffe.

Of course another of Birminghams big draws is the Bullring shopping centre. But as it was at least a 25 minute walk from Firecrest and I’m still hesitant to mingle and browse in shopping centres just for the fun of it, and I couldn’t persuade Eric to take me shopping in the jewellery quarter, we decided to explore those areas on another visit.

The Midlands March, looping the loops

If we had a penny from everyone who told us that Birmingham has more canal than Venice, we’d be very happy. I wonder how many Venetian’s would claim something different. I think the truth depends upon where you draw the boundary line. Certainly the Birmingham Canal Network has well over 100 navigable miles, with about 35miles within the city itself. We were currently moored on the Old Line, built by Brindley c1770. It follows the contours and for the commercial barges has time consuming locks, but we were enjoying our journey so with the sun shining we set off down the 3 Smethwick locks.

Under Popes Bridge. We had to wonder who this warning sign was aimed at, or perhaps it’s an instruction

And shortly after we merged the New Main line.

As the sun was shining we decided on a short detour around the Soho Loop, which served the prison, lunatic asylum and sanitorium. Thankfully we weren’t detained although it was slow going, shallow and full of debris. I don’t think we’ll bother with any of the other loops on this trip.

We had also lost the sun, which doesn’t make for enjoyable cruising. We were unsure what mooring would be available in the centre of town, and whether it would be noisy or safe.

But we struck gold and spotted the rings at Ladywood wharf, right on the edge of the central hub. We had arrived. The middle of the Midlands March.

The Midlands March, Fast or Slow on we go.

Much as I love visiting Mum, it was lovely to be back on board Firecrest, until we settled down for tea. Someone was banging on the back of the boat…. huh no one there. Kids mucking about but after 3 hours the game was wearing thin, every 20 minutes or so, bang bang bang. We could, perhaps should, have ignored it, but what if it really was someone needing help, or what if they decided to get braver with their dares and did something that caused damage. We probably should have called 101, the non emergency police number, but it must have been a school night because they stopped at 9pm. We slept fitfully but awoke to sunshine and on inspection, no damage to our precious home. We had always planned to move on, but it irked that the scumbags might have thought they’d won and scared us off. They didn’t.

We had studied our map to see that James Brindley was way marking for future transport needs. The M5 motorway was to be built directly over the canal for the next mile or so.

No electronic central controlled interactive signs for us down here

We are used to seeing some incongruous things on the canal, but this really was weird, the noise was phenomenal, quite unlike when we cruise from side to side underneath a motorway

the amount of scaffolding did make us worry for our safety. With more “road works” going on but these weren’t causing a logistics nightmare.

Should we be worried? Or is it installation art?

probably a good job because the next thing we saw was the DPD headquarters. And oh boy was it huge. The loading bays were numbered, about 230 canal side and possibly the similar on the other side.

But we still passing under some reassuringly familiar cute little bridges

Some not so cute causing us to duck

And then we wondered if we’d reached canal spaghetti junction, as the “old line” passed under the train line, over the “new line” with the M5 towering above us all.

There are several junction branches for boats to cross from the old (c1770s) to the new (c1820s)

But we stayed on our chosen route and shortly said goodbye to our motorway canopy to return to more familiar bridges and tunnels

Summit bridge and summit tunnel, it’s downhill from here

And what a difference, back out in the countryside again