Tag: The Black Country

Where only the brave go, or the intrepid….

We do like the mooring at the Bumblehole, but curiosity got the better of us, wondering what we’d find down the Hawne Arm.

This way to Hawne Basin

We had been warned that the Gosty Tunnel was low and the water shallow, but the rewards would be cheap diesel at Hawne basin…. Paul and his crew from Waterways Routes, were moored next to us, and encouraged us to give it a go

hello waterway routes

A lot of effort has been put into encouraging people to make the most of the canals around here, and local artist Luke Perry has a series of 31 sculptures that represent the people and heritage of the Dudley 2,  This graffiti artist  is telling us that this was the Tollmans office, where he would set the toll fee using a notched freeboard stick to calculate the weight of the boat. 

if you cant beat them, join them

Sadly there’s a lot of derelict neglect to be seen around here, despite some gems, the sculpture we liked the most is the elephant, who was found frolicking in the canal in the 1900s. I wonder how CRT would have handled that one…

For a backwater only 2 miles long there was plenty to make us smile,

And the geese don’t mind building their nests amongst the rubble

Then the entrance to the notoriously low Gosty Tunnel

Gosty Tunnel, here we come

Which isn’t all that long, and didn’t seem that low…..

Light at the end of the tunnel

At first…

But there was a nice friendly fella distracting us from the warning white paint

Concentrate captain

Or perhaps not so friendly

Someones got a sense of humour

And yes we really did have to duck

glad we took the aerials down

But we followed the light at the end of the tunnel and made it out, without becoming victim to the rocky sides or count dracula. We were treated to some impressive old brickwork. This stretch of the canal had been vital to the former Stewarts and Lloyd’s steel works.

No wonder Tolkein got inspiration for Lord of the Rings from here

Hawne Basin had been the rail interchange for transhipment of S&Ls huge steel tubes, and is now the end of navigation. The original line had gone a further 5 miles to Selly Oak cutting out the centre of Birmingham

entrance to Hawne Basin

We picked up fuel for less than £/l  wishing we had had an emptier tank. The reception was welcoming, and the community spirit obvious, I am sure they would have found us space for an overnight stay if we had asked. But we’d decided to make the return trip to Bumblehole the same day. Eric had promised me a black country speciality for tea,  battered chips. Yes they really were that orange, and yes there was a huge piece of fish under them. Another good reason to plan a return trip this way.

Delicious

The Midlands March, Nice Ice

We’ve woken up to frost and ice most days this week

We’re not cruising through that today

And whilst Eric is sensible and stays inside, I can’t resist being outside enjoying the diamond encrusted scenery

The Bumble Hole

I wasn’t the only one out walking, male swans are known as cobs, so quite appropriate that Mr Bumble the resident male, is posing in front of Cobb’s Engine House. (Female swans are known as pens)

We’ve been incredibly lucky, to have had sunshine every day.

although we’ve also had a bit of misty fog, the blue sky was just behind

But what can I say, we probably picked the best week possible to stay here

The scenery speaks for itself

All within 10 minutes of our warm snug boat

The Midlands March, Discovering the Bumble Hole

We hadn’t expected to find quite such a gem of a mooring in the middle of a nature reserve, in the middle of the Black Country. So much so that we both agreed it needed further exploration. First we had to discover what is the Bumble Hole. Nowadays it is a small lake that gives it’s name to a nature reserve but 300 years ago, it was a clay pit.

The Bumble Hole Lake

However a map from the 1780’s show the Bumble Hole was the name of a house built next to the brook that was purloined to build the contour canal.

Bumble Hole Loop canal

Bumble means murmuring water, and Hole refers to the hollow next to the ford crossing the track, (which became Northfield Road). There was a windmill along this branch which gave rise to this conglomeration of canal arms being known as the Windmill End junction.

What’s left of the Bumble Hole windmill

In front of the windmill is Harris’s Boatyard, which built and serviced the many boats used for transporting goods to and fro during the industrial revolution. But now it is a quiet residential mooring. The land has alongside the Bumble Hole has been reclaimed and turned into a nature reserve.

Besides the canals, all that’s left of the coal mining, quarries and foundries that scarred this landscape are the occasional red brick foundations that can be seen in the ground, ponds and lakes that had been pits, and the Cobb’s Engine house. All taken care of by the Bumble hole conservation group.

Cobb’s Engine House

The Cobb’s Engine House housed one of James Watts beam engines, used to pump an average of 1.67 million litres (367 500 gallons) of water every single day out of the mines and into the canal. Sadly it’s only the brickwork that remains now, but we were able to walk around and continue up the hill to look back to our mooring , (which we can’t actually see from here)

Looking down Warren Hall towards Cobb’s

But we knew we were standing over the Netherton Tunnel. Once we’d started walking up the hill we carried on, out of the nature reserve, across the Dudley golf club

Dudley golf course


past Turners Hill transmitter site.

Turner Hill transmitters


Until we’d reached the summit. And with the greens of the golf course and the nature reserve to the west behind us,

Looking back, Beyond the paddock

we could see over to the west, the modern sprawl of Birmingham, which is where we will be cruising through over the coming month.

Birmingham, approx 6 miles to the East, as the crow flies

Our walk gave us quite some cause to contemplate, how lucky we are to no longer be shrouded in pollution, and to have these pockets of beauty amidst such a densely populated area, yet whilst we shuddered at the thought of what it was like 300 years ago, what would life be like now if we hadn’t had the industrial revolution. And what must we do to nurture our planet and society for the good of all. No time for complacency.

Red sky in the morning, shepherds warning

    https://www.dudley.gov.uk/resident/environment/countryside/nature-reserves/bumble-hole-and-warrens-hall-local-nature-res/