It's finally stopped raining!

We'd planned to leave Birmingham on Thursday but the rain was so awful we stayed put. To keep myself busy I made this kimono style jacket for my baby grand-daughter. It's far too big at the moment but should fit her by Autumn.

Most of the plants on the roof have taken a battering in the heavy rain and strong winds, but the violas have flourished. Not bad for £3 from Morrison's.

The rain finally stopped this morning so we set off down Farmer's Bridge Locks. They cut right through a residential area, down towards the Jewellery Quarter.

One of the locks takes you down under Newhall Street.

It's like a lock in a tunnel and is quite a tight fit.

Further down, the locks take you under a large building and we met some Australians on a hire boat coming up.  They hadn't met any other boats at locks before and started panicking that there wouldn't be room to pass, but with a little coaxing and directing we managed to calm them down. There was loads of room and the boats didn't come anywhere near close enough to touch.

Several of the bridges in Birmingham have these red doors in them. Apparently they date back to the war when they were used by the fire brigade to get quick access to water in case of bombs and fires.

We'd walked down the lock flight 2 weeks ago when we first arrived in Birmingham and this building was scaffolded off with painters working on the gable.  This is the result.  Such a waste of money as no-one will ever see it, other than us boaters that is.

This cavernous bridge had Snow Hill rail station above.

After 13 locks we turned towards Salford Junction and carried on down the next flight of 11 locks.  These weren't as interesting as the Farmer's Bridge flight but were a lot easier as every one was full.

One thing that did stand out however, was this beautiful brick wall.  The boat is called the Lady Maria.

We're now moored at Cuckoo Wharf in Nechells. It's BW secure moorings next to the service block.  Once we'd got moored up we walked just under a mile to the Birmingham branch of Costco Wholesalers to stock up on beer and wine.  The taxi back only cost £5 and the whole round trip took less than an hour but the best part was that I didn't have to carry any of it as the taxi driver also unloaded it all for us. Service with a smile, don't you just love it!