B&F Canal - Curdworth to Salford Junction (time lapse)
Length: 8:20
Description: This is a 5.6 mile journey, south along the Birmingham Canal Navigations (Birmingham and Fazeley Canal -- Main Line) from Curdworth Visitor Moorings to Salford Junction South and the turn onto the Grand Union Canal (Birmingham and Warwick Junction Canal)
As we had agreed with our host in the White Horse the previous evening, Curdworth was probably the last safe place to stop along this section of canal. Accordingly and largely for security reasons, we mounted the camera on the blunt end and kept the barge pole handy.
There are two problems with this.
Firstly, our noble skipper spends half his time fannying about with the camera introducing artistic pans and zooms rather than concentrating on his skippering. Needless to say every last one of these "artistic gems" had to be edited out giving the movie a more disjointed look than it should have.
Secondly, you need nerves of steel and eyes like a hawk as the high mounted camera comes exceedingly close to low bridges and overhanging branches. A perfect example of this can be seen at Caters Bridge, the entrance to Minworth Bottom Lock, where only a last second heave of the tripod against its bungee cords saves, at the very least, an expensive wide angle lens from being shattered.
Very soon after leaving Curdworth we find ourselves in the badlands/industrial wastelands of Birmingham.
The Minworth flight of three locks rises 16 feet 8 inches and at Tyburn Bridge kids threw a lollipop at us. Double hard bastards yer brummie kids innit?
The elevated M6 motorway follows the canal closely for the final section. I must have driven this piece of road more times than I've had hot dinners but would never have guessed there was a canal below it!
The turn onto the Grand Union at Salford Junction is a 120 degree left hander. The skippers contention is that anything large than a canoe would have trouble doing this in one and with 67 foot of narrowboat didn't even try, went straight for the far bank and winded it round.
Author: PIGandPINEAPPLE
Source: YouTube
