Safe overnight b4 Wolverhampton flight going north

[Bob692]

Any recommendations of safe overnight mooring before Wolverhampton flight going north. Also Birmingham or Wolverhampton level to get to flight from gas street?

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

It’s all safe. 

Enjoy 

[adam1uk]

Compton.  There are moorings above and below Compton Lock.  I’m not sure there’s really anywhere else practical to moor between there and Aldersley Junction.

 

We did this the other day, wanting to get up the flight early, but we couldn’t get one of the bottom gates at Compton Lock to close and eventually called out CRT.  It was 10.15 when we left Compton Lock, on a Saturday, so it was 11 when we started the locks.  With no other boats around we had a very quick passage up the locks, with very friendly locals, and no problems apart from one pound needing some water run down as it was almost empty.

 

We stopped that night at Tipton, outside the Health Centre — somewhere I would never have considered a few years ago but is now fine.  The Health Centre even has regular visits from a security guard who walks around.

 

Old Main Line is more interesting than the New, but we did Brades Locks between the two this time as we haven’t done them in a while, and wanted to add a sixth staircase pair to our tally for the trip.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

I prefer Cambrian Wharf or Brindley Place to Gas Street. 

Quieter regards footfall. So no late night drunks. Cambrian Wharf is gated and Brindley Place very quite. 

 

[pearley]

OP is going north so presumably going down flight.

Perfectly safe to moor just above top lock of the 21. Towpath side you can visit The Great Western or offside on secure moorings but you can't get off.

 

New Main Line if you're in a hurry or Old Main Line if you want it interesting.

 

If you need supermarket large Sainsbury's just up from Whimsey Bridge at Oldbury.

[The Dreamer]

All is safe, but higher up it is a bit industrial, and the waste incinerator stinks.  We got stuck in the lock next to it for 90 minutes, as the pound drained overnight, and had to wait for the CRT to run water from the Birmingham plateau.  Lower down, next to the race course is far nicer, but not so low down that you get a whiff from the sewage works at Aldersley.  I appreciate, I am not selling Wolves well, but it is what it is, an urban canal coming out of the city, but within that context, it is quite OK.

[Bob692]

I am sorry I haven't explained this very well. We are edgbaston vale (84a) we want somewhere below lock 1 b4 doing the flight the next morning.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

I’d stay above lock 1 and do the whole flight in the morning. 

It’s an easy, quick flight. 

 

[The Dreamer]

Also worth noting that they all leak like anything, so overnight they will all be empty.  Great if you come up first thing, but as you are going down, it is likely that you will need to set every one!

[john6767]

So presumably you will me moving from the Vale and spending a night in central Birmingham.  From there personally I go to the Black Country Museum for the night, going Old Main Line either up Smethwick or Brades.  From BCLM go down the 21 and then stop up the Shroppie or S&W depending on which way you are going.

 

If you want to you can stop at the top on the 21, and there are offside mooring that you can’t get off if you want to be inaccessible, but it is  very noisy with the roads and I don’t seen and real need to stop there if just going down the flight.

[nicknorman]

Yes we don’t like stopping just above the locks or at the services, too noisy. Tipton or the BCLM are fine. For Tipton, either the “john the lock” moorings, or opposite them in front of the new-ish flats (there are rings). Obviously that is en-route if you go via the old main line, but that is a much more interesting route anyway. And not significantly slower than the new main line, quite a bit of which is pretty shallow these days.

[Wanderer Vagabond]

The place I always stop off at before the Wolverhampton flight is the moorings at Bentley Bridge, a mile and a quarter up the Wyrley and Essington from Horseley Fields Junction. It means you're about half an hour from the top of the flight and it's a decent mooring with a family pub 'The Nickleodeon' alongside. There is a cinema and bowling alley on the retail park with a supermarket nearby and I've never had any issues there at all.

[Bob692]

Thank you all for your input. Found ourselves at John the lock mooring opposite the Fountain Inn pub. Just been Mad O'Rourke for pie and chips and a pint of lump hammer. Thanks again everyone for your time and input.?

[David Mack]

The other night I stopped on the New Main Line at Bromford Junction. Not normally the sort of place I would recommend stopping, but it was p***ing down with rain and I had had enough for the day. A bit of noise from passing trains and the drone of the elevated M5, but the towpath itself was completely quiet and I didn't see another soul.

Edited October 5, 2019 by David Mack

[Mac of Cygnet]

4 hours ago, David Mack said:

The other night I stopped on the New Main Line at Bromford Junction. Not normally the sort of place I would recommend stopping, but it was p***ing down with rain and I had had enough for the day. A bit of noise from passing trains and the drone of the elevated M5, but the towpath itself was completely quiet and I didn't see another soul.

 

Possibly you have the reason for this in the previous sentence?

[David Mack]

2 hours ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

 

Possibly you have the reason for this in the previous sentence?

Indeed!

[captain birdseye]

I stopped just outside Broad Street during the summer. It is handy for shopping and you can use the services by accessing the gate in the wall. I had no trouble and it was very quiet even on a sunny Friday night