Lyra's Travels

The start of the “Wolverhampton 21” Aldersley Junction

Tuesday 5th October
Another fairly nice day to start with as we set off intending to get a start up The Shropshire Union today. We passed through several more locks, finishing with Compton Lock, which marks the end of the 31 lock climb from Stourport, a rise of 294 ft. We then passed Aldersely Junction where the BCN starts with a 21 lock climb to Wolverhampton and Birmingham.
The next junction is Autherley, where the Shropshire Union starts. Here we turn left through the stop lock, a rise or fall of next to nothing, it's just there to keep the two canal from stealing water from each other. Despite the lack of difference it is still very slow to fill/empty.
After stopping for a spot of lunch we continued along, passing under the M54 and have moored up just beyond bridge 7 in a nice spot with several other boats for company.
I thought that I'd get on and replace the broken hook for our cratch cover but after drilling out the rivets on the old plastic hook and drilling a new hole for the new hook (the mounting holes are in a different place on the new hook) the self tapping screw I was using sheared off and the hook dropped into the cut. End of project today!