A Quiet Weekend

Having a lazy day today.  A bit of TV, some music, maybe a bit of reading.  Nice day.

Yesterday, was also a nice day but rather than being a lazy day it was a 10 mile walk.  Down the canal. This time from Knowle to Hatton Locks. 

The weather was perfect for walking and the scenery was great (not walked part of this stretch before).  It takes in Lapworth and Shrewley including Shrewley tunnel.  The tunnel is quite impressive. 396 metres long it goes under the village of Shrewley. The towpath has a tunnel of it's own that rises sharply and takes you up on to the road (and a small shop to grab yourself a cold drink).  You join the canal on the other side. 

A couple of miles further down you reach Hatton Locks.  21 of them in all in less than 2 miles.  It's an impressive site. but I imagine quite daunting if you have to negotiate them on a narrow boat. There is a small cafe at the locks and seems a popular place for people to drive, cycle or walk to.  It's a lovely little place and when we arrived we had a cup of coffee and a packet of crisps to celebrate our achievement!


A quarter mile walk back along the canal to the train station and then back to Solihull.  Whilst outside the train station (waiting for the bus home) 3 buses pulled up. People jumped off and started taking photos of them. 2 in the old Birmingham Corporation livery and one in Coventry livery.  Apparently it was the last journey of the Metrobus. Taken out of service a few months ago this was a chance for people to say goodbye.  I'm not really into buses but it was nice to see them one last time and, as I had my camera with me, I did take a couple of pictures