later we went for a walk to see what was happening, got some cracking pictures of frosty trees with sun shining through.
and BW breaking ice the easy way, get rid of the water, I bet that was noisy when it collapsed
The frost is now growing like a fungus, everything is just white, never seen my strings that white.
It's that cold our Robin hasn't been for breakfast yet!
We planned to have an outing today with a friend of ours, but as you can see the canal has gone rather hard
We don't seem to have had as much snow as everybody else but it's bloody cold, so all stoves fired up.
I'm supposed to be doing some work on Dove but I just can't get motivated, I'll try again tomorrow.
You can see clearly the duplicated locks at Smethwick. After hunting round I found quite a few canals that are no longer here, such as, the Toll End, the canal that extended out from the Cambrian Wharf and lots of arms now filled in.
We finished the night off in you know where... and drank them dry.
and this...
oh! and this
Crossing the main line and into Icknield port loop, bringing back memories of my pipefitting days with the steam and condensate mains on the wall complete with expansion loops, wonderful stuff.
Passing the reservoir and the BW yard and then passed all the dereliction and back onto the main line then just a short way to Gas Street.
This is looking down from the Engine Arm.
Looking at what industries were round here at one time you wouldn't want to fall in here. There is one thing, weed and reeds can't grow here.
This link is full of all sorts of stuff about the area, it's a bit hard to follow. There are 8 sections on the industrial canals.
The thing about the BCN, is all the now unused bits that makes you wonder what it was like in 1925, when Dove was brand new and doing it's first runs through Birmingham to Preston Brook.
When all the arms busy with boats and Bridges busy with rail traffic even if it was the GWR 
Canals passing over canals and toll islands at every junction
Going up Factory locks where the bottom gates are single and the cast iron foot bridge has the tow line gap at the side.
The water is black with shiny bits in it, the buildings are well used and full of history. They have bits of ironmongery bolted on the walls that used to serve some purpose at some time, but now redundant and rusting away, leaving you guessing as to their use.
There are Bridges made wider using riveted iron section supporting blue brick work to accommodate the industrial growth of the day.
We're now tied up opposite this building, which is still working by the way.
As far as I'm concerned, this is real boating, not poncing about on the posh bits, this is where it all started, the industrial heart of England, moving manufactured goods and raw materials by boat.
In this picture you can see where the cotton tow line has cut it's way through the cast iron. This explains why some of the cantilever brackets on other bridges have disappeared, the cotton line has cut right through.
As we motored on to the bottom of Stourbridge locks we past a little boat yard and sat on the side was Helen, a Leonard Leigh tug. The shape and depth of hull really caught my eye and would love to have a closer look one day. Sorry rivet counting.
On the way up Stourbridge I'm pleased to see this building still standing. However, not to my surprise it has been on fire and looks ready for demolition. Funny how many buildings go through this phase so developers can build new houses instead of renovating a perfectly good building.
Going up passed Dadfords yard, I like this clever piece of engineering. The locks look like a staircase but there is a pound between them, it's behind the house and tunneled into the gap between the gates
On reaching the Delph, a friend of ours joined us to do a bit of locking. At the top the weather turned a bit damp, rain coats back on for the last bit.
The funny thing about our friend, his boat is called Hector, who wasn't that friendly with Achilles. All we need now is a boat called Paris, then we better watch our heel.
Achilles and Hector laying side by side at Merryhill, we've never stopped here before, nice spot.
Plan "B". We'll go up Stourbridge and the Delph spend some time at the Black Contry Museum. So today we just re-traced our steps and had an early stop at Kinver.
When they cut through the rock why did they leave the little lump on the right?
After Gailey, we're on the summit pound and the twists and turns, like at Coven, are no problem now we're on Achilles, it handles like a toy compared with Dove, so if you do have a senior moment or a brain fart, call it what you will, you're soon back on track and not up the bank.
Passing through Bratch and Wombourn and the very deep Botterham staircase and stopping at the top side of Hinksford lock.
Back on the foot bridge theme, here's the one at Kidderminster lock complete with slot and line guards. It's been modernised some what but the main bits are still there.
Passing through Kidderminster I was glad to see this old mill building still standing and being used. I was going to take another photo of the other side but, I was gob smacked to see Debenhams had stuck a glass carbuncle on the front, are these architects blind or just daft.
Yet another bridge, sorry. But I really like this one
The last bridge of the day, shame there's no steam loco on it.
We're now tied up at Stourport, River Severn tomorrow.
We tried to crack on best we could and caught up with the chaos at "Sutton's Stop" it was total mayhem, boats everywhere.
Just as it was our turn through the lock, a boat came the other way so that put us back again. By this time Ling had caught us up and proceeded to chase us, in the end I had to let them pass, it was obvious they had to be somewhere quicker than us. However, we caught them up again at Hillmorton locks but due to one lock being busted, again! progress was slow with other boats coming down. It wasn't long before we bumped into them again, just before Braunston due to a cow taking a bath in the cut. This caused a lot of confusion and we finished up back in the middle of the pack.
At Braunston Locks we paired up with Renfrew
We blasted through the tunnel and it wasn't long before a plate of stew and dunking bread came out of the hatch. This is not unusual, I regularly have my tea on the slide. When we arrived at the top of Buckby locks we let Archimedes go with Renfrew, they had no grub and had to get to the pub and we went down on our own. It was now going dark and was a bit lonely, just me on the bank and Andrea steering. We arrived at Weedon about 8:30ish tied up and met the others in the pub.
We all re-grouped at the bottom of Stoke locks to take on water and take off...you know what. Pressing on to Cosgrove and now at the lowest point of the canal where it wiggles through Wolverton and Milton Keynes. Here the canal is very shallow and at this time of year, just make it worse, full of leaves. With a boat as deep as ours you are forever dropping into reverse to clear the blade and getting round some of the bends is damn near impossible. Soon at Fenny Stratford and we rise 13 inches, lot of effort for little height. Next is Stoke Hamond Lock then the Soulbury Three Locks. This is where we start to get hold ups, with hire boats freshly out of Wyvern Shipping not knowing exactly what to do with these windy up thingies and these swingy gate things. through Leighton Buzzard lock and just Grove Lock in the dark and stop for the night.
Tuesday, 4:00am there's a funny ringing noise in my ear, then an elbow in my ribs, is it time to go again? We left Grove surrounded by the stars, Orion very clear and the plough stood on end. First lock of the day wasn't far, Church Lock and we paired with Mike on Victoria, Andrea steered the boat in and came to an abrupt halt when something grabbed the blade, she slowly floated in. At the top I got to work with the shaft, I hooked something but it took two of us to yank off, it was a coil of barbed wire with a rope fender tangled in it. 
By the time we got to Marsworth it was light. I went on ahead setting the locks and Andrea steering. At the top I stood and watched Dove and Victoria hugging each other across the pound and into the lock, not bang or a scrape, what a sight and no video camera on me, damn.
This is where the bikes came out, Victoria's crew, Julie, on a fold up electric model and me...
...on our 1956 model which got me the nick name "ET". Thanks Andrea. On the way we came across BW jobsworth who took exception to us using Thumb lines, 10mm cotton line is going to bend 1 inch solid bar and 5/8ths bolts, I don't think so! We told him to go and talk to the bloke on the boat in front, Ron Withy! 
Here's the bow line up at Bulls Bridge, Purton joined us here but not pictured.
We then moved on to where the Jam 'ole used to be 40 years ago, coal delivered, speech made, flowers placed and champers drunk.
Then on to Willowtree Marina for the night. A meal was on the books for us all here thanks to Braunston Marina. However, packet soup, Pukka pie, frozen veg and oven chips all cooked by master chef "Ber Ding" wasn't my idea of a nice meal especially when gravy had to be asked for.
