... before we had left dereliction behind and returned to the hustle and bustle of city life.
But, we still had the 13 wonderfully named Farmer's Bridge locks to work through before we reached the true canal heart of the city at Gas Street Basin.
These locks are quite a favourite of ours as we always attract a crowd of gongoozlers, who are quite easy to impress with our boat handling and locking skills. They usually ask lots of questions which I enjoy answering, being the canal anorak that I am.
As you can see from this photo and the next one, going up this lock flight you really do rub shoulders with the city workers and get to see how the canal and city businesses co-exist alongside each other.
With 13 locks coming in quick succession and a crowd of onlookers to impress, there was no slacking for me and my crew. I was grateful to a canal engineer of earlier times who had thoughtfully built up and weighted the lock gate to make it easier to open.
It also made a good seat as well.
Lots of love, Eddie and crew xxx
