Catch Up

Well I'll pick up from the beginning of December when we were making our way into Birmingham. We had a couple of days spare so stopped off at Merry Hill and managed to get a bit of Christmas shopping done there. We moored up on the embankment, which was a first for us, we had a great view over the shopping centre and were the only boat there, although there were three others round the corner in the wide part opposite Wetherspoons.

Overlooking Merry Hill Shopping Centre

We then continued our journey into Birmingham stopping for a night or two at Windmill End. I had a few more pen orders to post off and James was continuing on making stock for the market.

Blowers Green Lock

Windmill End / Bumble Hole Nature Reserve

We arrived in Birmingham on the Wednesday, giving us Thursday to organise everything before the market started on Friday. It was good to catch up with our fellow traders, we hadn't seen most of them since September.

We set up fully on Friday and had a great day, trade was good despite not many people around. However, Saturday and Sunday the weather took a turn for the worse and was windy and raining, all we could do was set up a display in our pram canopy by the window for those brave enough to venture out, we did have a few knocks on the boat and managed some sales. It was also lovely to see some friends and previous customers, some who had come especially to get some pens for Christmas gifts. We ended the weekend with six pens in stock so really can't complain at all.

After the market we stayed around Birmingham, finishing our Christmas shopping before heading back out to Tipton then off through the huge Netherton tunnel, the small Gosty tunnel (which we had to take our roof boxes off for) and down into Hawne Basin where we were leaving the boat for our Christmas trip to Poole to Jess and Lee.

We spent a lovely few days in Poole, it really is never long enough, before heading up for a flying visit to my Mum and then over to West Wales for another flying visit to James' Mum and Dad. Then back to Hawne Basin and LJ. Dudley coped well with the journey although he didn't enjoy it at all, I think he preferred our train journey earlier in the year than the car.

We got back to the boat late on the 30th and left Hawne Basin on New Years Eve, we moored up outside the Black Country Living Museum at Tipton and in the evening caught up with friends in the Fountain Inn to see in the New Year.

34 miles and 10 locks

TOTAL FOR 2015 - 772 miles and 612 locks