YARDLEY BUS DEPOT

 Yardley bus depot is just beside the canal and the slides show the ramp up to the road where buses can be caught to connect with all destinations.

I parked here to allow access to a classical guitar concert in Kings Heath on Wed.25th evening. I had intended to clean up the ramp while I was there but it was populated by a local who considered it his manor and objected to his garden being tidied, that being where he secreted his wacky backy for personal use and retail trade. 

Canals, and especially canal bridges, attract winos dipsos metsos and seriously disturbed people.  Most are harmless but you can never tell

It is easier to move on so the following day I advanced to Hockley Heath where I found two excellent bakeries Marsin's on Stratford Road is an artisan bakery known for its handmade, natural ingredient-based baked goods and their sourdough is superb. 

Wedge's is a traditional bakery with a long history, located at 495 School Road and it does excellent sourdough also as well as a range of high-quality food items 'locally sourced'.

Hockley Heath is a beautiful place to pull up and it has an inn for those who live thus and I include some pictures in the slide show which need to be seen full size to be appreciated.

However the only bus serving the village is an infrequent x20 which plies between Solihull and Stratford on Avon.   I need reliable buses close to hand so I could not stay long.

I need to move on but where is on?

Being on the Stratford&Avon and travelling eastwards I have ahead a flight of twenty locks which over a distance of three miles will drop me over 100 feet onto the Lapworth Link 

There I will enter the Grand Union Canal.  Wide locks mean wide gates and a totally different method of going through solo. It is very hard on the body.  But the Lapworth locks are narrow and I can traverse one in as little as eight minutes if in favour or 16 if against.  However I also have two drawbridges immediately and they are not designed for solo operation.

It takes two hours to clear them before I can proceed to the descent at Hatton.