Living in a hallway: Off to Birmingham

We decided to stop a couple of miles short of the city of Wolverhampton at a little village called Brewood. The holiday rules paid off again we didn't go to the canalside pub, we walked into the village and found the locals pub. They had their Thursday night special on, two steaks and a bottle of wine for 20 quid.

They weren't the biggest steaks we've ever seen but it was a good meal. The moorings at Brewood are very picturesque and quiet.

Friday (lock day) we headed for Birmingham and hit the twenty one. That's 21 locks in 2 miles, all one after the other without a mooring. With 8 to go we were looking forward to the end, a young local fella on his push bike said he would give us a hand on the lock. We chatted with him while we locked and he decided to give us a hand with the rest. It was much appreciated. Turns out both his grandparents were born on boats.

It was a long haul through the industrial areas, there were many closed off entrances to old canals that used to be part of the Birmingham network. It must have been like a maze back in the old working days. We moored at Cambrian Wharf which is right in the heart of Birmingham and near the Barclay Card Arena. It was Friday evening and had been a lovely summers day. The joint was jumping all the pubs and restaurants on the canal were overflowing.

Saturday we caught the train to Rugby and the bus to Crick for the boat show. The train tickets were horrendously expensive. It cost 40 pound return for a 45 minute journey from Birmingham to Rugby. (We weren't aware we were buying a train).

It was a good day out as we've decided to make some modifications to the boat and we were looking for ideas. We met Ian there who had all our mail and online purchases, it was great to catch up with him again, we're sure he will be a boat owner before too long.

We spent the next couple of days exploring Birmingham and seeing the sites which included a visit to the Gay Village, the Jewellery Quarter, the Bull Ring and Market, and the Birmingham public library.

There was a large armed police presence all around the city due to the bombing in Manchester. We asked if we could take a photo of them and started chatting with a group of the heavily armed police. Most of them normally guard nuclear facilities, government buildings etc. and were more than happy to chat with the public. Their role was to increase public confidence and many people appreciated their efforts and wanted to thank them.

On Monday (Bank Holiday) afternoon we met big Emily and her boss Llew at the Brew Dog pub. (They have the best beer in England). We had a great afternoon catching up with friends and keeping out of the rain.

Wednesday morning we were a bit slow getting started as we stopped in at the Prince of Wales for a couple of pints the night before and got chatting with some fellow boat people. It turned into a pub crawl around Birmingham.
We're now at Tipton and moored right outside the Black Country Living Museum.

Here is this weeks collection of videos and photos.