Bouncing up to Birmingham

We're in Birmingham!!!! :) :) :) Yes, we've been before, a couple of times, but I LOVE Birmingham :)  It's a big diverse city in terms of people and architecture, and yet everyone just seems to get on - in terms of people and architecture....  It has a great feel and even better Balti....  But let me share the journey here with you first.... I headed off from Huddlesford on Thursday morning, solo and mapless, but thinking it would take me up to two hours max to get to Fazeley Junction.  I checked the forecast, which gave me a 20% chance of rain, so you can imagine my shock when I had to pull over an hour later in torrential rain to get my waterproof trousers on.....  It continued to rain until I got to the junction - just under three hours later :(  I stopped for water (which is when the rain stopped!) then moored up on the Birmingham and Fazeley canal.  I then walked up to Asda, did a shop then waited for Mike to arrive, which he did, just after 7pm.  After an emotional reunion - NOT - we had dinner, watched tv (yep, still working perfectly, haven't had to tune it in for days!!!) and went to bed.  Next morning was an earlyish start with us aiming to get to Minworth for the night.

It was freezing cold and squally showers arrived just as we arrived at the bottom of the Curdworth Locks.

Thankfully it was just a couple of showers and the sun came out again, but it was still absolutely freezing!

 

Coming out of the Curdworth Tunnel, which neither of us have any recollection of going through when we came the other way on this canal in January.....

We made good time to Minworth and stopped on the outskirts, where we had moored earlier this year.  It's meant to be the first 'safe' stopping place as you exit Birmingham, but is still a bit rough.  In the morning we had a broken glass on our bow and chipped paintwork, but we hadn't noticed it being thrown at us through the night!
We set off VERY early for us (ten to 9!!!!) Saturday morning, and having got up the three Minworth Locks treated ourselves to a sausage sarnie and coffee for breakfast.  Unfortunately at the top lock, I couldn't get the offside paddle back down fully, and noticed that a tyre that had been bobbing about, was no longer visible.... It must have got sucked into the sluice and was now stopping it from closing properly, which would mean any boats trying to go down the lock wouldn't be able to equalise it.  I called CRT so the duty manager could come and sort it out and we carried on.

The scenery gets more urban the closer you get to Birmingham

The junction of the Birmingham Canal Navigations - we took the second left to take us up into the city centre

We were soon climbing the first flight into Birmingham, the 11 locks of the Aston Flight, all quite industrial.

 

Having completed the Aston Flight, we head towards the 13 lock Farmers Bridge Flight.  I still get such a buzz of excitement when I get my first glimpse of the BT tower.

So, 27 locks later, we moored up in the centre of Birmingham, where we will stay until tomorrow, Wednesday.  We've made use of civilisation to make a start on our Christmas shopping and get a wine delivery from Majestic :)  Mike always starts to look smug at this time of year, more smug than usual I should say.... as he goes off on secret missions and squirrels interesting looking packages away in the bedroom, making sure the door is shut and I can't see.  I can't really be @rsed to be honest, and wait for him to drop hints, like sending me a link to the pen he wants :)  He did take me to the Jewellery Quarter where I chose a beautiful gift that was WAYYYYYY over budget, but he bought it for me - then squirrelled it away with the rest, so you and I will have to wait til Christmas to see it!
We've explored parts of the city we hadn't seen before; John Lewis opened in September and we've fully utilised this new addition.....  In hunting it out tho', I was delighted (and a bit emotional) to come across the Old Rep Theatre, where I studied for a year 1993-1994.  The centre of Birmingham has changed so much that I find it hard to get my bearings from how I knew it in the 90s.  Fantastic memories, great times, great people.  I'm still in touch with the drama teacher Isobel and will meet her and her husband Neil on Wednesday evening for a catch up.  Isobel worked on voice production and diction with us, and even now, I find myself speaking properly and trying not to drop my 't's when I'm in her company......

 We also found the old rag and indoor markets, where we got a bargain giant joint of beef on Saturday night as they were closing :)  
Oh, just a bit of boat stuff, we have found another use for our gorgeous Heritage Stove......

Drying logs in the warming oven :)

 Mike looked online to see if you could dry wood in the oven, and lo!!  You can :)  So we've been using the warming oven to speed up the seasoning process of our scrounged from the tow-path wood :)
 We also did laundry today.....

Doubling up as a clothes horse.....dries within a couple of hours.

 Mike was about to start cooking tea, but we've decided to go out...revisiting The Bank restaurant that we enjoyed on Christmas Eve last year, with our friend Pete.  Well, we can remember that we enjoyed it, but can't really remember anything much more than that... much alcohol was taken.... so it'll be interesting to see if it's as good as we thought we remembered it was..... We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow to get out of Birmingham, 20+ locks, so we won't be having a heavy night.... famous last words.......