Farewell to Birmingham but I will be back...

I did enjoy the exhibition at the art gallery: Warhol and William Morris. What did they have in common? Well both had obsessions, one with Hollywood Stars and the other with medieval art and stories. Also both ran factories where their work could be produced for a mass market. The rest of the museum/gallery was interesting too. Later, in Centenary Square, a troupe of trampolinists gave us a comedic show. Other things that I have done this week: bought a ukelele for the boat, took a turn around St Chads catholic cathedral, bought a fridge magnet, visited the pen museum where I have never seen so many nibs all in one place (also ink wells and hand blotters),walked about eight miles to the University and back via the Barber Institute (what a fabulous place) and Winterbourne House (only £5ish to get in so worth a visit). It was an open day at the Uni so a very nice vibe with all the prospective students and their families milling around. I'd go there :-). I also went to the Last Night of the Summer Proms with all the flag waving and usual numbers. Free glass of Pymms was a bonus on a warm summer evening. Finally, yesterday I decided to visit the Thinktank, tag line, Birmingham's Science Museum. You enter on Level 2 and unless you have a child with you there is not much to keep you occupied and it was a disappointment that some of the interactive things i tried didn't seem to work. Perhaps I haven't got the same brain as a 21st century under 10. Anyway, the other levels are much more interesting and look at Birmingham's engineering past, its manufacturing background and at future research. The interactive displays on level 3 were fun including a robot thespian and a robot drummer and there was quite a lot on current research: nano technology, flight, medicine, etc. I also had a session in the planetarium which cost an extra £1 and was probably worth it. Not a patch on the London planetarium but I haven't been there for 30 years and I am positive that it costs a lot more than £1!! Anyway my 14 days in Brum is almost up so I must move on. .

Foxton Festival then back to Brum

I went over to Foxton festival last weekend as Luke's Record Deck was trading there and other family members and friends had said they were going along. The weather on Saturday was awful so I was glad I didn't arrive until about 3pm when it started to clear up. There were many stalls at the festival field itself as well as quite a few trading boats. My friend Kevin had a stall as he is now wood turning. He had some very nice designs and fine work. I met up with five family members and missed two others. I also met up with several friends. I must be almost local to Northamptonshire/Leicestershire now (after 36 years :-)) as I knew loads of people. Luke, Heather and I had a meal at the Black Horse in Foxton Village on Saturday night and very nice it was too. Huge portions and plenty of veg for a change. I stayed on Heather's boat and Sunday turned out to be a much better day weatherwise. Along with revisiting the festival, we also went to the museum which now has some good archive film material. I would like to see the museum improve its offering even more as it is quite expensive for a family to visit and really half an hour is the most time you could spend there.

I am now back in Birmingham where I am trying to visit some of the heritage properties. However, all the literature I had was out of date as Birmingham has a new system this season. Most of the properties need to be booked for a guided tour when you visit midweek and are now open 11 until 3pm rather than my publications 12 until 4pm. So I didn't visit Soho House or Aston Hall but did walk 6 and a half miles (pleased with that) and had a nice break in the gothic cemetary in the jewellery quarter. Last night I went to the open mic at the Fiddle and Bone. All the players/singers were excellent and we also had a poetry performance. It was a shame that there were so very few in the audience. I believe that this is a new venture so I hope word will spread and more people will go along and join in. Today I am staying in the city to visit the art gallery and maybe St Chad's and to use the wifi at the library (which is fab).

Birmingham

I quite enjoyed the Fazeley and wondered why so few boats moor along there. There are a couple of nice spots giving a country sojourn before reaching the metropolis. I ended up at Cuckoo Wharf where I was joined by Heather who had come along to help with the next 24 locks. A knock on the door next morning was from Bo who, with his wife Gina, I had met two years ago when we were doing the Huddersfield Narrow canal. It was great to catch up with you both and perhaps we might have a longer chat when we inevitably meet up as we are doing a reverse loop to each other. After Bo and Gina left, Jim arrived with windlass to also help with the locks. What a team! I hardly had to get off the boat (as Heather keeps reminding me :-)) and they got a good method going of setting the next lock so I just had to cruise on in. We did the 24 locks and 3 miles in three and a quarter hours. I think that is pretty good. I am having a great time in Birmingham. I have been up to the top of the library and had a nice sit in their roof garden, visited the National Trust's Back to Back houses, been to the gorgeous Everyman cinema to see London Road, called into the cathedral (which is undergoing a refurb so is currently full of scaffolding) where I had a treat as the boys'and mens' choir was rehearsing. Lots more to see and do so will get back to report more later.

Onto the Birmingham and Fazeley

I returned to Olivia after a short break and made the return journey down the Ashby. I called in at Bosworth Visitor Centre last Saturday as they were staging a version of Richard III. I was expecting crowds to be there but the audience only numbered about thirty. It was that very cold and windy day so I felt for the actors. The rest of my cruise, that is, between Marston Junction and Fazeley Junction, I have done many times. The weather was mostly good (although the mornings were a bit chilly). I lost my favourite windlass in one of the Atherstone locks but as it was the first one I have lost in ten years of cruising I don't suppose that is too bad. Now that I am well on the way to Birmingham I wondered why so few boats seem to use the Fazeley. Certainly there are very few boats moored up even though the Kingsbury Water Park offers many recreational facilities. I know the M42 accompanies much of the canal but that sound soon filters out. Hopefully this week I will be out and about around Birmingham so should have more to report then.

Up the Ashby

I seem to be making a slow start to the main cruising season. There have been two main reasons for this. One is that I was invited to play the bass with our local U3a live music group - that's what they call it - I call it a band and our performance was a gig ;-). The usual bassist was going to be away on the date of the gig and before I could even engage brain and think about the fact that I had not played for seven or eight years, my mouth accepted the invitation. I had four practices and learnt eight numbers so most spare moments were taken up learning the songs. I thoroughly enjoyed playing and I must say that we sounded pretty good. We also played four ukelele tunes with the uke group, too.

The second event that I was awaiting was the arrival of my second granddaughter. I was on call for minding the three year old while it was all happening. She decided to be nine days late and to put her Mum through a thirty four hour labour. She also decided that it would be fun if she broke the waters at 1am so Nanna had to drive down to London at that point, arriving at 3am!! It was a joy to look after Hollie and I was able to have lots of cuddles with the new baby, later named Alice.

The day after returning from London I was off cruising the Ashby. It is so quiet here with few boat movements. It is beautiful countryside with only Hinckley nodding towards any sort of urban living. I have found a couple of farm shops selling tasty delights (and not that expensive). I did come up the Ashby in 2012 but didn't go right to the terminus as it was the year that it rained and rained (Queen's Jubilee) and I gave up soon after Sutton Wharf. There is a newish marina at Market Bosworth and some delightful long term moorings at Shackerstone. The visitor moorings weren't too bad either. It's worth a look in the Ashby Canal Society shop at the terminus. It has a vast array of bric a brac, books and so forth. There is a fantastic bus that goes through Snarestone from where you can go to Ashby de la Zouch, Atherstone or Nuneaton. It goes through some wonderful villages and calls at Twycross Zoo. I am having a couple of days off while the weather is so wet and windy but the forecast from Wednesday onwards is looking good so, hopefully, I will fit in some nice walks before moving on to Birmingham and then Worcester.