A visit to Birmingham and Tamworth

An early start this morning as Gary very kindly came and collected Barry and Jamie to take them to Tamworth station.  They caught the 1015 train into Birmingham to have a look around and buy something for Barry to wear to our wedding next week.

 

The amazing Selfridges building near the Bull Ring - a little overcast today!

This shot I took in April 2007, a much brighter day

 Beauty & the Beast - Ole!

Jamie with 'The Floozy in the Jacuzzi' fountain in central Birmingham, luckily not working today

 

WE are NOT amuzed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The eloquent Greek style town hall

Luxury restaurant narrowboats moored at The Mailbox

A reflection shot I took last time we were here, which we have as a large canvas print on the wall at our home in New Zealand

  Not such a good one today, but that is what photography is all about - recognising the opportunities when they do arrive

Modern buildings just don't seem to look the same!

The bustling Brindley Place - well not so bustling on a Sunday morning

We had a friend's wedding to go to this afternoon and Dave and Kim came and picked me up so I didn't have to walk the towpath in my little heels!  It's good to know people in the area, it can be a challenge getting to places when you're moored in the middle of the countryside!

Barry managed to get to the wedding reception in time for the Sunday Roast - yum!  We had a lovely afternoon and evening, thanks Kerry and Gary!  Our turn next week ...

Garry & Kerry and Karen, Sandra & Kerry at the wedding

Sandra with Karen & Rob and Karen's parents

Tomorrow I go to my mum and dad's for a few days and will be having a bit of a girlie night on Thursday before our wedding on Saturday.  Jamie is taking Barry on a 'bucks night' on Friday, and it's her responsibility to make sure the boat and Barry are ready when I get there!  I'm sure all will be absolutely fabulous on the day.

I'm off for a bath, hair straighteners, a washing machine and such home comforts but will miss Barry and the boat :-(

Power restored once more and the perfect venue

We started out later than planned this morning, and had a call from Charlie about 1130hrs as he'd arrived at the Dog and Doublet.  Unfortunately we were still about an hours journey away, so he found another place to meet at Curdworth Top Lock.  A lovely lady in a cottage there made him a cup of tea while he waited for us.

 

Jamie checking the map to see just where we are in the country

 

First locks of the day at Glascote - in her pyjamas - you're not in Gisborne now!

Across the Tame Aquaduct again! then left at Fazeley Junction

Sometimes you can't find a sign for love nor money, but not here!!

The entrance to the picturesque Fazeley Mill Marina where we had to stop for a gas bottle 

Drayton Manor foot bridge near Drayton Manor Theme Park

There are some long straight stretches through Kingsbury Water Park created from some of the old mining pits of the area

A new alternator was fitted by mid-afternoon so our power is restored once again and hopefully that's it for the drama's in that department!

Jamie and I had a walk along the towpath after lunch, to met up with Maggie, Gary, Mikey and Sophie.  We arrived at The Dog and Doublet in blazing sunshine - it's suddenly the most amazing weather!  What's the chance of it being like this next Saturday?  Slim I'd say, but you never know ...

The pub is right on the canal and we made arrangements to ensure we'd have a mooring on the day.  There's a marquee where the food will be served and we can stay undercover should the British weather not be kind to us!

Mikey & Sophie helping with the locks 

 

 Mikey & Sophie and Mikey's granddad Michael in the background

 Great pub setup at the 'Dog & Doublet' - apparently it used to be called the 'Dog & Jacket' as a doublet is an old fashion jacket

  Gary, Jamie, Mikey, Sophie, Sandra and Maggie enjoying a wee drink

Maggie and co stayed for tea on the boat, and Barry gave Sophie some photography tips as she's hoping to study it at University next year. They wandered over the canal into a hayfield for a quick photo shoot.

The field opposite the pub which is full of fresh hay bales

All sorts of possibilities!

Mikey took this one from lying on his stomach - very clever!

 Sophie got to pose before she could say no!

More hay bales - The Belfry Golf Club is behind the trees in the distance

In the evening we noticed gaggles of geese flying overhead and landing in the hayfield not far away, so Barry and Gary went to investigate.  As they walked closer to them they suddenly all flew away all at once.  The funny thing was that the best photos would have been taken from the boat where they were all flying overhead and making a tremendous noise!  Obviously it's getting time for them to fly south for the winter - now that sounds like a good idea to me ...

  There were literally hundreds of them gathered in the field

After about half an hour they all started to come back again

They've apparently been doing this for the last few days and have left each morning at the same time - 8:30am

Sandra on the front of the boat trying to get a good internet connection

Our final visitor arrives ...

Today we collect Barry's daughter Jamie from Tamworth station, and we'll be going to check out the wedding venue tomorrow.

We didn't have too far too travel from Whittington to Glascote, where we moored up for the evening.  It turned into a gloriously sunny blue sky day, I'm hoping that the same thing will happen on the afternoon of 26th September! 

 The lovely trip from Whittington to Tamworth

There was certainly lots of traffic on the canal today, though with only the two locks at Glascote this didn't cause us much trouble.

Approaching Fazeley

New housing development complete with a marina

Fazeley Junction, through the bridge to Tamworth or turn right to Birmingham

Not sure if this chap is a boater or not but he was making the most of some of the timber by the cut - not sure if it was all old!

 Crossing the Tame Aquaduct approaching Tamworth

The Tame River below

Idyllic day to be cruising the canals

Barry was helping a boat through the locks at Glascote, and got chatting to Richard Swan from Narrowboat World, a web site giving all manner of information about the waterways with a number of contributors who give their time for free.  They'd just had their boat painted and it was very shiny, we had a bit of a perve at it; if only ours looked like that ...  Barry said "It'll look like that by then end of next week!" - yeah right, as if that's possible!

  Glascote locks had a bit of traffic through

    The locks and lock cottage

Richard Swan and his wife with their very shiny boat 

Looking back through to the Tamworth Cruising Club moorings 

We've now travelled a full circle around the midlands and north of England, and have just one small bit of canal left that we've not yet travelled - a section of the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal which goes into Birmingham.  We're only going as far as we need to to get to the The Dog and Dublet, our wedding venue next week.

We turned around at the Hudson Boatbuilders entrance and moored there for the night. We were the only boat there which was surprising considering all the traffic about. Maybe the other boaters know something we don't.

Jamie arrived in Tamworth around 1030pm, and we walked back through the town and checked out the spooky castle at night-time.  It was a very lively place with an abundance of Indian restaurants and bars emitting sounds of people having fun.