Our first Tardebigge experience - how many locks?!

On Monday we left the England's second city behind, and idled along the greenery of Kings Norton and Bournville, and taking a short walk to the Guillotine stop lock on the Stratford Canal. Last winter, with the help of £200,00 from the 'People's Postcode Lottery' funds, this unique construction was restored and only opened on 30th April.  In the latest edition of Towpath talk they say "There is a worry that the structure will be once again spoilt with graffiti and damaged. Dean Davies reported that the trust is trying to educate local youths on the value and status of the monument."  Sadly their worries have come to fruition, with graffiti appearing on each side.

Guillotine Lock, aka Kings Norton Stop Lock - the only one of its kind and a Grade II* listed and Scheduled Ancient Monument

Continuing on to Alvechurch, we moored not far from where we hired a narrowboat called 'Wye' from 'Anglo Welsh' in April 2007, Barry's first foray onto the canals - which caught him hook, line and sinker!  

On that occasion we chose not to do the 'Tardebigge Locks', the longest flight in the country - luckily for us this time we had an extra pair of hands and managed 42 locks in one day! It was hard work but fun, and with rare bright blue skies and sunshine, I also got a bit sunburnt  - I even alternated with a bit of driving into the locks for the very first time on AREandARE with hardly a bump - very impressive I thought.

Jenny must have the idea now, and to make it even quicker we used the fold up bike to get from one lock to another and smooth the ride for the captain ...

Just to prove it, we have a few of Barry's shots - here I am gliding her in, gently and smoothly ...

Last night we moored not far from Hanbury, so Jenny could cycle to Hanbury Hall today - Barry and I chose to stay and catch up on some work-related things as we'd previously visited there (when we had our National Trust membership).

Tomorrow we'll be heading down the Droitwich Canal for the first time - though the timing isn't so good and we may not get a mooring in Droitwich.  We hadn't realised until yesterday the 'Churches together' group have chosen 8th and 9th of June to have a weekend of family fun and activities at Vines park.  A number of Boaters Christian Fellowship narrowboats have been passing us - so we're crossing our fingers and other appendages there's a 60 foot long space there somewhere for us ...

The Lovely People in the Heart of the Country

We’ve spent the past few days moored in various places in the heart of the City of Birmingham, a place I frequented as a teenager and in my thirties and forties, for shopping and night-life. It’s a buzzing place, with some incredible architecture both ancient and modern. I hear people denigrating Birmingham, saying it’s dirty and industrial – well I do not agree – the streets are clean, the people are friendly, there’s an abundance of activities to immerse yourself in and there are more canals than there are in Venice – what more could you ask for?

Victoria Square with ‘The Floozy in the Jacuzzi’ was looking stupendous in the sunshine, and we spent an hour in the Art Gallery – we didn’t make the most of this building and its contents sadly, as our visit was too close to closing time and we didn’t find time to return.

The Repertory Theatre and Central Library are in the process of being re-built – not really sure about the design of the building, though new library alone is costing £188.8 million and will contain the world's largest collection of Shakespeare books, pamphlets and memorabilia. It's due to open in early September 2013.

'The levels are stacked up like a pile of children's building blocks, and wrapped in a lacy metal skin which in sunlight casts intricate shadows on the floors inside and is also intended – according to the architects – to recall the tradition of jewellery making and the city's industrial heritage. The golden box at the higher levels blocks light from the archive storeys and their precious collections, including manuscripts from the 12th century on, and an internationally renowned photography collection.'

Birmingham New Street Railway Station is halfway through its refurbishment and is looking amazing – so much more expansive and spacious than its predecessor was. We met my daughter Kim from Birmingham International Airport early on Sunday morning, following a week in the sunshine of Greece. It was her first visit to Areandare – just a short one as she needed to be back at work this morning. I’d found an amazing deal of First Class train travel back to her home in Brighton for just £34!

The newly emerging Birmingham New Street Railway Station

Over the weekend we’d walked past an interesting statue just outside ‘The Cube’ a number of times, and hadn’t realised until today that it is in fact one of a series of incredible pieces called ‘The Lovely People’ by Arron BIrd aka Temper – the others are situated inside The Cube building.  We couldn’t understand why they are not advertised more on the walk to The Mailbox (link) so that many more ‘tourists’ can see past the materialism and busyness of modern day life.  I was incredibly inspired and humbled, and loved the artist’s description of these real people.

"The lovely people are a group of seven people, all of whom have an exceptional story to tell.  The bodies are those of the actual people who inspired the work. The mirrored shine of the hearts reflects our own faces as we approach them, asking us to see a little of ourselves in each of these embodiments of society.":

This one represents a man who has worked hard all his life

 'Mother and child' - the child was born with a hole in her heart and was treated in Birmingham

 'Survivor' is an old lady who walked across Europe in the war - her mum was sent to Auschwitz 

The flying sculpture represents a firefighter who risked his life to save colleagues

Such a rich life, brimming with beautiful people ...

... though sadly not (yet) in a financial sense (though I'm definitely putting that out there for the not too distant future to manifest!), but definitely an abundance of contact with people we love, and of course being on board Areandare and finding delight at every turn on the canals.

'The wonderful things in life are the things you do, not the things you have.' ~ Reinhold Messner

Remaining in the Glascote/Amington area of Tamworth last week, we caught up with our friends Bruce and Joy, and reminisced about their boating experiences on their narrowboat 'Burlesque' some years ago.

Then on Friday we collected a hire car from Enterprise again - this time just £47 for four days, and we even got a free upgrade because the tiny car we'd booked wasn't ready so we got a cool Fiesta!  Yaay! We travelled to Brighton to help my daughter Kim to move home, then got her to the airport to catch a flight to Greece.  After that it was up to Malpas in Cheshire overnight to visit my elder daughter Lisa, son-in-law and grandson.

The main purpose for splashing out again on the car was of course to get to The Crick Boat Show, for the first time ever. The sun shone and it even became fairly warm which was a bonus - and we were fortunate to meet in person some people we've been in touch with over the years through the blog ...

Paul from 'Waterways Routes' - we're loving the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal Cruising Map CD

Helen and Andy again from Captain Ahab's Watery Tales and Wild Side Jams and Preserves

Not meeting, just recognising Terry Darlington (Narrowboat to Carcassonne and other books fame)

Tom and Jan from Nb Waiouru

We finally left the Tamworth area on Tuesday, heading down to Bodymoor Heath for a night moored at 'The Dog and Doublet' - where we had our Humanist wedding ceremony on the roof of Northern Pride on 26th September 2009.  It was a very different day in late May 2013 - rainy and cold, but still full of cheer inside the pub and Jim, the Landlord, was a barrel of laughs and had us all in stitches bless him!

Barry with Jim on the right

We couldn't stay longer than one night, as Barry's sister Jenny was on her way from Australia, via Spain and Morocco, to stay with us for a while and we needed to be closer to Birmingham. Paul's Birmingham & Fazeley DVD came in extremely useful to discover moorings between there and the centre of Birmingham, without having to do all the locks.  The Nicholson's Guide didn't show any moorings and we were giving up hope - until Paul's up-to-date knowledge saved the day - thank you Paul!

We moored at Aston Cross Business Park, right behind a small shop and bar (not that we frequented it!), and Jenny arrived on Wednesday morning.  

Jenny arrives safely after finding us from Stanstead Airport in London, to New Street Train Station Birmingham, then by bus to Aston - what an amazing woman!

Yesterday we travelled up to the centre of Birmingham, which for those who aren't aware, is on a plateau.  Birmingham is where J.R.R. Tolkein grew up, and was the inspiration for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books.

On the way up, a very unassuming and friendly gentleman appeared at one of the locks and assisted Jenny and I through to Cambrian Wharf.  It was only at the top that I introduced myself and gave him a blog card, asking if he had Internet access - silly me - he then gave me his business card and it was none other than Jim Shead.  I recognised the name immediately, and knew he wrote about the waterways, but it was Barry who was blown away to realise who he'd been chatting with and disappointed he hadn't taken more of an opportunity to talk.  Thank you Jim, it was a pleasure to have your company and help, and we hope to meet you again.

Jim, Jenny and Sandra making light work of the Farmers Flight of locks to Birmingham

Last night a friend from my youth managed to find us on our mooring, after I sent out a message via Facebook to anyone who knows us to come and visit - well done Karen, it was so awesome to see you again and hope to catch you again.

Sandra, Rob and Karen sharing some boat brew wine (it's getting better with age!)

Today, Saturday, we've had another toilet hiccup  and visited Sherborne Wharf to try and get it solved. There were no engineers around, and we were beginning to despair, when Barry found a most helpful fellow boater who had just hired a pump to sort out his bilge area that had become flooded. He used it to unblock our loo - hurrah!  Thank goodness!

So many beautiful people in our lives - and tonight Kim returns from Greece and stays with us until tomorrow lunchtime - marvellous.