Leaving Birmingham

Yesterday we stayed in Birmingham, so no blog. In the morning we visited the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. The main purpose was to see the Staffordshire Hoard exhibition which was showing some of the massive collection of gold Anglo Saxon objects found recently near Lichfield. The intricacy of the designs was very impressive - magnifying glasses were needed to see the details, technology of course not available to AngloSaxons.

The museum also has a fairly large collection of paintings, some by well known artists - Constable, Turner, Canaletto, Degas, Renoir, Millais etc etc and an interesting exhibition of Buddhist and Hindu objects dating back 1500 years.

The area around the museum is the cultural centre of Birmingham, mainly consisting of impressive modern buildings such as Symphony Hall, the home of the CBSO (City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra). Here we saw advertised a series of CBSO concerts of the symphonies of my favourite composer, Mahler; for two of which we have booked seats.

The canals form a key part of this area and the old buildings have been sympathetically restored and complemented by some attractive new constructions. There are extensive safe moorings here so central Birmingham is an ideal place for boaters to spend a few days.

This morning we needed to move on but were apprehensive about forecasts of heavy downpours. The weather actually didnt look too bad so I started the engine and heard strange noises followed by a warning whistle. A quick inspection quickly identified the cause - a broken fanbelt. Fortunately I carry replacements but unfortunately I didnt have the right spanners to loosen the alternators so called in the local boatyard, Sherborne Wharf. The engineer came round to the boat within 30 minutes and quickly replaced the fanbelt.

So at 10:00 we really started down the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal - 23 locks and 3 miles to get to the next secure moorings at Cuckoo Wharf. If you have been following the blog you will have got the impression that the canals are all glorious scenery and abundant vegetation and wildlife. Well, the B&F through north Birmingham is not like that at all.

Descending Farmers Bridge Locks

One of the locks are beneath an office block

Leaving the centre of the city is interesting as the canal descends the 13 Farmers Bridge locks surrounded by and in some cases beneath tall ofice buildings and blocks of flats. The Farmer who perhaps farmed here when the canal was built over 200 years ago has long gone, and it is worth noting that all the buildings one sees are newer than the canal.

Further out of the centre is a continuous swathe of rather tatty run down light industry. I must admit I failed to find any redeeming features to encourage visitors to this part of the waterways.