Birmingham

A great day for cruising again, as we set off from Alverchurch. The canal was in good condition, not much rubbish at all (you do expect it as you draw closer to a city) and we were on the summit so no locks for the day. We were looking forward to getting into Birmingham. We passed through Bournville with moorings right next to the station and on the offside too. No vacancies on the offside though!

These moorings are only a short walk from Cadbury World, if you are interested in a visit. Although, I found walking around Bournville more interesting than Cadbury World, where I was hoping to see chocolate being made.

We did pass some nice quiet moorings, just near the university and not far from our final mooring on Gas Street. We arrived in the early afternoon from our mooring in Alverchurch and we had the pick of the moorings but by 5pm they were full. This area has quite a few cafes, restaurants and bars but it quietened down quickly after 10pm.

Our mooring at night.

Not a great pic of the renamed Black Sabbath Bridge, named after the band.

Just down from our mooring was Gas Street Basin with a public walkway through the centre. Not sure security would be terribly good?

The iconic roundabout, the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal to the left and on the right the Worcester and Birmingham Canal (Gas Street).

We spent plenty of time wandering around this part of Birmingham, the canals have become very popular and are starting to command top dollar all over Britain if you want to live or build a commercial building near them. There are more miles of canals in Birmingham than in Venice and they have lots of shops and cafes nearby to investigate. Not far from our mooring is the main shopping centre of Birmingham, we seemed to visit each day, particularly The Bull Ring shopping centre. With time on our hands it was also a great chance to wander the numerous pedestrian malls.

We managed a busy few days here in Birmingham but most enjoyable.