Conference, Bull and noise

Tuesday 4^th October; Aston Uni to Birmingham centre

It was chilly and grey when we got up and it stayed that way.  I walked down to the Co-op we spotted yesterday.  They were fairly well stocked but don’t sell newspapers!  I suspect most of its customers are students, and the space would make more profit with pot noodles! 

We set off for the Farmers Bridge flight at about 10.  Every time we approach this bridge, I try to take a suitable photo.  This is the best one so far.

Barker Bridge

Maybe I will try it from the other direction next time – after we have passed under it.  The first lock in the flight was in our favour, and the second had just been turned by a boat coming down.  So after a short wait to pass them we found the rest all empty, or nearly so.  The BT tower is quite close to the canal, with building work nearby.

A section of the flight runs under buildings.  This one was surrounded by scaffolding with restricted headroom, similar to many bridges.

Mind your head

The side pond of the lock here is flourishing with water plants, these I believe are water-lilies.  I should have crossed over the gate to take the picture.

We were working well, then after a while I espied the familiar colours of a CRT volunteer.  It had been so quiet he was thinking of leaving early for his Covid booster.  His help was very welcome, as some of the locks are very heavy.  It’s a nuisance if I need help to close a gate when Dave is already in the next lock!  On one set of steps a dear little chicken has been painted.  Apologies for the fuzzy image.

The lockie knew all about one of the buildings swathed in scaffolding.  In fact they had just started taking it all down after completing the job.

HOW much??

The cladding on the building had been replaced.  It was cedar-wood, flammable but possibly OK on its own, but certainly not when the insulation inside was polystyrene (at least that’s what he said it was – a nightmare building material).  The cost? Seven million quid.  Who pays for that?  Bet it wasn’t the firm that specified it. 

The lockie left for his Covid jab, and we finished the flight on our own.  We took on water at Cambrian Wharf and dumped rubbish, then moved on to moor opposite the Arena car park, where there is easy access over the bridge to the park for dog-walking and a little less passing traffic on the towpath than on the Arena side.  We had lunch, then went for a stroll to check out the security.  It’s a week since it closed as I post this, so you would be forgiven for forgetting it was the Tory party conference.  We knew there would be security checks but they are quite rigorous this year.  There is a barrier to stop you cruising through without your boat being frisked.   We stopped to talk to a lovely security man, I’m not sure if he was police or something military.  He was very proud of the barrier, which is moved aside for boats to pass by a steel cable attached to the other side, and then the cable drops to the bottom so boats can pass over. 

If you attempt to barge (haha) through, and break it, you will soon find it around your propellor so you have to stop anyway.  It has been deployed in various places around the world, including Gibraltar. 

So what about this frisking?  Every boat is checked by a sniffer dog, so we asked him, if we were checked would we be allowed to stay inside and watch it work? which seemed ok to him.  There were loads of coppers around, and this lot was having a natter while they waited for customers.

The open area between the ICCand the canal was full of besuited Tories having coffee.  We didn't recognise any of them, though we did look out for Michael Fabricant, who is known as a supporter of the waterways.  We had to go along to Broad Street to get round to Centenary Square.  The square was having all sorts of work done for the trams last time we were here, but today a huge part of it was screened off for people with passes.  There were plenty of protest groups standing around,  and we were button-holed by one of the many police liaison officers (blue reflective jacket, not yellow) who wanted to stroke the dog.  At least that was his story – I think their brief was to keep an eye on the protesters, who all seemed perfectly well-behaved to me, and engage positively with as many people as possible. 

Protestors, passers-by and a tram

Anyway we had a nice chat.  He was from Coventry – I suspect a lot of them came from outside Birmingham.  We took a roundabout route back to the boat, returning to the canal a little way down the Farmers Bridge flight and walking along past the boat to the St Vincent’s Street bridge.  The first copper we spoke to said we would find the Birmingham Bull that was built for the Commonwealth Games by the canal there.  He was swathed in tarpaulin, which was a shame.

At least he hasn’t been dismantled, which was the plan to start with.  There was such an outcry that he has been stored here temporarily, before (I think) going on tour around the country.  What might be an eye (the pale semi-circle) is meant to be an ear – his eye is just peeping out from edge of the tarp.

We wondered about going out to eat this evening, but thought everywhere would be crowded with people attending the party conference so we didn’t.  We did ask a local policeman if there were any ordinary Indian takeaways nearby, but he said they were all rather expensive as the area is too up-market.  The lockie had recommended one but it was way down the flight and the food would have been rather cold by the time we got back to the boat!  There was a concert this evening in the Indoor Arena, with young fans queuing for a good 2 hours before they were allowed in.  And very noisy it was too.  But apart from some excited chattering when it finished, the crowds dispersed quietly – I suspect many were being picked up by parents.

2½ miles, 14 locks