Wet Birmingham

Wednesday 5^th October; Birmingham

After some overnight rain there was a dry interval for Meg to get her walk in the park.  The wind was very strong, and as I sat drinking tea and doing a crossword the hire boat behind us decided to move off.  But they hadn’t reckoned with the strength of the wind, so knocked into us and then ground their way along until they could escape.  I went out of course and they were extremely apologetic but when we had a look after we had turned the boat later in the day, we saw more than one patch of bare metal!  Then the rain started so we sat tight, watching the soggy passers-by.  The police were still patrolling as Liz Truss did her thing at the Tory conference.

Just walking in the rain

The black police RIB also went by, as it had done yesterday, with a couple of police on board – we didn’t see it come back so they must have gone round the Oozells St loop. 

After lunch the rain stopped, so we decided to turn the boat round by cruising the Icknield Port loop to see how the building was coming along.  It is proceeding apace, a lot more is copleted than the last time we came this way, though there is still a lot of space to be filled.  I think these canoeists came from the still-undeveloped part of the loop, where there certainly used to be a company.

We turned into the far end, at the ‘crossroads’ with the Soho loop.  Soon we passed a stretch where the edge has been rebuilt with mooring rings, and the land looks as though it will be an open area for leisure use. 

Will the rings be for public mooring?  The development’s website suggests people may wish to live on a boat….   

A little further along there has been no demolition yet, with old walls still standing.  We even saw a kingfisher today, as we have done before, though I wonder how long they will stay around as development progresses.

It all used to look like this

The CRT yard is still operating.  The bank behind it holds back the Rotton Reservoir which is a popular recreation area for Ladywood. 

I wonder if it will be possible to moor on the loop and walk to the reservoir?  We went to have a look at it a few years ago and walked from the Arena area.  It was a long way through Ladywood, one of the most deprived areas of Birmingham I believe.  The little parade of shops was very run down, and all the windows and doors had some kind of security grille.  At the time there was a binmen’s strike so it was pretty horrible.

As we rounded the end of the loop the old sales office came into view.  I wonder if it is still performing that function or if someone now lives on it?

Sales office

The houses visible from here until the junction with the main line are now all occupied.  It looks as though it will be quite a pleasant place to live when it is finished, although it reminds me a bit of the development at Dicken’s Heath on the North Stratford – too much neat paving and all a bit sanitised for our taste.

Quite pretty - at least there are trees

 The gardens are small as on all modern estates, though these alongside the canal are tiny.  I wouldn’t want to have one too many drinks while sitting out there!

There was even a little slipway squeezed between two terraces.  If you live on an island, which this is, you might well want a paddleboard or kayak if you have somewhere to store it!  I would.

We arrived back to take our previous mooring, all ready for the off tomorrow.  We had just settled down with a cup of tea when there was a sudden and very heavy shower.  A boat which had gone past just as we were tying up had obviously only gone to turn round, and got drenched on their way back.  We went up to Zizzi to eat and it was just busy enough for a pleasant buzz.

Only 1½ miles today, enough to get hot water and top up the batteries a little - we have been impressed with their performance.