Charles, Emma, Penny and Minnie visit in Birmingham.

Saturday 22nd June, 2013 at Bournville in Birmingham.
The day started cool and showery, although the weather did improve later in the day.
We had arranged some time ago for Charles, Emma, Penny and Minnie to visit us today and since they were arriving by train from London, we set off to meet them at "University" station, which as the name suggests, is the station that serves Birmingham University. The station is right next to the canal and the area is very well know to both Charles and Emma as they both went to university there.
With excellent timing, their train arrived just as R was struggling to get MM close enough to the canal side for them to come on board. It was lovely to see them.

We cruised for a short while towards the centre of Birmingham until we found a suitable place to stop for lunch. We chose a nice spot under a huge sycamore tree, which was fortuitous as just after we stopped, the heavens opened and it poured with rain all through lunch, yet this mighty tree shielded us from the worst of it.  R and Minnie had a great time together.

Suitably refreshed and after the rain had stopped, we cruised on up to Gas Street Basin, which is the very hub of the historic canal system. Sadly, very few of the original canalside buildings remain in the centre, but ironically the new buildings constructed to replace the old ones are almost identical in style yet (predictably) lack the charm. However, all the junctions, stop locks, and other canal structures remain and are a fascinating reminder of the days of the working boats.
The final arrival at Gas Street Basin took us by surprise; suddenly the leafy green approach was left behind and we found ourselves in a vibrant, colourful city centre.
Best of all was the carnival atmosphere which greeted us, enhanced by the fact that a series of Dragon Boat races were being staged in Brindley Place and we had to wait for a pause in the racing to be able to sail through - we didn't want to mow them down!

Despite the showery weather, hundreds of people lined the canal to cheer the dragon boats on and they all waved to us as we sailed past.

It was great fun arriving into the middle of this party atmosphere by boat. There has been a massive regeneration of this historic and hitherto run-down area of the city and it was certainly an experience to spend the afternoon there.
We turned at "Old Turn" next to the entrance to Sherbourne Wharf, the marina where we will leave MM for a few days on Monday. We went back to Gas Street Basin (after waiting for the finals of the Dragon Boat races) and moored up there so that we could go and have an early supper at the "Canalside Cafe", which was once a lock-keeper's cottage.

The cafe is next to a very narrow bit of water that connects Gas Street Basin to Brindley Place. Originally there was  a strip of concrete separating the two because the "Birmingham Canal Navigations", (that terminated in Brindley Place) and the "Worcester and Birmingham Canal" (that terminated in Gas Street Basin), could not agree on a connection. Any goods that needed to go from one canal to the other had to be trans-shipped across a seven foot wide strip of land! Eventually common sense prevailed and the narrow connecting canal was dug.

We sat outside the cafe, had some excellent food and watched the world go by; there was plenty to see including trip and restaurant boats constantly passing on the water and "stag" and "hen" parties often in hilarious outfits passing on the walkways and bridges. This lot were following a "Stag", who looked decidedly uncomfortable!

Charles took Penny for an explore to see how the area had changed since they were last there.

Meanwhile M and R had lots of cuddles with little Minnie. What a joy it is to see her grinning and laughing!

We sailed down to the "Mailbox" end of Gas Street Basin, which boasts a vast array of restaurants, bars and shops, in order to drop them off as close as we could to New Street Station for their journey home. As we moored up a very nice security guard came up to say "You can't park 'ere, Sir!" We assured him that we were just dropping our passengers off and we would not be there for more than a few minutes.

We cruised back down the way we had come and moored up outside Bournville, opposite the railway station and the Cadbury factory. There are secure moorings here in a gated enclosure that requires a BW key to get out. An unusual feature. Many people, when they heard we were going into Birmingham warned us about vandalism and such like, but so far all the people that we have met have been delightful, chatty and helpful.
Today: 10 miles, 0Locks and 6.5 hours.
Trip: 150 miles, 125 Locks and 124.0 hours.