A Dog Day (more or less!)

Birmingham

0 miles

We decided Monty needed to get out of the city centre so walked along the  towpath through the centre and out along the Worcester and Birmingham  canal - re-tracing yesterday's route.   C&RT were busy – first at Cambrian Wharf with a party of primary school children  – the volunteer in the boat was doing a great job of educating them in a really fun way. Then at Bridge 62 (Birmingham University) some much needed dredging.  We had skidded along the bottom on our way in, so hopefully things will be better when we leave.  Looking at you Looking at me The plan was to walk to the railway station at The University and get the train back to Birmingham New Street.  We have been saying for ages it was about time Monty experienced a ride on a train.  We felt sure that a Monday around lunchtime would be fairly quiet.  The railway follows the canal quite closely most of the way and we did think it was a bit odd that we did not see any trains……. When we got to the station we were told there were no trains due to a fatality on the line.  We were about to give up and go and find a bus when a train to New Street came in.  We missed that one, but were told that now they had started one would show up which it did.  As to quiet - not a chance - due to no trains for some hours it was jam packed full.  I did find a seat by asking a lady to move her bags (that does annoy me when a train is standing room only – am I becoming a grumpy old lady?) and Monty, bless him, behaved very well. The next experience was a very busy main line station with lots of echoing tannoy messages.  Chris left us to go and get his paper and then I left them to get some arnica cream.  He still came up trumps.   Waiting at New Street Station  Then a long walk back to the canal through the Mail Box shopping centre and a ride in two different lifts with glass doors!  He then had to sit by Chris whilst we had a pub lunch.  Mind if you try hard enough you can just peek out under the fake hedge to check what is going on canal side.  Then another long wander round and finally back to the boat.   A lot of new experiences for a young country dog in one day. The flowers on the bridges in Birmingham are looking good – hard to believe it is October tomorrow. The upshot of our extended walk meant we did not make it to the Library, but as we live close to Birmingham it is a visit we can make another time. We rather like this touch  & it seems to work as the area around the wharf is clean. Tomorrow – well it all depends on our brother in law who is supposed to be joining us at some time, but that depends on a rather poorly relative in Wales, so watch this space.