Children with guides kayaking up the BCN Mainline - 11th August 2021

I was walking past Gas Street Basin, when I saw a couple of kayaks full of children and their guides. They went through the Broad Street Tunnel, then up past Brindleyplace and the Brewmasters House towards Utilita Arena Birmingham. They were probably heading for Icknield Port Loop (according to Civic Square on Twitter). I left at Oozells Street Loop. Click View article for five photos.

Kayaking from Gas Street Basin to Icknield Port Loop

Starting this brief canal walk from The Mailbox, on the 11th August 2021, I walked up to the end of the Worcester & Birmingham Canal at Worcester Bar, Gas Street Basin. On the Birmingham Canal Navigations Mainline side, I saw a couple of kayaks attached together, with a guide and several children in both of them.

The kayaks at the back near Gas Street Basin, heading into the Broad Street Tunnel.

dndimg alt="Canoeing BCN Mainline" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Canoes BCN Mline (Aug 2021) (1).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

It was now apparent that there was two pairs attached to kayaks. The first one I saw was going through the Broad Street Tunnel, while the second was was metres behind.

dndimg alt="Canoeing BCN Mainline" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Canoes BCN Mline (Aug 2021) (2).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

A Just Eat delivery man in orange on his bike. The pair of kayaks, children and their guides. It was time to duck as I walked under the tunnel.

dndimg alt="Canoeing BCN Mainline" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Canoes BCN Mline (Aug 2021) (3).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

View from the Broad Street Tunnel (where the head room was a bit higher at the Brindleyplace end). Both sets of kayaks were heading under the Brindleyplace and Brewmasters Bridges. With Utilita Arena Birmingham, The Malt House and the Brewmasters House nearby. Oh and the red Water Bus on the left was about to depart.

dndimg alt="Canoeing BCN Mainline" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Canoes BCN Mline (Aug 2021) (4).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

One last view as they headed under the Brewmasters Bridge, past The ICC Energy Centre. I would leave the Main Line via the Oozells Street Loop, heading to Brindleyplace. I assume that they were heading for the Roundhouse.

dndimg alt="Canoeing BCN Mainline" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Canoes BCN Mline (Aug 2021) (5).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

Photos taken by Elliott Brown. Can be found on Twitter: ellrbrown

Emirates taking off from Birmingham on a Boeing 777-300ER

It's nice to see that Emirates have resumed their route from Birmingham Airport to Dubai. Although they are not using the double decker Airbus A380 at the moment. So back to the Boeing 777-300ER they were using before. Emirates had been alternating them over the years anyway. Once saw a Boeing 777 taking off while I was plane spotting at the Sheldon Country Park several years ago.

15th March 2017

That day I spent about an hour plane spotting from the Sheldon Country Park, mainly to spot the Emirates plane. Turns out that lunchtime it was the Boeing 777-300ER taking off from runway 15. It was a glorious sunny blue sky day at the Birmingham / Solihull border. The Emirates Boeing 777 plane took off around 1:50pm during the day, bound for Dubai. At the time they were using the Airbus A380 plane in the evening instead.

dndimg alt="Emirates Boeing 777" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Emirates 777 BHX (Mar 2017) (1).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

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dndimg alt="Emirates Boeing 777" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Emirates 777 BHX (Mar 2017) (9).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

 

6th August 2017

That time I spotted a Emirates Boeing 777 while walking through Boldmere in Sutton Coldfield (on The Big Sleuth trail). I was on the Boldmere High Street. In this case this Emirates plane was coming into land at Birmingham Airport from Dubai shortly before 12pm that day. Shortly after this I saw a Qatar Airways plane coming into land.

dndimg alt="Emirates Boeing 777" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Emirates 777 Boldmere (Aug 2017) (1).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

dndimg alt="Emirates Boeing 777" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Emirates 777 Boldmere (Aug 2017) (2).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

dndimg alt="Emirates Boeing 777" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Emirates 777 Boldmere (Aug 2017) (3).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

dndimg alt="Emirates Boeing 777" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Emirates 777 Boldmere (Aug 2017) (4).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

dndimg alt="Emirates Boeing 777" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Emirates 777 Boldmere (Aug 2017) (5).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

 

1st August 2021

I travelled by bus (the 11A changing in Acocks Green) to the Oaklands Recreation Ground in South Yardley, for another look at the City Skyline. First I saw a TUI plane taking off from Birmingham Airport, and before I left the park, I saw this Emirates Boeing 777 taking off for Dubai, just before 2:40pm in the afternoon. I think it's the first Emirates plane I've caught on camera since the pandemic began. Would be nice to see the Airbus A380 over the skies of Birmingham again.

dndimg alt="Emirates Boeing 777" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Emirates BHX Oaklands (Aug 2021).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

Photos taken by Elliott Brown. Can be found on Twitter: ellrbrown

 

Roundhouse Birmingham: a timeline to reopening

Finally Roundhouse Birmingham has reopened to the public. Located at Sheepcote Street and St Vincent Street, it is on the Birmingham Canal Navigations Mainline. Originally opened in 1874, to the designs of W. H. Ward as the Corporation Depot. Also used by the London and North Western Railway as a railway depot at the time. Now co-owned by the Canal & River Trust and National Trust.

History of Roundhouse Birmingham

A crescent shaped Grade II* listed building, it was built for the Corporation of Birmingham from 1873 to 1874, to the designs of William Henry Ward (he also designed the Great Western Arcade). The two gatehouses facing the corner of Sheepcote Street and St Vincent Street were completed in 1885. It was originally named Corporation Wharf, as it was near the Birmingham Canal. It was also used as a large railway depot for the London and North Western Railway, on the Stour Valley Line.

The site was arranged to create a highly secure internal storage environment, for open air storage, horses and maintenance.

Pevsner describes it having a pair of picturesque Gothic lodges. And that inside was more of a semicircular range with a cartway running under it's centre to the canal. With evocative cobbled pavements.

The building was used by the City of Birmingham Engineers Department until the 1980s, when it became redundant and was sold. It was bought by British Waterways (now the Canal & River Trust) in 2001.

Unused for many years, other than part of it as a nursery school, the Canal & River Trust and the National Trust gained funding in 2017 for the restoration of the building, and to open it up to the public. It should have opened in 2020, but delays due to the pandemic, means it won't open now until at least late summer 2021.

Some of the earliest tours by narrowboat have started in late July 2021, during the summer heatwave.

 

2009

Some of my earliest photos of the Roundhouse, taken from the opposite towpath on the Birmingham Canal Navigations Mainline, between the Sheepcote Street Bridge and St Vincent Street Bridge.

 

15th May 2009

At the time there was a lot of narrowboats moored up on both sides of the towpath next to the Roundhouse.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rndhse Bham (May 2009) (1).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

There was still a brick wall alongside the Roundhouse, part of it would be later removed when restoration works began years later.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rndhse Bham (May 2009) (3).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

 

2013

A look at the pair of gatehouses from the corner of Sheepcote Street and St Vincent Street, and the first look at the inside of the horseshoe courtyard for the first time. A few months later, I saw the Roundhouse close up from the towpath.

 

23rd February 2013

At the time the Roundhouse for for sale or to let, and the junction here was a bit different.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/The Roundhouse BCN Mainline (3).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

Signs on the gate "Warning Kingdom Security".

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rndhse Bham (Feb 2013).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

This is what the horseshoe courtyard looked like at the time, years before the restoration began.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/The Roundhouse BCN Mainline (4).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

 

18th May 2013

A look through the railings to the back of the Roundhouse. The former Fiddle & Bone pub on the right was derelict at the time, but would be restored and reopen a few years later.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rndhse Bham (May 2013) (1).JPG" style="width: 100%;" />

 

2015

The Fiddle & Bone pub was restored and reopened, so time to look at the Roundhouse again from the canalside towpath.

 

26th December 2015

It was nice to see the Fiddle & Bone restored. They put out painted picnic benches at the time, and they sealed off the arches in the Roundhouse behind.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rndhse Bham (Dec 2015) (1).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

This area was all part of the Fiddle & Bone beer garden, at the back of the Roundhouse.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rndhse Bham (Dec 2015) (3).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

 

2017

A few years later, the Fiddle & Bone was renamed to The Distillery.

 

26th October 2017

By now, the Roundhouse was co-owned by the National Trust and Canal & River Trust, and within a few years would begin work to restore the building. Meanwhile I was having a look at The Distillery from the opposite side of the canal.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rndhse Bham (Oct 2017) (1).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

Two years after seeing The Distillery, the Roundhouse next door would start to get restored.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rndhse Bham (Oct 2017) (2).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

There is an entrance to the pub from the canalside, there was formerly one from the first floor on Sheepcote Street.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rndhse Bham (Oct 2017) (3).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

 

2019

During the BCN 250 celebrations, I noticed that work to restored the Roundhouse had begun.

 

2nd November 2019

There was a parade of narrowboats up and down the Birmingham Canal Navigations Mainline at the time for BCN 250, while the Roundhouse was under scaffolding.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rndhse Bham (Nov 2019).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

Scaffolding up the right hand side of the Roundhouse, they were also replacing the old windows.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rndhse Bham (Nov 2019) (1).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

Now called Roundhouse Birmingham. The area out front was still a beer garden for The Distillery, but the picnic benches were no longer painted.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rndhse Bham (Nov 2019) (2).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

It should have been completed and reopened by 2020, but the pandemic resulted in it being delayed until 2021.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rndhse Bham (Nov 2019) (3).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

While at the time this was the beer garden of The Distillery, in future it would (probably) also act as the public entrance to Roundhouse Birmingham.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rndhse Bham (Nov 2019) (4).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

 

27th December 2019

One last update before the end of 2019, and before I heard about the coming virus. The pair of lodges were under scaffolding. Road layout had changed on St Vincent Street, near Sheepcote Street.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rndhse Bham (Dec 2019) (1).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

Part of the Roundhouse already had new windows on one side.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rndhse Bham (Dec 2019) (2).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

Window view of another window.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rndhse Bham (Dec 2019) (3).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

Similar window shot as the last one.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rndhse Bham (Dec 2019) (4).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

This area (below) had a temporary wooden hoarding in place. They would later install a window here. Probably an area for people to view the canal out of the Roundhouse?

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rndhse Bham (Dec 2019) (5).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

 

2021

My first major photo update of the Roundhouse since the pandemic began, and in time for it opening to the public to the first time.

 

14th July 2021

Views of the Roundhouse from the Sheepcote Street Bridge. Including the Annatomix rustic horse street art.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rndhse Bham (Jul 2021) (1).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

The Distillery is on the right. Entrance from the canalside, they make Roundhouse Gin here.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rndhse Bham (Jul 2021) (2).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

The pair of Victorian lodges fully restored, at the corner of Sheepcote Street and St Vincent Street. Was a homeless man sitting close to the gate, so didn't want to get too close to him.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rndhse Bham (Jul 2021) (3).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

A zoom in beyond the gate to the horseshoe courtyard area.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rndhse Bham (Jul 2021) (4).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

 

20th July 2021

Views from the opposite side of the BCN Mainline canal, towards the Roundhouse. I walked past the Victoria narrowboat dropping off visitors, below the Sheepcote Street bridge.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rhouse Bham 20072021 (1).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rhouse Bham 20072021 (2).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

Famed Birmingham street artist Annatomix was commissioned to paint this wall, she has painted a rustic horse.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rhouse Bham 20072021 (3).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rhouse Bham 20072021 (4).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

Onto St Vincent Street, a view towards this gate, all fully restored, with new windows installed.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rhouse Bham 20072021 (5).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

The horseshoe shaped courtyard, seen inside of the gate from the St Vincent Street corner with Sheepcote Street. Some of the bricks on the cobbled surface have been replaced.

dndimg alt="Roundhouse Birmingham" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/Rhouse Bham 20072021 (6).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

 

Photos taken by Elliott Brown. Can be found on Twitter: ellrbrown

West Midlands Cycle Hire docking points all around the West Midlands

So far I have found the docks for West Midlands Cycle Hire in Birmingham, Solihull, Coventry and Walsall. I have yet to travel back to the boroughs of Dudley or Sandwell or the City of Wolverhampton to see them. But it's time for a post. Been gathering photos of the docks from April to June 2021, and will probably get more on my travels around the West Midlands in the months to come.

Birmingham

Mostly in the City Centre and at the University of Birmingham in Edgbaston. Also in Sutton Coldfield.

 

Birmingham City Centre

Location: Digbeth, Birmingham, West Midlands. Opposite of Digbeth Police Station.

dndimg alt="West Midlands Cycle Hire" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/WM Cycle Hire Digbeth 25052021.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

 

Location: Park Street, Birmingham, West Midlands. Near Selfridges.

dndimg alt="West Midlands Cycle Hire" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/WM Cycle Hire BCC 27052021 (1).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

 

Location: Moor Street Queensway, Birmingham, West Midlands. Between Primark and Birmingham Moor Street Station.

dndimg alt="West Midlands Cycle Hire" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/WM Cycle Hire Moor St Qway (May 2021).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

 

Location: Fore Street, Birmingham, West Midlands. Between Cannon Street and Corporation Street. Not far from Corporation Street Tram Stop.

dndimg alt="West Midlands Cycle Hire" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/WM Cycle Hire Fore St 12062021.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

 

Location: Paradise Street, Birmingham, West Midlands. At Town Hall Tram Stop and near Birmingham Town Hall and Victoria Square.

dndimg alt="West Midlands Cycle Hire" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/WM Cycle Hire Town Hall TS 12062021 (1).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

 

Location: Station Street, Birmingham, West Midlands. Below the Southside Steps of Birmingham New Street Station.

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Location: Summer Row, Birmingham, West Midlands. Next to University College Birmingham. Seen from Paradise Circus Queensway.

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Location: Bath Row, Birmingham, West Midlands. Opposite St Thomas' Peace Garden. Near Park Central and Lee Bank.

dndimg alt="West Midlands Cycle Hire" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/WM Cycle Hire Bath Row 15062021.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

 

University of Birmingham

Location: Bristol Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, West Midlands. Near the University of Birmingham Sport & Fitness Centre. Close to Edgbaston Park Road (also the South and East Gate of the University of Birmingham).

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Location: Ring Road South, Edgbaston, Birmingham, West Midlands. Near the University of Birmingham School of Chemistry.

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Location: New Fosse Way, Edgbaston, Birmingham, West Midlands. Between the University of Birmingham  (West Gate) and Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (and not far from University Station).

dndimg alt="West Midlands Cycle Hire" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/WM Cycle Hire UoB (May 2021).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

 

Sutton Coldfield

Location: Monmouth Drive, Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, West Midlands. Near the Boldmere Gate of Sutton Park.

dndimg alt="West Midlands Cycle Hire" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/WM Cycle Hire Sutton Park (Jun 2021).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

 

Coventry

Location: Butts Road, Coventry, West Midlands. Near the Premier Inn Coventry City Centre (Earlsdon Park) and Albany Theatre.

dndimg alt="West Midlands Cycle Hire" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/WM Cycle Hire Butts Cov 12062021.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

 

Location: Corporation Street, Coventry, West Midlands. outside of a Coffee Shop called Shakeout.

dndimg alt="West Midlands Cycle Hire" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/WM Cycle Hire Corp Cov 12062021.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

 

Solihull

Location: High Street, Solihull. Close to Hunters and the Masons Arms public house.

dndimg alt="West Midlands Cycle Hire" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/WM Cycle Hire Solihull High St (Apr 2021) (2).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

 

Location: Station Approach, Solihull, West Midlands. Opposite of Solihull Station.

dndimg alt="West Midlands Cycle Hire" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/WM Cycle Hire Sol 18052021 (1).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

 

Location: Station Road, Solihull, West Midlands. Close to Indian Brewery.

dndimg alt="West Midlands Cycle Hire" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/WM Cycle Hire Sol 18052021 (2).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

 

Location: Lode Lane, Solihull, West Midlands. Close to Solihull Hospital.

dndimg alt="West Midlands Cycle Hire" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/WM Cycle Hire Sol 18052021 (3).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

 

Walsall

Location: Broadway North, Walsall, West Midlands. Outside of Walsall Arboretum.

dndimg alt="West Midlands Cycle Hire" dndsrc="../uploadedfiles/WMCH Walsall Arb (Jun 2021) (2).jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

 

Can riders remember to properly dock the bikes when they are finished. Don't just randomly leave them on a pavement nowhere near a dock. They have GPS trackers on them (I think).

 

Photos taken by Elliott Brown. Can be found on Twitter: ellrbrown