July 18 Brum, brum ,brum

As part of the planning for trip Frances decided to consult the tourist board sites for this renowned city.  One of them burbled about filling her computer with cookies “to give her the best experience” so she passed on that (as soon as she had finished chundering).   Next stop was the Council site.  She put in “Public art” and got one listing – of something that burnt down in 2003.

One could say “What else do you expect from Birmingham?” and plan to spend the day in the hotel sleeping.  However, being of a curious mind I Googled “Birmingham UK public art” and got a very large amount of information.  There seem to be at least 20 works in the Centre of the city, including at least one by Anthony Gormley.  (There is apparently a fountain featuring a young lady, not as I first thought Queen Victoria, which is known as the "floozie in the jacuzzi".)  I don’t think we are going to have any trouble amusing ourselves!

We left KL in a nice new 777 just before midnight, but it was after midnight in Australia so I will count it as day 2.  We had Economy Comfort seats which cost extra but were well worth it as we had no-one in front and I was able to get a little sleep.  Frances did quite well.  The first four hours were a bit bumpy and involved at least one major kink in the flight path to go round a storm in the Bay of Bengal. 

At one point there was a call for ''a medical doctor to the rear of the plane” and after someone walked past from Business Class a crew member appeared with a rather large first aid kit.

We were both awake as dawn tried to catch up with us over the Ukraine, but daylight didn't really arrive until well West of Berlin.   When breakfast had been served one of the crew announced that “we are still in German airspace ...” which was an interesting way of saying we aren't in Holland yet.  When we did get to Holland it looked very damp and mist was rolling in from the sea. Not a great snap, but it was grey and misty.

As we landed we could see how neat and tidy all the farms were, with nice regular shaped fields: I wondered if they were tulip farms but Frances said the season was wrong.  During taxi Jackdaws established themselves as first European bird and thus Bird of the day.  Tulips were evident in the airport shop.

As were other things: this array of souvenirs quickly set up an unbreakable lead in the bad taste award (all categories). 

We basically sat around for nearly three hours waiting for our flight to Birmingham: since Schiphol offers a free internet service that wasn't too hard.  We then caught a bus out to our plane (an Embraer jet) which involved a drive that, had the sea not got in the way, would have just about got us to Clacton.  

The flight was pretty much up and down, taking 50 minutes.  We got a good view of some Dutch towns where the developments seemed to have been designed to make nice shapes when seen from 3km above!.

Two middle aged pommie "lads" were behind us talking incessantly about their work with mining companies in various dodgy parts of Africa.  It was quite interesting – for example “I wouldn't want to live in Birmingham City: its better in Africa.”, which wasn't said by the one who worked in Kigali - but rather intrusive.  When I got a look at them on leaving the flight I'd say they were both quite hard blokes: built like brick outhouses, skinhead haircuts and in one case a good crop of tatts.

Unlike Holland the fields were very undisciplined.  It was rare for there to be one straight side let alone 4 at right angles to each other.  

After landing we went to the terminal and my guess is that we were out of there in about 20 minutes.  It would have been quicker but the immigration guy was very chatty and I was in polite mode.  A very helpful lad in the information centre (a big comeback after the shambles of their website outlined above) pointed us to the hotel; explained how to get to the City Centre (train is the go); and provided maps!

Check in at the Hotel (Novotel) resulted in us upgrading our room to get in straight away.  Getting the review of the Hotel out of the way I rated it rather good: the staff were all helpful, it was very quiet and the food good.

We caught the shuttle train to Birmingham International Station from where British Midland took us into the City Centre (New Street).  Yet again the ticket seller was helpful and efficient – what has happened to the traditional English Jobsworth work ethic?  Unfortunately, the Nanny Society has survived Tony Blair - I read a book by Jeremy Clarkson later in the trip in which he refers to "His Tonyness" - so the train ride was accompanied by various and continual warnings to “mind the gap” “don't leave belongings unattended” “Read the security notices”. 

Our travels around Birmingham took us first past an arcade with an ornate ceiling 

and then to Victoria Square where many of the public artworks were to be found.  These included the “floozie in the jacuzzi”

and Anthony Gormley's Iron Man.  

The Art Gallery ...

... was also there and yet again was notable for a lack of Jobsworths.  All staff were helpful - and not just to us: I saw a security guard find a chair for a guy who was sketching Using A PENCIL!!!- and photography was welcome everywhere except a special exhibition and the Staffordshire Hoard. So here are a couple of samples 

 

As well as these traditional works there were some modernish stuff (although this by "Rock Drill" by Jacob Epstein comes from 1915 so emphasises the 'ish'.

and this collection reflects the industrial nature of the Midlands

The ban in the Hoard may be to promote book sales or possibly to reflect its shared ownership (with another gallery).  This was an astonishing collection of gold jewellery and artefacts found in a ploughed field in 2009 by a guy using a metal detector.  I think he ended up scoring £3m for it!  Well done that boy!  It seems they are still working on it (eg one item was found last year embedded in a lump of clay) but have not been able to decide why it was deposited.

Great graffiti on the Public Library

... and I liked this building, and its contrast with the glass brick beside it,  enough to photograph it.

 Next stop, was St Phillips Anglican Cathedral which was brilliant.  It was surrounded by lawns that were covered with Brummies eating their lunch in the sunshine.  (Very reminiscent of Bryant Park in New York.)  Inside was very well decorated 

and there weren't too many signs begging for money.  I took a photo of a set of Memorial plaques

 although I probably won't submit them to the Register of NSW War Memorials).   That being said, my interest having been stirred by NSW Memorials I did find looking for memorials added a fair bit of interest to the trip.  The design of them varied greatly and some of them told interesting stories so I have created a special post - or possibly 2 - in this blog to hold information that didn't fir with the overall narrative. 

We weaved our way past this wicker statue

to the Catholic Cathedral which was designed by Pugin, the father of the Gothic Revival in the mid-19^th Century.  Unfortunately 'Security' meant you couldn't take snaps.  I asked a lady why not and she said  “I don't know;  It was the Dean's idea so ask him if you can find him.” Obviously the Dean has attracted all the jobsworthiness of Staffordshire and I convivially wish him the best of luck. See also a Pugin-related comment under Shrewsbury some days below.

We briefly visited a Waitrose (as Stephen Fry has commented, kept clear of scum by the activities of Sainsbury's) to get something to eat for tea and some bottled goods.  Back to the hotel to try to stay awake.  I failed and was asleep by 3pm Brum time (1am Carwoola time) in which state I remained until about 3am Brum time the next morning.

I was surprised to find that there was very little of what I regard as the traditional Brum accent to be heard and no-one said 'each' anywhere in my presence.  Possibly this was because most of the folk we spoke with were of NESB.

Bird of the Day: Jackdaw at Schipol (first European bird of the trip).  A Peewit seen as we took off gave it a run as it was the only one seen all trip while Jackdaws were in flcoks of 50 aroundTugford, but first in, best dressed.

Building of the day: Birmingham Art Gallery

Garden of the Day: No contenders

Bad taste of the Day: Ceramic clogs in Schiphol

View of the Day: Nothing really startling but I have grown rather alarmingly fond of the mixed shapes and colours of fields in English farmland.

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July 26 Sel-see you later?

Head for Shropshire.  After Worcester go to Brockhampton Estate.  Note that we will NOT be following the Google maps route: after Worcester their instructions got rather like like pace notes for a car rally in a dense pine forest.  An alternate route using A-roads looked far more appealing (this judgement was confirmed by our host at Tugford).  

Last evening I went out to the garbage bin beside the front gate and found it empty!  We knew the truck had been by but were surprised to find they had grabbed it.  Perhaps this is because there is no pavement at the Cottage?  While thinking domestically I will comment on the cistern design in the downstairs dunny here.  It is set up with a basin on top and when you flush the water runs into the basin: thus the water with which you wash your hands becomes the next flush!  A great water saving idea.

Review of dog poo signs.

There have been various approaches to fishing noted around the area.  The beach/recreational folk all seem to use this tripod approach to cope with the shingle.  

The boat fisherman was lifting his crab pots.

 At Nutbourne (see below)  it was more like hunting – possibly worms?

A quick walk around the Bill produced Mediterranean Gulls – as soon as spotted one, quickly picked about 6 together with 20+ turnstones.

Pack up and nick off.  I tried to buy fuel at Selsey, as I knew service stations were scarce on the A/M27.  Half of the pumps not working and the folk at others all seem to be in shop, possibly buying stuff, possibly just yacking.  Pass, as I was sure we had enough to get somewhere willing to sell us petrol in less time than a glacial epoch.  Head off on A259 to a birding spot marked in our road atlas.  This was the  local Reserve of Nutborne Marsh.  There was much exposed mud!

If we had had more time and didn't mind getting mucky quite a few waders were visible in the distance.  However they stayed unidentifiable, but I did tick a Linnet beside the seawall.

Back to A27/M27 wherethe traffic was rather heavy.  Get to M3 and very very busy: I began to regret not getting somewhat more expensive fuel along the A259.  Turn off at Eastleigh and find fuel – very good price at a Tesco station.  The trouble is the place is also a mini-Tesco so punters buying stuff block pumps and then chat with check-out chicks.  Grr!  However, it was a long way to the next on-highway servo so I was glad we'd filled up when we did.

Back to the M3.  This was stop-start all the way (about 3 miles)  to the junction with the A34 which was completely clagged.  It appears this was due to an unnecessary cut down to one lane for a turn off to Basingstoke.  

However it then cleared up and it was flat as a maggot up towards the M4.  That lasted until more chaos due to a guy with tractor converting it to 1 lane by filling the kerbside lane at 30mph.  According to our host at Tugford the law is to pull over if have 10 behind you, which is fair enough: however this dude was mucking up 2-300 cars at least.  I presume if he'd driven out of the way on the shoulder Mr Plod would have been unhappy: just one more example of the country being beyond its design capacity.

M4 to Swindon was fine. The  A419 was also fine for many miles then suddenly it was cut down to 1 lane at Cowley and chaos resulted for the next 6 miles at 20mph.  We discussed who was to blame for these innane capacity changes and concluded that the problem is no-one is responsible: it is a worst case situation of mismanagement by committee.  Then onto to M5 which was very busy but OK to Worcester.  

This City began with briliant directions into the Cathedral and nearby parking.  Whoever is in charge of traffic planning in Worcester should run courses for just about every other city in the country.  

They also have a fabulous cathedral. 

It was holding a festival of young singers who were rehearsing when we arrived.  There were at least 300 of them being directed unto doing bell imitations.  Unlike many other places they still let punters in and the kids were doing a great job.

The stained glass was great.  

Here are a few other views of elements of the cathedral.

There were many war memorials (see thematic page for images of those I found more interesting).  Having taken many photos and forming a view that this was just about the best cathedral I've been in, I decided I should get a photo permit.  This cost £3 – as good a value as the Selsey bakery!  I also donated another £2 – they are doing a brilliant job.  

Their (quite restrained compared to many religious places) signs requesting donations said that it cost £3500 a day to maintain the place.  (They also said £5 a visitor, so on average they get 700 visitors a day – I need to think about whether this is a bigger number than I would have expected or not.)  I started to take note of the per capita costs listed in other churches etc: they are wildly variable!

They also had a memorial to Edward Elgar in the Cathedral but I took this photo of his statue in the square outside instead.  He is a big item around Worcester.

We found our way on to A49 (getting out of the city was not as easy as getting in but still much better signposted than many places: Lewes, East Sussex, I am looking at you!).  Hmm not exactly big road, but a lot bigger than the country lanes Google Maps suggested.  We didn't call in at Elgar's house Museum as we still had a way to go and some planned stops. 

We did call in to Brockhampton Estate (NT place). 

Very pleasant in a low key way.  1700 acres of tenanted land including lots of woodland

which we didn't have, nor feel like finding, the time to walk round.. 

On to Ludlow. A quick swing into Tescos  where the biggest surprise was all the vouchers we were given for future visits.  I managed to use these later in the trip saving (from memory) about £6.50. We then headed off into the lanes to the farm.  The most surprising aspect of this was the start of the B3465 which appears to go across the Ludlow race track: by this I mean that when a race was on the horses go across the road, which is presumably shut for the duration of the event!)

We met our hosts who seem most excellent people.  We also met their small dogs who are also excellent, despite being Jack Russells rather than Tenterfields.

Tonights Beer:  Malvern Hills Brewery Black Pear Premium Bitter.  Yep, that covers it rather well.  The hops end up sitting very nicely on the palate.  Another good beer!

I thought I would finish with some reflections on how Australian roads would be classified in the UK:

• The Hume Highway: definitely a Motorway when no at grade intersections.  Otherwise a 70 mph limited A road.
• The Kings Highway (Queanbeyan to Batemans Bay): definitely an A road.
• Captains Flat Rd:: well up to the standard of many A roads we found on this trip and with 1% of the traffic.
• Widgiewa and Whiskers Creek Rds: Both good B roads (higher capacity and better condition than the only road linking Selsey to the A27 or the one from Craven Arms to Bridgnorth.).
• I cannot think of an Australian road equivalent to the lanes around Tugford.  Some forest fire trails are as narrow but they are dirt surfaced.

Bird of the Day: Mediterranean Gull

Building of the day:  Worcester cathedral

Garden of the Day:  The avenue in Brockhampton Estate

Bad taste of the Day: Design of the intersection of the A34 and the M3

View of the Day: Nutborne Marsh. Tidal mud at its most magnificent

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July 27 The reason for this expedition.

A walk from Diddlebury and a wedding.  (The latter rather than the former being the reason for the trip.)

For some reason I had a really crappy nights sleep.  No idea why but I survived the day OK so, to quote Buddy Holly, I guess it doesn't matter anymore.  Here are a couple of images of Tugford Farm where we are residing for the next week.  For some reason our car is parked in front of the other cottage!

The place was very comfortable and the hosts excellent.  Strongly recommended

Once we were awake and breakfasted we took off on a reconnaissance for the wedding we were attending in the evening (which is mainly why we were in the UK and certainly why we were visiting Shropshire).  Wyndham had offered two routes from Tugford to Henley Farm:

•  the easy one (to the main road and then to Craven Arms and then on the A49 to the sign posts to Acton Scott); or
•  the shorter and more scenic route the locals would take.  When I asked him to describe it, it was something like “Turn left out of the gate, take the next right then next left then third right, next left next right which gets you to the main road where you go straight across, next left, second …... “. 

I thought that particularly with a couple of beers under my belt the easy option was definitely the go, so we tried that out, using instructions Hilary-the-Bride had sent for getting to the venue from Church Stretton.  With one slight hiccup (which was my fault) they worked well, and we found a slight short cut for  approaching from Craven Arms.

On the way home we stopped at Craven Arms to snap the pub 

and what we thought was a War Memorial but was in fact an ornate mileage sign. 

A work of art seemed to celebrate sheep but we have yet to establish why that is so. 

I have since found a blogpost referring to creation of the sculpture in 2004-05, and Google suggests there was an important sheep market in the town in the past (perhaps it still happens).

We then parked in the Sun pub car park in Corfton to do a walk.  The total walk in our big book was 10km which we thought too much but I found an extract of it – about 5km which looked quite interesting.  I rated it OK as a walk because most of it was in farmland giving an up close look at smoe sheep - perhaps the Clun Forest breed which originates in this area.

They had all been tupped (or so I assess from the blue marks) which wasn't bad going given only 36 days of declining day length, given that 21 such days are required to initiate oestrus.

The Diddlebury Common, which I had expected to be heath was in fact a wood – on a damn steep hillside.  

So very few wildflowers were seen and even less birds (apart from a pair of buzzards near the start which I suspect were (or had been) nesting). 

There were some good views from the high points but there was a lot of haze, suggesting the forecast of rain later was on the money.  It was interesting that the right of way cut across a field of wheat rather than going around the edge.

On getting back to the pub,

which is also the site of the Corvedale Brewery we repaid them for the parking facility by having  couple of small glasses of their product.  These were.

•                     Dark and Delicious which is a dark bitter and very potable; and

•                     Norman's Pride, a fuller bodied bitter.

One wall of the saloon bar was covered with awards the brewery had won.  Given that it is a tiny brewery based on the pub they have done very well.

After changing into a suit and tie for the ceremony we toddled back to Henley Farm.  This is the lane to Diddlesbury

and this one is the A49. 

The difference is not great!  The instructions concluded with “go though the green gates”. This would normally mean go though the gap which is created when the gates are opened” but in this case the gates were shut (unlike for our rehearsal this morning).  Fortunately Frances spotted another opening a bit further along the paddock.  This enabled us to walk past the rent-a-dunny (sorry, luxury toilet).

There was then a period of milling around chatting to folk we hasn't seen for quite a while and taking official photos.  The ceremony started – and I noticed clouds building over Wenlock Edge so I suggested to Frances that we get seats near the marquee.  About 20 minutes into the proceedings and the sky started to emulate the Friesian in the adjoining paddock

so the tent was occupied rather quickly.  After picturing the bride's siblings

my camera battery ran out so you are saved any more images of the event.   We ended up sitting surrounded by members of the UK contingent and very pleasant and interesting folk they were.  However I couldn't do any serious drinking – driving along wet English roads with a skinful is not at all a good idea.  Taken in conjunction with my RS previous night's sleep we left proceedings fairly soon after the speeches concluded and before the dancing started.  It appeared that the music was to be supplied by some live musicians – not, unfortunately, by a group with a name such as the Molecatcher's Ferret. 

During the evening I had a couple of pints of Shropshire Gold Ale (served somewhat warmer than would be tolerated in Australia) which was a very pleasant standard (3.8%) real ale but had moved on to water by the time we left! As had the weather.

Bird of the Day: Buzzard above Corfton

Building of the day:  Tugford Farm Cottage

Garden of the Day: None seen.

Bad taste of the Day: Weather in the evening

View of the Day:  From the high point on Diddlebury Common

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