Black Country Museum

Yesterday I successfully negotiated the 21 locks in the Wolverhampton flight - 5 hours of locking following a 2.5 hour cruise from the Black Country Museum to get to the start of the locks! So it was early to bed last night.

I spent Tuesday at the Museum. I'm not a great museum person. I tend to walk through them at normal outdoor walking speed and stop to look at one or two things that interest me. The exceptions are the Science Museum in London and, now, the Black Country Museum at Dudley - just outside Birmingham.

The museum represents (is?) a typical Black Country town in the early 20th century.

This was virtually a green-field site (actually a black field as it was covered with sewage sludge) with no buildings.

All of the buildings on the site (including the bridge you can see on the left hand side of this picture) were moved brick by brick from other locations and rebuilt in the museum. But the whole thing has been done so well that I still find it hard to believe. It would have been a wonderful achievement if they had just reconstructed the facades of the various houses and shops so that you could go into the front rooms.





But the real genius is that they have reconstructed everything including the typical junk that collects over many years. And, when you realize that there is nobody actually working in the buildings and sheds to create the junk, the naturalness of the whole thing is magnificent.









Apparently the faded cigarette ad on this building was on the bricks that were part of the building in its original location. When it was rebuilt the image was still there and has not been painted.







The shops and houses have all of the artefacts from the period - it really is like you have gone back in time.

It is a very large site with lots to see. Traditional chain making, a coal mine that you can go down, an old garage and vehicles, and a very early steam pumping engine, and more buildings are being reconstructed.

If you get a chance GO.

Birmingham and Churchill

There is no connection between these two items. Birmingham first.

Sunday night Leopard and I were in the centre of Birmingham - about where the picture was taken from. It was really cool to be so close to the city centre - just 10 minutes walk away. I had never been to Birmingham before and didn't know what to expect. The city centre is quite small, enclosed by a ring road, and it is hilly so a three level shopping centre can be on street level on each level - very confusing. The place is very attractive with some great buildings. I especially liked the Hyatt hotel which is flat glass with some of the higher stories extended a little so they create additional shadows and reflections. It was a thundery evening and the reflection of the changing skies looked spectacular.


This was the first time I managed to get good evening photographs. The camera tries to make them look like daylight and I discovered that telling it to seriously under-expose the image gets the right effect. Of course it is essential to sit the camera on a wall or something to hold it rock steady for the long exposure. (Its too much trouble to carry a tripod around).

And now Churchill.

I am working my way through Winston Churchill's 6-volume history of the Second World War. I got volume 1 in a charity shop for £1 and fiund it so un-put-downable that I bought the rest of the set in a 2nd hand shop. About 2/3 or 1/2 of the books consist of re-printed memos that Churchill wrote before and during the war. I've no doubt Churchill, like anyone else, had a selective memory of events, and another raconteur might emphasise other issues. But I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that there was no one else who could have led Britain to victory. And the story is so much more vivid for being supported by "live" documents. If you have not already read it, try it.

Churchill was 66 when he became Prime Minister in May 1940. And not content with winning the war, he then went on to write a 6-volume history of it - which would have been enough of an achievement in itself for most people.

Kingswood Junction

This junction is where the Grand Union canal meets the Stratford-on-Avon canal. It was raining when I took the photo.

I am on my way towards Chester - though plans might change.

On Wednesday there were 23 locks over a distance of about 4 miles and when I leave here there will be about 20 more. So I am taking a break!

The photo was taken through a railway bridge. The trains are only about a boat length away, and sound like they are coming in the front door. The freight trains sound especially good. First there is a high pitched musical shhhh from the rails. And if you have heard swans flying, imagine large dragons. That's what each container sounds like as it roars past at 70 mph, making the boat shake at 4 am. In the old days of steam engines there would also have been fire.

Just past Warwick I saw three alpaccas in a field behind a house. I'd never seen alpaccas before. They look like live pipecleaners.