The main task for last weekend was to be Miniatura. However, there is only so long that you can spend walking around a show before you need a change of scenery and some decent food.
We dropped Azi and Safi off at their weekend retreat.
And my first introduction to English country roads. Often they are too narrow for 2 cars to pass, so periodically there are wider spots where the cars can get past each other. This road is actually quite wide in comparison and has quite a large verge. K and I went for a wander Sunday morning and there wasn't even room for us walking and a car to pass. The other interesting thing that I noticed was that many of the road have hedgerows along the side so you can't actually see much of anything driving.
The trip to Birmingham was one of my first introductions to the English Motorways. Hard to explain how different they are from Australian. For starters, they go in so many different directions. Each time a motorway meets with another one, there are roundabouts. We had one where we had to take the 6th exit.
This was us driving over a motorway on a motorway. Bit of rain on the drive to Birmingham
Before the weekend, we had found ourselves a B&B in Birmingham so that was our first stop when we arrived was The Hollies Bed and Breakfast.
This was our view from the window.
And this was inside in the dining room.
Our room was small, but relatively comfortable. The only thing interesting was the sign in the loo
Now I'm not quite sure what this "shredder/pump" was, but it sure made an awful noise each time you flushed the loo. Something you avoided doing in the middle of the night with two other people within cooee of the noise it was making.
When we left the show on Saturday, we needed some food. Real food. Not Subway or other takeaway, but real food. So we went hunting. I've just found out the impressive skills of the GPS. The one M&K have in their car can tell you where eating places are, ATM's, Banks, Shopping Centres and all sorts of other things. So we got the old GPS working, and headed for a place called Naughty Nick's.
Trouble was Naughty Nick's no longer existed, so we tried a local pub, which wasn't serving food in the middle of the day. However, they did suggest another place which was serving food. And a good decision this place was.
We had a meal here, lovely looking pub inside, and then we went for a walk to check out the local neighbourhood.
Walking down the tow path near the hotel. Also found one of England's public rights of way. these are paths that anyone can use even if they seem to be in someone's private space. This one was hiding behind a fence and there were arrows telling us we could go there. I've heard of them, but never actually seen one. Rather kewl. We didn't walk far down the tow path nor the public right of way path because it started to rain. So we headed back to the pub and had our dessert, and spent the rest of the afternoon there. It was a very pleasant way to finish our day.
Local sights
And this mess of signs gave me the giggles "Unsuitable Church Road".
That's all for today, folks. Quiet couple of days, but will be more probably tomorrow when the weather clears up.
Madeleine
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
6 comments:
Its so good to see it through a non residents eyes. Thins I take for granted.
Did you see Spagetti Junction in Birmingham?
If noot google it and see the images that come up.
I missed this one when I looked at your blog first thing this morning. I didn't realise there were two posts. I am loving your photos - and have decided if I ever go to England I won't be driving!! LOL I'll leave that to the brave peoples!! It just sounds so lovely over there, it makes me want to visit one day all the more.
I will check up spaghetti junction in Birmingham LOL. I suspect we saw it without knowing. I wondered how a native would see things that I see as totally wonderful. Looks like I have some explaining to do about locks in my next post
I tricked you, did I Kazza. Two in one day hehehehe. One of my enjoyments of posting my photos is your response, Kazza so thanks for reading.
Good to see you working out how it all works over there Madeleine. I now know what a tow path is thanks to your very informative blogs.
There must be a section of the community who literally live on the water over there, unlike our weekend "boaties" over here.
fascinating to walk the tow path
ken
Yah, Ken, there is a section of the community over here who live on the canals of England. I sort of peeked into one of them and they had curtains on the windows, pot plants on the roof, and people cooking inside. Really interesting. I'm going to check out some more of them later. This is the great thing about being here for so long. Also having the internet to check out some of the information.
Glad you are enjoying my travel with me, Ken.
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