9th/10th June
Off the Worcs &Birmingham canal and a sharp left turn into Birmingham's tangle of canals at Gas Street Basin. Here the old and new buildings mix sympathetically and the carefully preserved iron and brick bridges criss cross the canals making this a really interesting area. There is every imaginable restaurant and pub alongside the Sea Life Centre and the ICC building, and in the evenings the place comes alive. We were glad to find a quiet mooring on the Oozells Street loop below a block of flats and a restaurant, well lit and off the main thoroughfares, but a short walk from the canals centre and beyond - the bullring shopping centre and Victoria Square where an Anthony Gormley iron man stands in an undulating open space in front of the attractive civic buildings.
We took a walk out to the jewellery quarter which was a waste of time as it was not what we had envisaged (old streets of quaint jewellery shops and workshops) but a very ordinary street of glitzy shops and gold traders.
The main shopping centre is well thought out and still in development by the look of all the roadworks and builders around. Somehow the town planners have got it right and there are lots of pedestrian-only areas which lead onto pleasant open spaces with public buildings.
We didn't make it to the 'balti triangle' despite having been told we could get a no 8 bus there but we did have a fantastic curry by Freeth bridge down the 9 locks of the Birmingham and Fazeley canal from the Old Turn junction.
Off the Worcs &Birmingham canal and a sharp left turn into Birmingham's tangle of canals at Gas Street Basin. Here the old and new buildings mix sympathetically and the carefully preserved iron and brick bridges criss cross the canals making this a really interesting area. There is every imaginable restaurant and pub alongside the Sea Life Centre and the ICC building, and in the evenings the place comes alive. We were glad to find a quiet mooring on the Oozells Street loop below a block of flats and a restaurant, well lit and off the main thoroughfares, but a short walk from the canals centre and beyond - the bullring shopping centre and Victoria Square where an Anthony Gormley iron man stands in an undulating open space in front of the attractive civic buildings.
We took a walk out to the jewellery quarter which was a waste of time as it was not what we had envisaged (old streets of quaint jewellery shops and workshops) but a very ordinary street of glitzy shops and gold traders.
The main shopping centre is well thought out and still in development by the look of all the roadworks and builders around. Somehow the town planners have got it right and there are lots of pedestrian-only areas which lead onto pleasant open spaces with public buildings.
We didn't make it to the 'balti triangle' despite having been told we could get a no 8 bus there but we did have a fantastic curry by Freeth bridge down the 9 locks of the Birmingham and Fazeley canal from the Old Turn junction.
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