flaneurs | Entries tagged with locations: england: birmingham

You're viewing

flaneurs
Create a Dreamwidth Account Learn More

Reload page in style: light

A photo tour of Edgbaston Waterworks chimney, Perrott's Folly, and Old Joe, with some comparatively rare images of the inside of the Folly and the intervisibility of the three towers and Birmingham Oratory:

http://spiralsheep.dreamwidth.org/601266.html

spiralsheep

I completed challenge III. (c) random pub to the Gunmakers Arms in Birmingham's Gun Quarter. Post including a one paragraph report with one photo inside the Two Towers brewery.

I did a second III. (c) random cafe to Wolverhampton Art Gallery cafe. Post including a one paragraph report with one photo of art in the cafe.

I completed challenge I. (a) and investigated an interesting thing seen from a tram window in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter. Post including a one paragraph report with one photo of Key Hill Cemetery.

I did II. (a) following a tram line in Birmingham city centre. One paragraph with five photos, from Grand Central to Snow Hill.

I also did a semi-failed II. (c) Local council walk in Stratford-Upon-Avon. Full report with a dozen photos, circular walk along the River Avon.

spiralsheep

I completed June challenge Doing Something Different IIIc, random cafe, in Birmingham.

Report on the Road to Damascena, with a map and three small images, at my journal.

D02 Spirit by Anuradha Patel, Moseley Interchange, Birmingham 06-15

spiralsheep

I completed June challenge Lines IIa, follow that railway, in Birmingham.

Quest for the Lost Viaduct of Bordesley (Moor Street to Bordesley), report with 14 small images at my journal.

spiralsheep

Looking at an A-Z of Birmingham, I discovered that the first road listed, Abbess Grove, and the last road listed, Yoxall Grove, were within walking distance of each other. So I incorporated them into a "circular" walk through an area I’d never previously visited, navigated as a derive with only three fixed goals: a railway station for arrival and departure, and the two streets.

Report at my journal, with twelve small images. Enjoy!

spiralsheep

This is my last June challenge report for this year. I completed challenge II. (c) walk a local council trail. I went to tourist information and asked about walking trails in the Jewellery Quarter and was told there are three, that all overlap, and was given a leaflet for this one (.pdf). It also turned out to be a good walk for me and an excellent route for playing postcode bingo with all the B numbers on the road signs. Warning: squeamish folks might want to skip the history of the whereabouts of John Baskerville’s body! Report with 17 small images at my journal. Enjoy!

12 little angels behind the ivy, Key Hill Cemetery, Birmingham 06-14

spiralsheep

From 1926 until 2013 the circular number 11 bus route (click tab for "map view") around Birmingham was Europe’s longest urban bus route at 43km (27 miles), and only the 360 in Coventry is now longer. The 11 takes 2-3hrs to complete a circuit, depending on traffic, and there are over 260 bus stops along the route. Surely this is the ideal bus on which to attempt

flaneurs challenge I. (a) investigate an interesting thing seen from a bus.

Report with 14 small images at my journal.

spiralsheep

June Challenge Lines II.(b), walk south from a random point, modified by walking north in a straight line from my point of arrival because I had an appointment northeast of where I began the walk at University station. A report with 14 small images at my journal.

E03 W&B Canal near University, Birmingham 06-14

It’s going to take me at least a couple of weeks to report but I also confess to challenge II. (c) a local council walk (my first attempt at this challenge!), and an epic version of I. (a) "investigate interesting thing seen from bus", both in Birmingham.

spiralsheep

squirmelia did a walk in London based on instructions from a site designed to guide people on mundane journeys through San Francisco, in this case to 345 West Portal Avenue. I then did a walk in Birmingham based on googling for 345 West Portal Avenue in Birmingham, UK, and adding a list of generalised instructions derived from squirmelia’s post. My report of this walk (15 small images) is more involved than usual. As ever, please feel free to just enjoy the pictures either there or at flickr.

spiralsheep

Birmingham's parks and garden department, who won a gold medal at Chelsea this year for a garden including wicker sculptures, have created a sculpture trail in 23 sites around central Brum to celebrate Olympic sportspeople. There's a map on the display boards by each sculpture and also available from Tourist Information at Birmingham Central Library. I first encountered a paralympian tennis player, in her wheelchair, prominently displayed in St Paul's Square (especially celebrating Jordanne Whiley who is from the West Midlands). I also saw Usain Bolt looking awesome outside the Council House, and a paralympian blade-runner outside Snow Hill Station. Apparently there's also a woman weightlifter somewhere. The photos with the BBC article don't do the sculptures justice imo (to me the wicker is very suggestive of muscle in anatomical diagrams).

P.S. [Insert Wicker Man joke of your choice here.]

spiralsheep

I went for a walk in Birmingham as III(c) of the June challenge. I arrived, randomly, at New Street Station and had decided to walk as far as possible through pedestrianised Brum to Brindleyplace and the Ikon Gallery cafe (note: measured by distance walked not crow flies as the pedestrianised area isn't a straight line).

Report at my journal (with 16 small images). (As always, feel free to just enjoy the photos and skip the commentary.)