Beau on 'Brum'

Lapworth, Stratford upon Avon Canal

At last, things are back to normal. To coin a phrase, I am now 'back in good odour', my collar has been restored to its original colour, and apart from a few muddy droplets on the ceiling above Mum's chair, you'd never know that our last 'misunderstanding' happened at all.

We are now heading back to our base at Stratford, but we have taken an alternative route back, 'Just to see what it's like'.
So, for the last few days, we have been going round a place called 'Brum', and it certainly is 'different'.......

Brum is a really warm place, all of the year round. I know that, because most of the buidings I saw from the boat have had holes put in the windows to let more air in. The really warm buildings have had their roofs taken off as well.........

Brum has a lot of artists, who have been very busy brightening up the canals by putting writing and pictures all over the sides of buildings and most of the bridges.
Because it is such a long way round 'Brum' on the tow paths, every few yards or so, the usual number of bench seats has been added to with matresses, and I even saw some old quilts and sleeping bags for people to use if they got really tired.

Another popular facility seemed to be places along the towpath where you could buy drinks. Nearly every alley way and bridge had a group of people who had been served, and there were piles of cans and bottles around, so there was obviously quite a demand for the service.
Dad had been complaining that there hadn't been many places to get beer round 'Brum', but I reckon that if we'd stopped and asked the guys under the bridges, they could have sold us some, or at least told us where to go............................

Even though the colour of the canal water had been different to what we'd been used to, I thought that 'Brum' was a very interesting place, and a real change to some of the towns we've been through.

I know that Dad thought it had been worth coming this way round because he said that he was 'glad to see the back of it'. I guess that means that one day we'll go another way round and see the front of it.

xx Beau

OK, I promise, no more rolling!!

Local artists really made an impression