24/11/13 - Staffordshire Bull Terrier Appreciation Society

Distance - 5.8 Miles
Geocaches - 3
The BrummieRingPhase5
Start - Wednesbury Parkway
Finish - Hamstead

I am back adding a new section to the BrummieRing.

Thanks to a combination of Micky Flanagan performing at the NIA and me having some Holiday Inn points to use up, I am doing this leg in the way that it was intended.  I am starting in the centre of Birmingham, saying my goodbyes to Sonia as she gets the Kidderminster Train from Snow Hill and I get the Tram to Wednesbury Parkway.

With both our modes of transport leaving at 9:30am, we are chasing each other out of the station.  I don't get a wave.

25 minutes later, I am disembarking at Wednesbury.  Its grim on an overcast sunday morning.  To start, I have some road walking to pick up the canal, which is my main walking footpath.

A diversion for a cache brings me to an appreciation society for the most frequently spotted canine on this odyssey.

You couldn't make this up, could you.

After passing a pub and a couple of shops (lollipop and water purchase), I pick up the Tame Valley Canal.

Canal all the way to the end of Phase 5

The canal is my walking superhighway to end of this leg.  It does provide much nicer walking than the previous canal stage.

I am elevated, which often provides good views.  I also cross several aqueducts, the most impressive being the M5 slip road onto the M6.  Countless times I have driven under here without realising a canal crosses it.

A Canal Runs over it

The canal becomes increasingly leafy.  There are two types of fishermen on display, the human worm danglers and a more impressive natural hunter, which I stop and watch for a while.

Great Hunter

As I progress towards Hamstead, I have some great views over Birmingham.  First time we have seen it since stage 2.

Birmingham - in the Sunshine

Have a bit of a disaster with the last cache of the day.  It is dangling from my exit bridge on a bit of fishing wire.  The wire is all tangled up in a plant on the side of the bridge.  My gentle attempt to retrieve results in a snap and the cache disappears to its doom, never to be seen again.

A log of shame coming up.

Hit Hamstead.  The chance of refreshment is thwarted by it being on only 11:57.  But this is good news, as the trains only run once an hour on a Sunday at 11 minutes past.

Too Early on a Sunday

Glad that the next phase has only a little bit of Canal Walking.  They have got a touch monotonous.