Geocaches - 6
Start - Small Heath Station
Finish - Snow Hill Station
Peaky Blinders
2013 was a fine year for TV dramas. And there was none better than Peaky Blinders on BBC2 - the tale of criminal gangs in 1919 Birmingham. I have been wanting to investigate the area for a while and Sonia having a day at work in town provided the perfect opportunity.
There is a slight disappointment to proceedings. I have been banned from wearing my Peaky Blinder hat as Sonia was meeting a work colleague on the train at Cradley Heath.
I've got a hat like that |
The first place that I look for is the old Birmingham Small Arms (BSA) factory. Famous for weapons and motorbikes, although looking at the way teenagers ride them around our town, you would be hard pressed to tell the difference.
I have done my research and I know that there is little left, with the exception of the road name that they provided when the factory was built.
Little is now left |
There is a also a bit of a cache trail to add some excitement to the walk.
What I wasn't expecting was a full on ski slope. In Sparkhill.
This is Birmingham, not Val D'isere |
Still, I get four Smileys and move back onto my reason for being here.
I cross the canal, railway line and Small Heath Highway to reach Small Heath Park. This was where the Peaky Blinders were based and the houses here were built in the early 1900's, so of the correct vintage.
Who lived in a house like this? |
In the programme, the gang head off to St Andrews and Grace, the Irish Barmaid, comments that she didn't realise they were so religious.
To think, the poor chaps had survived the trenches to be rewarded with this |
I work my way around the ground and am taken by a piece of classic Brummie humour attached to a lamppost outside the Blues ground.
Plenty of effort for a practical joke |
Peaky Blinders HQ |
From 1919 to 1638 in the blink of an eye |
Mappiman does his bit for history and tradition |
In the shadow of some notable former regulars |
Sounds good, so I order and text Sonia about my good fortune.
I get a text back asking why I want that as "it's just a bunch of bones".
I am less enthusiastic by the time it arrives.
Once done with my bones, I head off into the City to meet the worker. A couple of caches along the way keep me busy.
Take me to the City |
To meet at my new favourite - The Old Joint Stock |
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