South Birmingham Wanderings

Saturday 10th October and for this trip, we are visiting South Birmingham two weeks ahead of the upcoming service changes which are taking place in the area. Bonus was missing from this trip as he was undergoing surgery to his arm, lets hope he makes a speedy recovery.

So Mr SBI and Bruce, take a walk into Stourbridge to catch the Parry's People Mover from Stourbridge Town up to Stourbridge Junction, where we catch the London Midland service to Smethwick Galton Bridge. Upon arrival at Smethwick, Mr SBI and Bruce have a little time to fill whilst waiting for the 0904 service to Birmingham New Street, so they have a little walk across to Galton Bridge, and back to the station to catch the next train. The 0904 arrives and we meet up with Mr WME, who is already on the train from Wolverhampton. We arrive at Birmingham New Street after a short railway trip and are ready to start the day.

We take a short walk from New Street Station to catch our first bus of the day, National Express West Midlands (NXWM) service 61 to Gannow, this service will no longer terminate at Gannow and is being extended to serve Birmingham Great Park as part of the upcoming changes. We arrive at Gannow and take a few photographs of the buses at the terminus, which is close to the Waseley Hills Country Park.

We start walking back to the bus stop to catch our next bus, National Express West Midlands Service 49 to Northfield, this service wont cover the section between Frankley and Northfield when the new changes come into force. We have to make a dash up the road at Gannow to catch this bus as we see it turning into the road. We make it and start our journey towards Northfield. On the route a passenger boards the bus and is pretending to be Mr SBI as he is wearing a long trench coat, but not as good quality of Mr SBI's. We reach our destination and we have the chance to take a few photographs whilst the bus is at its terminus point. We walk up to Northfield where Mr SBI can add to his "Oh Dear" collection and take a few photographs of a broken down NXWM bus.

We arrive at Northfield and its time for "Brunch", so we pop into Jimmys Cafe where we had Bacon Sarnies. After feeding our hunger, we then have a little walk around Northfield and stop for our first drink of the day and Visit The Great Stone, hidden away in the back end of Northfield. We sample pints of Pedigree under the watchful eye of a big spider, advertising the upcoming Halloween celebrations. After our pints are supped we head back into Northfield to get our next bus, service 614 operated by Black Diamond and this will take us to Selly Oak. The bus was actually early and you can't please some people as a couple of old dears were complaining that the bus was running five minutes early, wonder what they would be saying if it was running late.

Upon arrival at Selly Oak, we walk to the railway station with a big queue forming due to a broken down ticket machine. We catch our train to Bourneville where we visit our next pub and admire the view along the way.

We arrive at The British Oak, where we sample Piddle Artist, we have a bit of a wait as they change the barrel, with Mr WME getting the fresh supply and Mr SBI drinking the old batch. We go out to the beer garden at the back of the pub, where we are introduced to Dexter, a friendly puppy who decides to play football with the kids. We walk back to Bournville Railway Station and catch the train back to Selly Oak, where we catch our next bus, NXWM Service 69, a route that will change considerably in the upcoming changes, to Weoley Castle, where upon arrival we feed our hunger with a visit to Greggs, where Mr SBI Samples Two Steak Bakes and struggles to eat them on the bus without dropping the filling everywhere.

We catch service 69 again, this time to Kings Heath, but Mr WME is going "raven" mad after finding out that one of the best pubs in the area, "The Raven", has been demolished. We arrive at Kings Heath and our next pub is due, we walk along King's Heath High Street to The Station, but upon arrival, the pub is closed, so we take a long walk back up the High Street and check the time for our next bus, Central buses service 650. We have time to sneak in a quick pint and we visit The Hare and Hounds, where we sample a pint of Greene Kings IPA, and Mr WME surprises Mr SBI, when he downs his pint. After our quick drink, we go to the bus stop to catch service 650 to Birmingham, so we wait, and wait, and wait, if only we had known, we could have taken our time with our pints. The bus does not turn up, so we have to improvise and we catch the NXWM service 35 to Highgate, where Mr WME supplies us with a cracker of the pub, The Lamp Tavern, a small but cosy and friendly pub.

Mr WME samples Stanway and Mr SBI tries Silver Fox, and we watch the deciding frame in the snooker which sees Neil Robertson go through to the final after beating John Higgins on the black. We then sample Anton Du Beke, "Bring on The Wall", whilst Bruce makes a couple of friends behind the bar. After sampling a couple of Silver foxes, we head up the road to The Old Crown.

We arrive at The Old Crown, where we are informed that the pubs is the oldest pub in Birmingham, and one of the customers states that his pint is that old after waiting for it to be poured. We sample Banks Bitter and sample some tunes on the jukebox where Mr SBI puts on Lady Ga-Ga.

Our final pub of the day is still in Digbeth, and is becoming one of our regular haunts, The Anchor, where after our last pint of the day it is time to go home, so we catch the train after another brilliant day out.

For Mr SBI, the pub of the day was The Lamp Tavern, a friendly pub with a good friendly landlord, which made our visit more special, and a return visit should be made. Weather wise it was a good day, with the threat of rain staying away.

Bruce is sent to Coventry

Its Saturday 26th September 2009, and its time for another trip with the gang, where we are sent to Coventry.

Bruce, Bonus and Mr SBI start off at Stourbridge Town Station to meet up with Mr WME at Smethwick Galton Bridge. We catch the Parry's People Mover, which is operating to a new timetable, and arrives at Stourbridge Junction just as the train heading for Birmingham pulls out of the station. Good to see London Midland have planned the new timetable in this way, but despite the delay a Chiltern Railways train turns up 5 minutes later and the trio get to Smethwick Galton Bridge on time, including a "fresh air" break, to meet with Mr WME on the 0904 London Midland train to Birmingham New Street.

Upon meeting with Mr WME, we talk about the "slap on the wrist" that Renault get away with in Formula One and arrive on Platform 1 at Birmingham New Street Station. After making our way to the concourse we notice a train on Platform 2 due to leave to Coventry, but despite the rush attempts, we miss it just by seconds, but get our planned train from Platform 4, the Virgin Trains to London Euston, but we are only going as far as Coventry. Upon boarding the train and the automatic carriage door nearly slicing Mr SBI in half, we sit down and look ahead to our trip by studying the Network West Midlands map, and Mr SBI tries to work out the distance of the walks. We arrive at Coventry Rail Station, and after getting off our train with the carriage doors still trying to get me, we make our way to the front of the railway station, where we catch the 27 which is conveniently waiting for us to take us to Pool Meadow Bus Station.

We arrive at Pool Meadow and take a few pictures, but we then decide to stop when we see an official and make a quick exit before he can moan at us. We then make our way up towards the city centre where we find a statue of Lady Godiva where Bruce gets excited. After we have calmed Bruce down and taken his picture with Lady Godiva, we take a walk around to the Coventry Cathedral to have a look at the ruins.

We walk back to Pool Meadow, where we catch National Express Coventry Service 4 to Arena Tesco. On the way we pass the Ricoh Arena, and arrive at the purpose built bus station for Tesco, where after a walk around the shopping centre and library close by, we take a few photographs, mainly of the Travel De Courcey routes which visit the bus station.

After our visit to Arena Tesco, we head onto the Coventry Canal, where I find out our intended location is Hawkesley Junction, which is 1 and 3/4 miles away!!! Despite knowing the distance and finding out that we weren't as far into the walk as I wanted to be due to the signs indicating the distance along the way, I find it a pleasant but steady trek, I even forfeit a seat on "The Stone Sofa" to have a break and continue to our destination where I will be rewarded.

We arrive at Hawkesley Junction, and we are duly rewarded with a pint of Tribute at The Greyhound, a traditional canal side public house, with a cosy atmosphere and a friendly feel to the place with both customers and bar staff. I feel happy that I enjoyed the walk to get to The Greyhound and enjoy a pleasant and relaxing drink, and after our visit to this establishment, I can see why it is a popular place, with a large amount of patrons partaking in food and drink whilst we were there. But, we couldn't get too cosy, and have to carry on with our trip, but it gave us a break.

After leaving The Greyhound, we carry on our walk along the canal, which we have now diverted to walk along the Oxford Canal and we head towards an area of Coventry known as Alderman's Green. We decide it is time for lunch and decide to go into The Elephant and Castle, another pub at the side of the canal, but we are disappointed when we are told there was "No food today", so we decide to have a pint of Bombardier and have a few minutes watching the football and also purchase a pheromone wipe, which we will try later in the day. After supping our pints and finding out where to catch our next bus from, we walk down towards Jackers Lane. Still a bit peckish, we spot a chippy, but after realising the time, we wouldn't be able to eat a portion of chips and catch the bus, so we take the next best option, a couple of scallops, which we eat in plenty of time before the bus arrives and also fills in the hole in our stomachs.

We catch National Express Coventry Service 30A into Coventry, whilst on the way, we meet a load of traffic, which is for the football, with Coventry playing at home today at the Ricoh Arena, but we eventually get back into the city (by way of the bus lane - good invention!) and have a little wander around the city centre to find our next stop which we duly find, but there is a problem, Mr WME is suffering with "bladder problems" so we have to make a visit across the road to The Squirrel public house, where we also sample Marstons Pedigree, rude not too. After a brief visit to The Squirrel, we head back to the bus stop to find out we have missed service 1, so Mr "WMEdrick" comes up with "a cunning plan", so we catch the Park and Ride bus service to the War Memorial Park, where upon alighting we get to see some "stunning views", but we cant hang around all day to view them, even if Mr WME wants to take up smoking to observe them, so we make our way with a bonus walk (is that a good or bad thing?), up through the district of Earlsdon, at which we have a little break for Mr WME to take some photographs of the area, and we carry on up toward our next destination, Chapelfields.

We head past Hearsall Common and arrive in Chapelfields and find Coventry's answer to Dudley's "Delph Run", entitled "The Craven Run", which is a handful of public houses in one street - Craven Street - but we are not going to try them all today, which gives us another excuse to come back!

Time is pressing on and the Singapore Grand Prix qualifying is under way, so we try our first "Craven Run" public house and hopefully the qualifying - The Chestnut Tree - where after asking the barmaid nicely, the television is turned over to BBC1, so we sample a pint of The Chestnut Tree's finest - Everard's Tiger - a nice pint washed down with a packet of "Q" scratchings, one of Mr SBI's favourite brands, whilst seeing the qualifying. Its Qualifying Two, and Mr SBI's cap has cursed Jenson Button again as he qualifies in a lowly 12th place. Another pint is needed to drown Mr SBI's sorrows and Mr SBI opts for a rarely seen bitter available on cask, John Smith's. After Mr SBI sups his first ever draught John Smiths (Not smoothpour!!!), we end the qualifying with Lewis Hamilton taking pole and take a brief walk down Craven Street and end up into a pub named after the nearby common, "The Hearsall Inn". We celebrate the 250th birthday of Guinness, and opt for the black stuff with the landlord informing Mr SBI that this pub is in the top 10 that serves the best pulled Guinness in England, and after that statement Mr SBI has to agree with him.

The Craven Run is now over and its back to our walking, which for once, Mr SBI is not complaining about, so we head to our next destination, Allesley village, where after walking past the terminus to service 1, we arrive at "The Rainbow Inn", where upon entering, we cannot see Zippy, Bungle or George, but quite a few customers, which is always a good sign of a pleasant pub. There we sample a pint of Piddlebrook, a bitter brewed by the pub itself, and decide that it is time for a proper meal, so after consulting the menu, Mr WME decides to go for the traditional fish and chips, and Mr SBI makes Mr WME collapse in surprise, by opting, not for the usual gammon, but Scampi and chips!!! After a very good and filling meal in traditional pub surroundings, we sup our drinks and go on our way.

Time is getting on, so we wave goodbye to Coventry and head towards the centre of England, which is apparently Meriden. So, whilst waiting for National Express West Midlands service 900, we make use of our wipe purchased earlier in the day to see if it works. We climb aboard service 900 to Meriden and nothing is working yet, but Mr WME is looking strangely at Mr SBI!. We arrive at Meriden and seeing as the darkness is setting in, we opt to have a drink at The Bulls Head, where we sup a pint of Timothy Taylor, in a busy Bulls Head public house. A pleasant visit to the public house where Mr SBI is getting paranoid that the bloke standing at the bar was giving him funny looks - a bit like Mr WME on the bus - and gets further paranoid where after a visit to the toilet, the same bloke is giving yet the same funny looks. Its time to drink up quickly and make our way home, we deduce that the wipe had worked but not in the way we hoped.

We wait opposite The Bulls Head, where we catch our Service 900 bus into Birmingham International Station and transfer to the train back into Birmingham. Its time for Bruce, Bonus and Mr SBI to say their goodbyes to Mr WME who stays on the train into Wolverhampton, and the trio then head from Birmingham New Street to Birmingham Moor Street and catch the Chiltern Railways train into Birmingham Snow Hill where we change again to the London Midland Train back into Stourbridge Junction and back home.

Again, this trip was on a par with the last few trips recently, and must admit there was both a correct mixture of canals, walks (yes, I said walks), and public houses. Mr SBI thinks that a trip back to Coventry should happen again, but not leaving it so long for our next visit. The gang look forward to a trip around South Birmingham in a couple of weeks time, where we will be sampling the bus network in the area before major changes are planned at the end of October, if the trip will be the same quality as the visit to Coventry, BRING IT ON!!!

Wonderful Wolverhampton

After having one of the best outings on recent trips with Mr WME in Walsall and Sutton Coldfield at the end of August, it was decided that we would go into overload and hopefully have another classic outing the week after, it is Saturday 05 September 2009 and this time we are heading over to the Wolverhampton area, for another day of mystery, which Mr SBI is taking a liking to, as surprises often appear throughout the day.

To start the day off, Bruce, Bonus and Mr SBI get to the meeting point of Wolverhampton Bus Station, where Mr WME appears and takes us to our first stop of the day - The Express Cafe - where a welcoming bacon sandwich is sampled. After the food is duly eaten, we have a little time to kill before we get to our next stop, so we take a detour around to Cleveland Street to investigate the old West Midlands Travel / WMPTE bus depot, which is now being used as a car park.

Our next stop is upon us and we visit the Wolverhampton Central Library, where we meet one of Bruce's biggest fans, Uncle Stephen, and other members of staff who take a liking to the Bruce and Bonus appearances.

After our little stop at the library, we make our way round to the bus station to our first surprise of the day. Mr SBI does work out that we are going to Pattingham, so we get on the 517, which is operated by Midland Rider, and pass through Perton to get to our destination. Upon arrival, we get a couple of shots of the bus as it lays over ready to go back to Wolverhampton, and have a little investigation of the village. Bruce gets his photo taken to show that he has arrived in Pattingham and it is time for our first refreshment stop of the day, The Pigot Arms, where we sample "Old Hooky". From there, we pop "next door", to The Crown, where we try a pint of "Olde Swan", a brew from Netherton, so it was rude not to try this ale again in different surroundings, we also attempt a group photo, but it goes horribly wrong when Mr SBI presses the wrong setting and takes a video (Well at least you can see what is involved when taking the "Cheers" Photograph!) - The funny results can be seen below - Mr WME is looking at the surroundings, whilst Mr SBI describes what is on the pool table. Out of the two pubs in Pattingham that we visited, Mr SBI prefers The Crown, which was more of a traditional pub, whilst The Pigot Arms was more of a corporate pub. A return visit is booked as we promise the landlord of The Crown that we would visit the establishment again.

Time to head back to Wolverhampton and we catch service 517 again where we alight at Chapel Ash to get to our next refreshment stop, The Combermere Arms, another traditional pub, with a tree in the gents and also "Gav's World of Tat", a cabinet where regulars bring back souvenirs from holiday and show them off! Whilst in this pub, Bruce makes another appearance and gets some more tips behind the bar on how to pull a perfect pint!

After The Combermere, it is time for lunch, but upon arrival at "Jean's Pantry", which was once known as "The Chapel Ash Grill", we find that it is closing, so we take a few paces and go to the Brewery tap of Banks's and have lunch in The Clarendon Hotel. After lunch and our bellies filled, we take a little walk past Waitroses, and wait for our next bus, the 526 operated by National Express West Midlands, and we alight just before Bilston Town Centre.

From here we take a pleasant walk (yes, I did say pleasant) towards Coseley, where we have a brief stop off at The Clog, a pub with Metallica on the jukebox, which is music to our ears! Break over and we carry on our walk and join the canal where Mr WME promises a pleasant stroll and we do a bit of tunnelling!!

We head through the tunnel and come out the other end after walking under Coseley, and a nice steep walk up to Coseley Village. After an enjoyable experience through the tunnel, and the walk was a pleasant walk as promised, Mr WME decided that it was time for a reward, so we stop off at The New Inn for a quick pint, which also gives Mr SBI enough time to recover. Another Holden's is visited and our list is getting shorter of Holden establishments to visit.

After a short bus ride, we arrive at our next stop, and a personal favourite of Mr SBI and Bruce, The Beacon Hotel in Sedgley. Before we frequent the establishment, we stop off for a quick bite to eat at The Beacon Chippy, which is virtually opposite the pub, and we make ourselves comfortable with our pints (in a handled glass), where we are asked, by the landlady, if Bruce was with us. Well we went one better and introduced Bonus, on his first visit to The Beacon, as well as Bruce, and both had their pictures taken with the members of bar staff on shift.

After our pints had been supped, we had a short walk from The Beacon into Sedgley, where we had one last drink in The Red Lion, in Sedgley Town Centre, where after our brief stop, it was time to call it a day and catch our buses back home.

Overall, the trip was another excellent day out, with a few surprises thrown in, and Mr SBI is admitting that he enjoyed the walking too. A couple of places that we need to re-visit, Pattingham and of course our regular haunt, The Beacon Hotel.

The gang are looking forward to the next outing in the Coventry area, and if the last few trips are anything to go by, it can be guaranteed that the day out will not disappoint.

Wandering in Walsall

The date is Saturday 29 August, 2009, and it is time to head over to the Walsall area to meet up with Mr WME for a day of exploration.

Bruce, Bonus and Mr SBI start their journey, from Wollaston, catching the National Express West Midlands X96 Service to Dudley. On this route we pass through Stourbridge and The Merry Hell Centre, which Mr SBI stays put on the bus as he can't stand the shopping mall from hell. After going in a cold sweat whilst in Merry Hill bus station, the X96 heads up to Dudley, where the trio change buses to catch the 311 to Walsall.

After going through Tipton and Wednesbury, it's not too long the trio arrive at Walsall Bradford Place, where we meet up with Mr WME, who is already taking photographs arriving before us by ten minutes. It is straight off through Walsall and through the market (not meerkat!!) and up the steepest part of the day, to St Matthews Church. After Mr SBI recovered, he was wondering where to next, and it was a short walk to The Chuckery, an estate on the outskirts of the town centre.

Upon arrival at The Chuckery, we investigate the area where the Crabtree Factory once stood and Mr WME's dad once worked, even though Mr WME must have had chocolate on his mind as he kept mentioning the Cadbury factory. After finding the old site which has now been replaced with many houses, we check out the area to find the pubs that Mr WME's dad once frequented whilst working at Crabtree's. We found The Spring Cottage and Duke of York pubs, and another one, which we didn't find, even though we found out, according to the estate map, that we were standing on the corner of the road where it is located. After a little walk to the bus stop it is time to catch the bus to our next location, Sutton Coldfield.

We leave The Chuckery behind and catch the 377 to Sutton Coldfield, but we get off at the village of Boldmere, where we track down the Wetherspoons and first pub of the day, The Bishop Vesey, where Mr WME had a pint of Red Dwarf (he looks a bit like Kryten) and Mr SBI rekindling the taste of Courage Director's. Mr SBI was thought that this pub was going to be rude, thinking of Roy 'Chubby' Brown, but realised that it was The Bishop Vesey and not Roysten Vasey!!! Bruce and Bonus enjoy the pub even with Bonus showing that he is a world champion bear!!!

After our drink at Boldmere, it is off on a little walk to the Railway Station in Chester Road, a station on The Cross City line, operated by London Midland, which we take the train to Blake Street and decide, after a bit of Vic Reeve's style club singing, we have a bit of lunch and call at The Blake Barn, which is located next to Blake Street Rail Station. Mr SBI opts for his usual gammon, whilst Mr WME opts for the more refined moussaka, both being washed down with a pint of Hobgoblin. After enjoying the meal so much, Mr WME realises the time, and we do a fast walk, we were all too full to run, to Hill Hook Terminus to catch the 902.

Luckily, the driver was having a 'fresh air' break, so this gave Mr WME the opportunity to take a few photographs. After the driver had asked me "How many more is he taking?", we decide to get on the 902 and head into Sutton Coldfield, where we can watch the last part of the Formula One qualifying. After a visit to The Station, where there wasn't even a television set, we quickly go to the next available pub, The Gate Inn, where we catch the end of qualifying two, in which Jenson Button goes out in 14th - which was so shocking due to his recent form, and the number being mentioned for the rest of the afternoon. It was also time for another shock, Giancarlo Fishichella gets pole in a Force India, Formula One qualifying is getting exciting this year!

After qualifying is over, we catch the 68C to Minworth Village where, after a little walk along the canal, Mr WME introduces us to a cracking canal side pub, The Boat Inn, where we sit out in the sun enjoying a pint of Highgate Dark Mild.

We then head into Walmley where a little exploring is underway, checking out the local shops and surrounding area and decide that we need to find out the latest on the Wolves front, so pop into The Fox, and find out the team are drawing against Hull. It is now time to head back into Walsall, but before heading back, we stop off at Sutton Coldfield and visit The Station for a quick drink. After the station we catch our bus back into Walsall, but a pit stop is needed along the way and we use the facilities at The Beggars Bush in New Oscott, and have a quick half (rude not too!).

We finally end up back in Walsall, and get off at The Chuckery, where Mr WME decides it is time to track down the missing pub from earlier, and we end up down Bank Street and finally find The Walsall Arms. We have a drink in an old style back street pub, which was very quiet, but also a pub that Mr SBI likes, but it seems they are a dying breed.

After the Walsall Arms, we head back into Walsall town centre and come across our last pub of the day, The Rising Sun - a pub that we both like for different reasons - Mr WME seems to find pubs called The Rising Sun, and Mr SBI likes this one because it is a rocker / biker pub, and so Metallica is found on the jukebox, which helps when playing a crazy game of Pool.

After our drink is finished, we head down into Bradford Place, where Mr WME departs on the 333 to Wolverhampton, and Mr SBI, Bruce and Bonus get the 311 back to Stourbridge.

Another fine day and back to classic style West Midlands Exploration, with Mr WME seeking out a few good surprise pub visits throughout the day.

Lower London

18 July 2009, and it is time for a return to the capital with Bruce, Bonus, Mr SBI and Mr WME.

Bruce, Bonus and Mr SBI make there way to Stourbridge Town, and get there for just after 7am to get our travel cards for London Transport, and catch the Parry's People Mover up to Stourbridge Junction, where we catch the Chiltern Train to Smethwick Galton Bridge to meet up with Mr WME. Arriving a bit early, Mr SBI leaves the station for a quick breath of fresh air, and then makes his way down to Platform 4 to catch the 0804 train into Birmingham New Street, which beats walking across Birmingham early in the morning. Upon entering the train, Bruce spots Mr WME where we sit down and chat about the day ahead before arriving on Platform 1 at New Street. We leave the platform and look at the screens where we see the 0830 Virgin Train to London Euston is departing from Platform 4, which proves Mr SBI wrong as he said that it "always leaves from Platform 3".

We arrive on Platform 4, where we board our train and find our seats, which are luckily next to each other, and start our journey towards the capital. After what seemed to be like a 10 minute journey, but was just under an hour and a half, we arrive in London Euston, where we head outside, past the big queue for the travel cards - we are so glad that we got them in Stourbridge - so that Mr SBI can get some fresh air, and Mr WME could get some shots of the outside of London Euston Station.

Once the photographs have been taken, it is off on the Underground for a short trip on the Victoria Line to Vauxhall, so that Mr WME could get used to The Tube. But we have just arrived in London and disaster strikes, Victoria Line is closed all weekend for engineering works, so Mr WME decides to grin and bear it and get the Northern Line all the way from Euston to Morden, the destination for our first planned location.

We leave Morden station past the bus interchange outside Morden Station, providing good photo opportunities, to find our destination, Sun Hill, or Deer Park Road given the real-life location. After a short walk we stop off at Morden Road Tram Stop on the Croydon Tramlink to take a few photo's before heading off to the industrial estate opposite to find St. Hughes Hospital entrance next to Sun Hill Police Station and pointed out the fictional building of The Canley Arms along the way.

After a few photo's of Sun Hill, Mr SBI devised a little walk from the map at the tram stop , five minutes in total, which I was surprised at how near South Wimbledon was, which takes us to our next location, a pub selected by Mr WME himself, The Trafalgar Pub, which whilst waiting for the pub to open (again!!), we decide to do a little loop of the area taking in South Wimbledon Tube Station, and we arrive with a couple of minutes wait to spare for our visit to The Trafalgar, where Mr WME got a good seat for viewing The Ashes.

After our pint in a pleasant pub, we walk back round to South Wimbledon Tube Station to catch The Tube to our next location, Colliers Wood, where we had an extra pub stop at The Royal Standard, a bit of an excuse on Mr WME's part I reckon, as he again was watching The Ashes. After a quick drink we decided to opt for chips at Colliers Wood before catching the 200 to Wimbledon Village, even though we was reminded quite a few times on the journey that the bus was terminating at Raynes Park.

After arriving in Wimbledon, a little walk takes us to Mr WME's second pub find of the day to The Rose and Crown, where we have a nice little break, and find a comfy sofa on which Bruce and Bonus get themselves comfortable and relax with Uncle WME to watch, guess what, The Ashes. After our drink has finished in another fine pub, we go back down to Wimbledon Station, visiting Wimbledon library along the way, where we catch a South West Train into Waterloo, where we get straight onto the Tube, which by now Mr WME is getting used to it, where we change onto the District Line at Westminster.

We get onto the District Line, to get to Whitechapel Tube Station, where disaster strikes again, The Tube is only going as far as Aldgate East, due to more engineering works, so we go back to normal ground level, where Mr SBI decides it is only a five minute walk up the road, which turned out at about a twenty minute walk, but we eventually get to The Blind Beggar, where we decide to rest our feet in the beer garden with a sleepy pub cat.

We leave The Blind Beggar and decide to catch the 205 service to Moorgate, where we could change onto the Northern Line to take us to Euston, but Mr SBI spots a pub, The Globe just before Moorgate Station, so we decide to pay a visit, to find out that it is shut. So we walk back up the road towards The Tube Station at Moorgate, and head towards London Euston to ensure that we have plenty of time for our train back to Birmingham.

We arrive back at London Euston with time to spare and decide to give The Doric Arch our custom where we sample the Fuller's Discovery and London Pride, which Mr WME seems to like whilst watching, you guessed it, The Ashes. After our drink in The Dorich Arch, we leave for the station, stopping off on the way at M&S for our fill of sandwiches ready for our journey back to Birmingham. We stand in the station preparing for a run to our platform which will be announced five minutes before the train departs like usual, but Virgin Trains decide to prove me wrong twice in one day and is announced at least 15 minutes beforehand, the answer probably being that the train is on the unusual location of platform 14.

We have an enjoyable trip back with a sci-fi fan telling us about his day at the fair held in London, well as far as Coventry anyway, where he is chucked off the train for catching the earlier train than his advanced ticket allows, but we soon arrive in Birmingham New Street, after another hour and a half journey which seems like ten minutes.

A couple of quick drinks in Birmingham at The Wellington and The Shakespeare pubs before we catch the train back into Stourbridge, with Mr WME catching his connection at Smethwick Galton Bridge, and back home after a superb day out, which for once didn't involve staying around the central part of London, it was good to get out into the suburbs of London for a change.

Boozy Birmingham

11 July 2009, and it is time for Bruce and Mr SBI to meet up with Mr WME for a local trip around Birmingham. After catching the train from Stourbridge, Bruce and Mr SBI meet up with Mr WME at Smethwick Galton Bridge Station to start off the outing where Mr WME has promised a few surprises.

Well the first surprise was that we would be doing a walk from Galton Bridge to the Metro stop at Handsworth Booth Street via the Old Main Line Canal, a pleasant walk with a barge full of cheering people, they must have known that Bruce was nearby.

We catch the Metro at Booth Street for a short trip to Soho Benson Road, where Mr WME takes me for a little walk for our first proper surprise of the day to The Black Eagle pub situated on Factory Road, where after a five minute wait for the pub to open, we sample our first real ale of the day, "What the fox's hat", which Mr WME chickened out and asked for it by the Brewery name of Church End Brewery. Whilst in The Black Eagle, we talk about our upcoming trip to London and decide where we want to visit.

After our pint in a cracking friendly local pub, we catch the Metro again from Soho Benson Street, to Winston Green Outer Circle to catch the 11A to Bearwood, taking me nearby City Hospital bringing back bad memories of my eye operation a few years ago.

Arriving at Bearwood, we go to The Bear Tavern, where we decide to have lunch, and what good food we got, well recommended for a food stop. Whilst in the Bear Tavern, Mr WME got to see how The Ashes was going, apart that they stopped for their dinner break, whilst I got to watch the Qualifying for the German Grand Prix with a snowy Nurburgring and see Mark Webber get the Pole for Red Bull.

After lunch, we decide on a little walk to burn the calories and go via Lightwoods Park to the Bus Station in Bearwood to catch the 82 to our next location.

We catch the 82 to Springhill, where we visit the local library, where it was quiet and how I kept my mouth closed when I was tempted to have a game made famous by Dick and Dom, "Bogies". Temptation over and a stroll up to the Jewellery Quarter, where I get rewarded for being quiet in The Rose Villa Tavern, and it was also an excuse for Mr WME to catch up on The Ashes score.

After a quick drink in The Rose Villa Taverns, we walk down to St Paul's Metro Stop and after a few photographs, we head back towards the Jewellery Quarter where we pass an off licence and get propositioned by underage goths to get them some booze. Upon refusal, one of the girls offers to show me some part of her anatomy, which I carried on walking, and to get over the shock of me refusing, Mr WME takes me into The Church Inn to sample their real ale, where in what seems to be a West Bromwich Albion pub, we get a reward from the barmaid and enjoyed our garlic bread.

After another pleasant surprise pub, we head towards the railway station where we catch the train to Rowley Regis, and go for a little walk towards Rowley Village and Mr WME introduces me to The Britannia, where we have a pleasant pint outside, watching all the buses go past and we decide to catch the passing 241 to Dudley.

We arrive in Dudley and have time to visit The Station Hotel where we decide to have a game of pool, best of three, and we got down to the third game with one game each. It was going well for me until I potted the black, so this match goes to Mr WME, but at least I got to sample a few pints of Magners, which was available on draught, and it went down a treat.

After my defeat, we head back into Stourbridge, where we have one last pint at The Rock Station before heading home after a good day out with a few good surprise pubs chosen by Mr WME, and a return to a classic WME style outing.