Road Trip UK:- Roots and Routes

It was a quick run up from Guildford to Balham, where with ducking and diving of parking regulations we managed to get much of the fingered detritus out of the loft and safely to the tip. It was a very hot day, so not funny rooting around and then applying the hammer to computer hard disks. Nor later in the laundrette, but we met up with Pete and Baz for Thank You drinks at the Prince, then crossed another entry from the list of "Food we somewhat miss when abroad" by a visit to Nandos, dropped in on our tenants and spent the night at the Leigham Court Hotel in Streatham! (A useful place for an overnight, but chaotic at breakfast time!)

Then it was off for a series of stays in places where we have individual roots. First was Oulton Broad, where Bob's cousin's son has frequently offered us a base, even if he is off-shore as he was this time. En route we stopped off at Southwold to kill a couple of hours. Needless to say - on such a beautiful day - it was a bit busy; but it remains probably the most unspoilt seaside resort in England, with a renovated pier, and delights like Punch & Judy! (Not to mention the Adnams Brewery!).  Ricky has lovingly modernised a bungalow - with heated swimming pool, and luxury kitchen - so we wallowed for three days. Unfortunately on the first night - our anniversary - we were too full and injured (Ruth's post-loft-activity thigh muscle!) to enjoy a planned posh meal at the Red Herring, so instead had pub grub at the Waveney and were subsequently humiliated in a pub quiz largely because our knowledge of TV Quiz Shows was lacking! Next day we spent ages online sorting our own and Chloe's accommodation issues and just spent a couple of hours at the Wherry in beautiful weather before entertaining Rose, Ray and Paul - courtesy mostly of Morrisons! They had opted not to be taken out for a  "birthdays" meal because their dog is not well, but we had a delightful evening - even when there was a power cut. Paul filmed it all!

Thursday was to be Yarmouth day:- with a cycle ride round Bob's old haunts, market chips, and so on; but as we set off the heavens opened and we suffered a foul wet day. It was truly disgusting, so we just did a circuit of the town in the car, took in a few changes from within the car and headed back to Oulton Broad.



The three main canals of Birmingham

Next stop was Birmingham. Bob was born and spent his early years there, but the main motivation for our visit was to to do some canal-side cycling. We had an awful drive there which took seven hours due to an accident on a motorway, but found the hotel we had booked mostly at random and on price and parking, was very well located next to the new BullRing and in the Chinese Quarter.We had a pleasant evening which culminated in a meal in a very functional and cheap Chinese restaurant. On Saturday we set off on bikes to investigate the canal network. Basically there are three canals: Birmingham and Worcester, Birmingham and Fazeley, and the Grand Union, with a key junction at Gas Street Basin, and the - now very trendy - Brindley Place. After a silly route to reach the canal, and in increasingly threatening weather we started down the B&F, which turned out to be entirely and heavily downhill and devoid of watering holes. Ruth's knees and injured thigh had had enough, so we retraced steps to a nice pub just in time to miss a serious shower. 

On the Sunday Bob went solo with a ride down the B&W to Bournville, and on Monday we both braved some horrible wind and cloud to go on a discovery trail on the early stages of the Grand Union. In Small Heath we left the canal to look at two ancestral homes, and later we were forced to turn back by the mud-ridden towpath, but it was a fascinating trip through Britain's industrial heritage, and we had a chance to thaw out and dry when we collected the car and headed for Oxford!

(Within 36 hours the riots had started in Birmingham and we watched on TV spotting places we had just left. Uncanny!)

Oxford is Ruth's heritage city, and the plan was again to find the canal and cycle. We were positioned in Travelodge on the ring road, which was another Good Plan! We could join the canal at Wolvercote. This village has featured in many an Inspector Morse episode and/or book, and we thought we might "do"  The Trout, but a look at reviews on the web revealed that it is now deeply flawed - being barely now a pub at all, - but more of a trendy, expensive and slow-serviced restaurant with mud-less Range Rovers! On our first whole day (after the ritual laundrette hunt) we rode down into the city beside the canal in increasingly pleasant weather, and back through Jericho and Summertown delighted by the well-designed cycle route, then ate a very good meal at The Plough in Wolvercote. Next day the wind blew, and the sky darkened, so Ruth opted out. Bob rode the Thames Path down to Iffley, and then we both visited "cousin" Mary in West Oxford, and ate at the Red Lion in Wolvercote, which was not as good as The Plough - but enjoyable as it was going to be our last pub dinner for a while!