Guided Tour thing (and help sought!) // Birmingham, 17th May

[nikki]

I've been um-ing and ah-ing about whether to post this here or not, as it'll be a short, stop-start sort of affair, but maybe it'd be ideal for family members or newer riders not already signed up for some of the longer offerings on that weekend?

What I'd really appreciate though, are a few more experienced riders who'd be willing to help out with being back markers and fixing simple mechanical issues or visitations if needed. There's a bit of budget available to cover time/cake etc - PM me if you're interested.

It's a guided tour type format, starting and finishing in Longbridge (of MG Rover / Austin fame).
Approx ten miles, 11-4 including lunch break and several pointing-at-things stops.

Sign-up and full information here:
http://www.eventzilla.net/web/event?eventid=2139044028

There may also be a ford involved...

[Paul]

Hi Nikki

I think this is a good place to post this. It's the kind of thing I'd get involved in, were I still local (I rediscovered cycling when I moved to Selly Oak and started volunteering at Northfield CAB 23 years ago). I'm a bit far away now to help out, but I hope you get good weather, a manageable turnout and have a grand day of it.

Paul.

[nikki]

Hi Paul, thanks for the words of encouragement 
Fingers crossed for the good weather, turnout and day!

[CAMRAMan]

Norwegian National Day too...

[clarion]

That sounds like a cool thing, but we're already marshalling for the Tweed Run in that London.

[Crumbling Nick]

It's the right place to post this.

[nikki]

Norwegians and tweed discussed at Long Itch - will have to do a combi event next year perhaps!

A bit more info for this ride (happening tomorrow)

Feeder ride now leaves from the centre of Victoria Common in Northfield. Departs 10:30.


Main ride leaves from the little but perfectly natural park behind Bournville College. Departs 11am


We've also been invited to re-locate our lunch stop to the Hollymoor Centre - where the big water tower we pass on the Tunnels Ride is.


GPX of the route: http://www.gpxeditor.co.uk/routes2/users/nikki/RoadTripForLongbridge

[Paul]

Organising a ride is a big thing. I think the weather forecast for tomorrow is very good. Fingers crossed everything goes brilliantly.

[nikki]

Heh! Yes, and there's all the tour content and logistics on top of that!

So far this evening I've found inner tubes in a selection of different sizes; located a variety of spanners; recharged batteries; printed off 19th Century maps, WWI bungalow floor plans and photos of trams; and now I'm trying to write The List of things wot I need to say at the beginning about how to ride in a group and where the toilets are!

Fingers crossed at this end too - thanks for your message

[Kim]

Hope it goes well and that the turnout is worthwhile.

Still nowhere near ready for any cycling, otherwise I'd trundle along myself.

Should be sunblock and silly hats weather...

[nikki]

Thanks Kim,

If you could just lounge around the house a bit, eating cheese and wearing your rainlegs, that would be grand.

[Crumbling Nick]

I like the double oxymoron, so shall arrive a bit early at Austin Park to see what's been made of Herbert Austin's legacy in the post-industrial age .

Weather looks like factor 15  .

[nikki]

Great - see you there, Nick.
I've got to pop in on the Northfield contingent en route, but am optimistically hoping to be in Longbridge for 10:30

[Kim]

I like the double oxymoron, so shall arrive a bit early at Austin Park to see what's been made of Herbert Austin's legacy in the post-industrial age .

(click to show/hide)

Disneyland, mostly.  Without the good bits.

[Crumbling Nick]

I like the double oxymoron, so shall arrive a bit early at Austin Park to see what's been made of Herbert Austin's legacy in the post-industrial age .

(click to show/hide)

Disneyland, mostly.  Without the good bits.

I'm struggling with a plethora of oxmora  .

[Crumbling Nick]

That was a most enjoyable day out with a bike. Obviously the weather helped, but most importantly Nikki's preparation/research had been amazingly thorough, and doubtless very time-consuming. The result was well worth listening to.

There were no visitations & no mechanicals apart from a jammed prop-stand (nearly needed a Brummagem screwdriver ). Turnout was IMO enough to make it worthwhile, though small enough that the group was easy to manage, and we could all hear Nikki's explanations.

 A few oddments gleaned from my old OS maps of the area: -

In 1948 Austin Village still had no road connections to the factory & no paths marked on the map. Rubery had clearly developed in the inter-war years. The maps shows the church with a spire, which preumably means it's been rebuilt since. The settlement didn't extend very far from the Bristol road, which was still along what is now New Rd. The Birmingham/Worcestershire boundary cut Rubery in half, running nearly N-S to the E of the church.

[nikki]

Thanks for helping out, Nick - very much appreciated!
And nice words too!

I mostly collated the content from local residents and the like, who I've been talking to over the last 4 or 5 months. They deserve most of the credit for the fascinating facts!

I'm squinting at a grainy photocopy of an aerial photo of Longbridge dated from possibly the fifties or sixties. There's the addition of the PoW camp on the end of Austin Village, but it's still mostly fields between that and the factory.

New Road being the old A38 makes total sense when you look at the map.

[nikki]

Addendum: some interesting side-by-side photos of South Birmingham at different times on this page
http://www.photobydjnorton.com/SouthBham/SouthBham.html

A few of Rubery at the bottom.

[nikki]

Oh! And I took some photos too!

[Paul]

Oh! And I took some photos too!

What lovely photos. Did you head up into the Lickey Hills?

[Crumbling Nick]

Oh! And I took some photos too!

What lovely photos. Did you head up into the Lickey Hills?

The hills, Lickeys included, are a sort of ever-present boundary, but that's just the topography of the area.
We dismounted and walked up to the viewpoint that Nikki had discovered. I think that was part of the Lickey Hills. TBH I was more interested in the big (and fruitful) whortleberry bushes on the walk up.

But in a word, yes

[nikki]

We were on Rednal Hill, which is one of the lower hills in the Lickeys (In the photo, Nick kind of has his back to Beacon Hill).

Tree-line permitting, you still get the good view of the city, but it's that much closer so there's a different effect. Also easier to get to by bike!

We scrambled up a short desire line from Eachway Lane, but there's more of a track that you can find if you hunt around behind the newsagents (Post Office) opposite where the tram terminus used to be on Lickey Road.

[Crumbling Nick]

It was evident that New Road was actually the old road during the ride - another oxymoron perhaps? Old Rubery is a classic linear village, though I'm not sure how old it is. The previous church (with spire) was Victorian.

My memories of A38 in 1966 are clearly unreliable. My 1962 OS map shows the old route, and the newly finished M5 ending at Lydiate Ash (with the A38 link to the motorway junction still unfinished). However the internet reveals that the Rubery bypass was built in 1965, and I doubtless used it. Those were the days when motor traffic was light enough, not to mention tolerant, that cycling along many trunk roads was pleasurable.