A Busy Couple of Days - Part 2

The busy couple of days at WME continued yesterday with a Walsall Local exploring Willenhall, Bentley and Darlaston. Here are the highlights...

• St Anne's Road - a blast from the past, recalling memories of journeys to Comet in Willenhall. Notable local features included the Forge Tavern pub and the local chip shop, whilst the Rushbrooke Farthing was an intriguing building, a pub I assume but I wasn't sure whether it was still open or had closed down
• Clarke's Lane - looking at the local shops (mostly closed down) and the Noah's Ark pub
• On the trail of the former Bentley Canal - hints of old bridges at Clarke's Lane, Durham Avenue (? Farm Bridge) and County Bridge. There was a footpath between the estates but it didn't look that inviting
• Bentley - exploring the local shops on Farmbridge Close, then heading into the centre of the estate. I got photos of the Highgate Hall pub and Bentley Library, both of which were boarded up. The Walsall Mobile Library was in attendance, presumably covering for the closure of the branch.
• County Bridge - a walk round the estate as the sky turned very black, King Charles Avenue and Devon Road. The 303 terminates down here somewhere but I'm not sure where, couldn't spot any bus stops and I don't think there's much layover time. Might be a bus photo opportunity in future, but not guaranteed by any means
• The Walsall Canal - a little walk from Bughole Bridge (great name) to Bentley Road to add another little chapter to my canal explorations. Emerged by The Boat, another pub thats now closed and boarded up
• Darlaston - called in at The Green, photo of the Nags Head, then Richards Street into the town centre. Victoria Park and the Old Engine on Bull Street. The part of the town by the Park is actually quite nice, especially with the Post Office (a fine local building), the war memorial and The Swan pub to take photos of. Round the corner past Middletons Chippy to photo The Green Dragon and Darlaston Town FC on Waverley Street
• The highlight of the whole trip - Darlaston Bus Station waiting for the 645 to arrive, driver was a real gent in letting me take the photo, a smile and a wave, great.
• Back to Bilston, with just enough time to investigate the Royal Exchange and The White Rose. Might need to visit the White Rose again for a decent photo, but at least its now firmly on my pub radar

Following on from Tuesday then with another solid outing and some useful looking photos despite the cold, the wind and the overcast gloomy conditions. I feel I still need a big adventure type outing to put January and 2007 on the map properly, but as starters go this was very enjoyable