Double Duds with Mr D9

Friday 31st August took me from Duddeston to Dudley, aided and abetted by Mr D9 Esq and a selection of canals, hills (far too many hills!) and public houses...

- Birmingham & Fazeley Canal: the day begins in style with a walk from 

Snow Hill to Aston Junction, where I'm delighted to find Aston Top Lock 

complete with old humpback bridge -

- Digbeth Branch: it's then on towards Digbeth, tackling Ashted Tunnel 

(crusty cobwebs) and more locks, leading down through Eastside 

where the Moby Dick remains marooned amongst cleared land -

- Duddeston: a good old bit of ferreting takes me down Erskine Street 

where the Midland Tavern is a sorry sight, a burnt-out shell of a 

Banks's boozer with most of its roof missing -

- Spon Lane Branch: Switching to Sandwell & Dudley, I join the 

Spon Lane Branch at Bromford. Three locks here keep me occupied, 

the uppermost of which is buried in the bowels of the M5 motorway -

- Oakham: Mr D9 joins the action intent on half-killing himself with some

 hill based hiking. He almost needed oxygen to cope with Bury Hill Park, 

and then the Oakham estate seems to be located on a mountain range. 

Here the balding one negotiates the undulating terrain of a reclaimed quarry site -

- Razor Phone: whether the Wheatsheaf and Dolls House had sent him 

doolally or not is debatable, but Andy was inspired by the Lion Farm youths

to try shaving off his sideburns with his mobile phone -

- Rowley: the Wolves wallet stays well hidden in the Bull's Head 

(previously the Chaplin) when we accidentally find ourselves amongst 

a throng of Albion fans attending a wake; I did still get the round mind! 

The Cock Inn provides an escape from a bar full of Baggies -

- Closet Capers: Into Dudley where Mr D9 feels at home by the gents closet, 

albeit he is having to cope with a severe belt malfunction. The Shakespeare pub 

was a real gem here, complete with Theakston's Tarmac, pigeon fanciers 

and an outside loo for a real Black Country experience -

- A few halves around Dudley Town complete proceedings, with the

Little Barrel proving narrow and the Griffin having a bizarre mix of Mr Blobby, 

Wombles and heavy metal on the jukebox, nothing to do with us I might add. 

We round it all off in the Old Priory, Cheers ! -