Cheltenham via Birmingham

Jarlath and Jenny dropped myself and "Mr Boofle" off at Rugby station after a great few days of reminicing and seeing Rugby and surrounds.
Of course, the day I left Rugby, British Rail was having a few issues, and I had planned to meet my friends Dave and Bev in Tamworth and then head to Cheltenham by car. But never fear, the Motherland is criss crossed with rail and while the direct route to Tamworth was not running(overhead wires were down), I jumped on the train to Birmingham and then down to Tamworth. Met an interesting character on the train who said his cell phone wasn't working and he needed to get hold of his Governor as he was returning to prison; "Could I phone ahead for him and tell his Gov he was going to be late?" ( as with my new aquantaince, I was just out of minutes 😉)
I arrived in Tamworth to be met by Dave and his brother in law Rob. We headed off to Robs house where I met up with Bev, Dave's wife and Sally, Rob wife and their son , Wills. Rob, Sally, and Wills had been in NZ earlier this year, and I had a drink with them on the Wellington waterfront. Dave and Bev, whom I first met in 1983 in the Motherland, had been to NZ and stayed with me in 2020 just after my accident. It was a great reunion. After sitting in the Tamworth sunshine in Rob and Sallys backyard sipping tea (a cracker of a day), we headed to the "Tame Otter," a local pub by the canal.
After a traditional British pub lunch, we walked the canal seeing a number of " narrow boats" and interesting sites. These narrow boats are so interesting, and as with British Rail, canals also criss-cross the country and in past had acted as trading and shipping channels for the country. They are still in existence and functioning over 300 years later.
So after a pleasant afternoon in Tamworth, Dave, Bev, myself and Coco, the spaniel, headed to Cheltenham. Oh, how I love Britain!Read more