Birmingham's outer circle

There is something of a history to the Birmingham outer circle, or more specifically the National Express number 11 bus that runs its entire length. Though I seem to remember from living in the area many years ago there was no distinction between the two, the buses are now designated the 11A (anti-clockwise) and 11C (clockwise) services. That's certainly useful if you become disorientated and aren't sure which way you need to travel. It takes around two and a half hours to travel the entire route of some 27 miles.

There's an entry on Wikipedia, or see this summary:
http://www.buspassheaven.co.uk/index.php/rides/76-west-midlands/124-11-birmingham-circular

There are some interesting happenings that sprang from this.
For example a project known as 11-11-11. On the eleventh of November 2009 people were invited 'to take part in a pyschogeographical epic. A window of eleven hours to complete a circuit of Birmingham’s number eleven bus.There were rules. But not many:
Get on the 11C at some point after 11am on 11/11.
Get off the 11C exactly one circuit later.
You can get on and off the bus as many times as you like (don’t spend more than an hour off bus at one time).
Document your journey; photos, film, writing, cross-stitch, knitting, amigurumi, poetry, blog, twitter, however you like.
Meet up with others as mad as you, if you want.
Record everything here — or on your own space and link us up.
The idea is that a snapshot of the real Birmingham from a number of different people will emerge, one that’s unedited, unspun, and unwashed. Circling the city will force the gaze inward, focussing our attention exclusively on our municipality'. http://elevenbus.co.uk/

As I remember, this arose from a similar project one year earlier that had concentrated on producing a photographic record. Perhaps inspired by this, I recently travelled a fair chunk of the outer circle to record impressions of the journey along with photographs of some of the main sights along the way.

Statring from Addison St in King's Heath, I travelled anti-clockwise on the 11A as far as Perry Barr (I had intended to go further, but ran out of time and needed to get to the city centre for lunch). This route took me past Sarehole Mill (unfortunately before it opened for the day), and very close to Hall Green dog track, Villa Park (Aston Villa FC's ground) and Perry Barr dog track. I took some shots from the bus, but concentrated on these sporting venues and soem of the pictures are included here.

My impressions. Hall Green dog track were very suspicious of someone wandering around with a camera and wanting to take pictures of the stadium; they wouldn't let me in. On the other hand, Perry Barr dog track was simple to enter and there was no-one around (I even tried knocking on the door at the security office). At Villa Park I eventually managed to persuade the security to let me in for a few minutes as long as I didn't stray too far, and it was well worth it for a few shots of an empty stadium with a few ground staff working. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Going to the dogs

At the end of March I had a really interesting evening out ot the Great Yarmouth dog racing track. On a really wet and miserable evening I was able to stay out of the rain and enjoy my first ever visit to a dog track. A group of us had a reserved table in the restaurant - part of a deal which included entrance and a meal. Quite good value. I was really looking forward to the visit as a fascinating photo opportunity, though I wasn't quite sure what to expect.


There were I think about 14 races over the course of the evening and they seemed to come in rapid succession. I have no idea whatever about how to bet on the dogs so declined to try my luck at any of this - but did find the time to get outside and down to the side of the track with my camera and seek out photo opportunities. And one good thing was this - if you set up a shot on a dog race, and it doesn't quite work, in a quarter hour or so you will have another chance, and so on. I really must find out all about how the betting system works at these places.





It was quite atmospheric, with darkness falling and the constant rain - though we were under cover the whole evening. while at the stadium. I've included some of my favourite shots here. The lighting was quite interesting, at least in the earlier part of the evening, and was useful for conveying the atmosphere, I thought. Another time, I might come pre-prepared on how the betting system works. I was mystified this time.

St Cirq Lapopie

While away in France over the Christmas and New Year holiday period we had the good fortune to visit the delightful vilage of St Circ Lapopie, in the Lot. It has a spectacular location perched high above a wide river valey and must be one of the best preserved villages in France. Nothing looked out of place: I think the entire village must have some kind of conservation area status.