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.
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.
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