Birmingham, Nottingham and Sherwood Forest

Birmingham

After Cheltneham we drove a long 40 minutes to our next destination, Birmingham, the United Kingdom's second-largest city. It's great driving around the UK because you arrive at your destination in no time! We stayed with my (Candice's) friend Rachel for a couple of days. Sally (from Australia) was also staying there before she went to America to do her exchange semester. Rachel, Sally and Jules are friends I made when I went to Sabah, Malaysia for my gap year in 2005. It was so great to catch up with them all and have a little reunion, although Kat and Jess were missing!

Birmingham, I think, is a very cool industrial town! Sure it lacks some of the old buildings that other cities have in the UK. But it has potential to be very funky. Especially with the good old brummy accent and some amazing curries!



Nat and Sally as we sample some Birmingham nightlife


Birmingham has grown as a result of industry and unlike many other British cities is not as picturesque as we imagined.



Much like Venice, Birmingham has an extensive series of canals which were originally used to transport coal. They are now an undiscovered tourist attraction


The first night we arrived, we went out in the city and had a nice little night out in Birmingham with some nice 'new world' wine as they call it in the UK. New world means that the wine is from South Africa, New Zealand, Australia or America. I had never thought about it in that way before. Needless to say 'new world' wine is always the best.


Rachel and her boyfriend Ben.



Sally and Rachel.



Some more wine and a picture of Jules and I.




Nat and I posing.


4 gappers reunited.


Having a little giggle!


Nottingham and Sherwood Forest


As we were not that far from Nottingham and we had a spare day, Nat, Sally and I decided to do a day trip to Nottingham and Sherwood Forest. So we made our merry way there in our little black car!


Sally and I in the streets of Nottingham.


A tram, Nat's favourite!



Nottingham is a mix of new and old. It's a beautiful city.


Nottingham is most famous for its legend of folklore, Robin Hood. Records show that Robin Hood did actually exist, though myth may have distorted this common bandit into the benevolent champion of the common man.



The statue of Robin Hood


The gates of Nottingham Castle


Britain's oldest pub. Click on the photo to the right to read the details.


These underground caves in the hillside below Nottingham Castle have been here for time immemorial. The caves have been used for various purposes throughout history, including as stores and even an air-raid shelter in WWII, now they are part of a museum


Sally explores the museum which captures life from the late 1800s to the 1920s



We left Nottingham on a bit of a sour note. Heartless parking inspectors had waited by our car until 4pm (when our parking spot on the road became a clearway became a clearway) just to give us a fine. Despite the fact that I (Nat) ran all the way there and arrived at 4.02pm (as they were just starting to issue the fine), they insisted on being pigs and fined us 75 pounds! So our parking ticket says we exceeded our time by 3 minutes (4.03pm). Definite fat pig's anuses.

We drove about half an hour North in a sullen mood to Sherwood Forest, where Robin Hood and his merry men are said to have lived.

About 900 years ago, herwood Forest covered 5% of the landmass of England. Today it's only a few hundred hectares of trees, more akin to a tourist attraction. The forest is an important area of conservation, housing some of the oldest oaks and birches in the whole world.


Sally and I in Sherwood Forest


The Major Oak, estimated to be approximately 1000 years old was Robin Hood's hideout according to local legend. Frankly, unless they were birds I don't see how that could have been possible.


Hanging out in Sherwood Forest


Yes, yes - it's important to get a picture of the sign to prove we were here



Nat gets his dreadlocks done

Back in Birmingham we had time to kill. As the "Golden Triangle" are of Birmingham is reputed to have the best curry outside of India, we decided to go there for dinner one night, check out some of the amazing dishes and then visit some cool pubs. Which we did. Unfortunately we forgot to bring the camera and words really just don't suffice.

I (Nat) used to have dreadlocks. I've had them twice before in fact - nice long dreads which I took great care of, and actually ended up selling to a hairdresser for 200 bucks. No kidding. I had em for a total of 4 years before I cut them off to start work at a law firm back in 2005.

Before our trip began, I had been contemplating getting my hair dreadlocked again, seeing as it would probably be the last chance I'd ever get to feel 'young and free' and dreadlocked again.




My old dreads back in the day. Circa 2004


We'd left Australia in a hurry and in the few days between finishing up work and getting on the plane, I had totally forgotten about dreadlocks. On a whim in Birmingham I decided to get my hair dreaded again - although this time a lot shorter. We looked up the only dreadlocking hairdresser in the city and went to her house that very day to get them done. She used beeswax to dread my hair, a technique I wasn't familiar with.




Getting the dreads done


As it was taking so long, Candice and Sally went for a walk to see the canals


When they were just finished, I looked like Sonic the Hedgehog


A rainy night in Birmingham

We spent the next couple of days just bumming around in Birmingham, relaxing and getting used to sleeping in a proper bed again. Rachel and Sally were to join us on the next leg of our trip up North.

For more photos of our time in Birmingham, Nottingham and Sherwood Forest visit http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52878&l=27bd3&id=681501850