Sep 04, 2019

We weren’t travelling anywhere today but had the bikes booked in for an oil change at 9am and used the opportunity to check out a little bit of Birmingham before the day got too hot.

The Birmingham area was founded on the basis that it had abundant supplies of coal iron ore and limestone so the right ingredients for making steel and forging (if you’ll pardon the pun) it’s future as a powerhouse of industry. The depression hit heavily but the need for WWII munitions and shipping saw the fortunes of industry revived again. We visited Vulcan Park and Museum which was interesting and covered the industrial history as well as the towns part in the fight for justice and equality, medical breakthroughs and advanced technology.

 

Vulcan Park, and this is the statue of Vulcan.

 

Birmingham from the lookout at Vulcan Park.

 

The only remaining Pig Iron factory in town zoomed in from the lookout. Apparently the molten iron was poured into sand shells and the layout looked like piglets suckling a sow, hence the nick-name of ‘pig iron’ or so the story goes.

 

A view out over the park, beautifully maintained.

 

A work shot near the bike shop.

 

And our hotel the Hilton Garden Inn, just across the road from a massive Children’s Hospital.