The world's gone mad! Some people travel to Egypt to marvel at the engineering wonders of their pyramids. Some people travel to Venice to marvel at their canal system. Not me. I come to Birmingham. They have more miles of canal than Venice, and all with towpaths that can be ridden. And as for engineering wonders, it is the home of the Brooks saddle, the reason for many a cyclists happy derriere.

And so it was, seated on my Brooks masterpiece that I left Birmingham via their canal system. I passed through the busiest stretches of this busy city oblivious to the combustion engine charged mayhem around me, appreciating this 19th century transport network. The going was slightly slower than by road, sometimes slippier and often bumpier, but far more tranquil. Even the weather, which couldn't make up it's mind whether to soak me or not couldn't spoil the occasion.

When I did leave the canals and join the roads, enticed by the lure of a farm shop / bakers, they were lovely quiet rural roads which took me through Warwick and on to Napton, or more precisely, The Bridge at Napton, a pub on the Grand Union Canal where I had arranged to meet Ben, a good friend of many years who was out on his narrow boat. After a few cups of tea and a hot shower, we walked his dogs to another pub for a few beers and a meal. Yes, I had curry. All in all a good day.

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