Most narrowboats that visit Birmingham don’t go through Wolverhampton, so the canal from Wolverhampton to the Netherton Branch is almost deserted. With hardly any boats going through the water is clear. You can see every shopping cart. It’s a long slog though mostly industrial or grungy post industrial areas. No cows. The graffiti was disappointing till we got to Soho (yes, there’s one in Birmingham as well as London and New York) when it improved a lot.

A couple of hitch hikers with suitcases flagged us down about a mile and a half from the center of Birmingham and asked for a ride – in mime as they were both deaf.

Sure, why not? They were very happy with the boat ride. We dropped them off in the middle of town, and continued past Birmingham to Edgbaston, where I launched an expedition to the Birmingham Botanical Garden.

There are greenhouses…

… a nice collection of carnivorous plants (which as Terry Pratchett said, are not as interesting as you might think) …

… all sorts of flowers…

… and a tea room that once hosted a dinner for the G8.

You have to feel sorry for Cherie Blair stuck between Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin.

There’s a butterfly house, too.

Tucked away in a corner there is a Japanese garden, and just off that is the National Bonsai Collection.

The bonsai are all kept in cages for safety. Birmingham does not need a repeat of the 1952 Bonzilla incident.