Bus Runs Route 30 West Brom to Stone Cross via Great Bridge and Hill Top

Went out Sunday specifically to finish up Route 30 which has promiscuously overlapped other route runs around West Brom since starting this project at the New Year. Looking back over the 30, I only found two photos along the way with the first this now closed but formerly Halal abattoir in Harvill’s Hawthorn near Great Bridge.

One of the motivations for the Bus Run project has been to force exploration of the realm. I actually hit some road segments I have never been on before on the 4th of Feb and one of those passed the Bromwich Manor great hall built sometime in the late 13th-century (roughly 1270 ad). It’s now a museum run by the council from April till October every year so now I’ve got a new bit of historical tourism to do this Spring or Summer.

The Dovecote, Hill Top, West Midlands

Pub #2417:

Running to pick up a hardware order for the neverending refurb, I was stopped in my tracks by the siren song of £2.50 ale.  A literal Hobson’s choice.

Not especially cold out, the Dovecote was like a sauna inside.  A giant tele showed sport statistics, the tannoy blared Neil Diamond hits (?) from the late 70s, and a massive steam table of carvery fixings sat forlorn…as did I (no one to talk to except an old guy on a scooter with an oxygen tank who, when I sat down, huffed and drove outside for a cigarette).

I didn’t feel inclined to linger.  The the chemical attack of the many-hours-old sprouts on the steam table notwithstanding, this was neither welcoming nor outright hostile; it’s hard to say more, nor less, about a place.