Narrowboats climb into the center through flights of locks, because the city sits high on a plateau in the middle of England. They tie up at Gas Street Basin beside brick warehouses, while to the south the wooded Lickey Hills look back over the towers.
Beyond the canals, workshops in the Jewellery Quarter still make rings by hand, Digbeth fills old factories with street art and gigs, and family kitchens serve balti in thin steel bowls. The weather is mild and damp, and the high ground brings more snow than most British cities see. A Local Friend can pull up a chair for you at a curry house table you would never have found alone.
