Cycling With a Bad Brake to a Hidden Lake in Birmingham

Today, we cycled through Cannon Hill Park in Birmingham to Lifford Reservoir in Kings Norton. With one bad break. But plenty to talk about and discover.

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So, I want to try um vlogging today, but let’s see how that goes. We are currently at Canon Hill Park and we all have our cycles over here. We’re about to go to a very short distance place, a place like a distance perfect for John. Yeah, that’s that’s where we’re about heading to um today. though I think because of your brakes we’ll pass like inside instead of the road. Okay. And um because he has just one brake looking a good looking bike but without a back brake. So the back brake isn’t working but the front brake works works fine. Works kind of. And then another thing we’ve done is take some pictures with my new book, The Art of Asking Better Questions for Humans and AI. So really handy book learning how to interact better with both humans and with AI especially um in this new age that we find ourselves in your superpower is how good you’re able to communicate especially with artificial intelligence LLMs and all of that stuff and we’re about leaving now so let’s see I’ll you know start this camera again when we get to our location do you want to say anything to our beautiful audience. Keep watching. Stay locked in. By the way, John right here is a millionaire founder and this guy’s already started like a startup that’s about to raise $100 million. So, um it is um we are currently at 10 acres Nature Space and still on our way to the final destination. So far, it’s been good, but I’ve been riding very slowly today. I’ve been crawling on the road, literally, and that’s all thanks to John right here. So, he’s very scared to ride um because one of his brakes is not working. But then, but that doesn’t give him the right to ride at 2 m. [Laughter] Like, one is working. So at least at least let’s let’s go and let’s go instead of cross you know but it doesn’t give me the right to ride at 2 mph. Um but then I have to stay back you know just to make sure he’s okay and we’re on our way right now to I don’t even know the name of that place or I knew and I’ve forgotten but it’s you said where I thought you said high let me check. Oh we’ll pass there. We’ll pass through that place. That’s um Hazel. No, not Hazelnut. Um, Hazel Well, not Hazel Well as well. I think it’s Hazel Well. Yeah, Hazel Well, no, Dory. Do Fields. Dry Fields. Um, we’ll get there and see that like nice and then we’ll go to our other destination. So, yeah, King Dry Fields. Okay. So, we’ll pass through that place, but that’s not the final destination though. So, here we go. John, this there’s no there are no cars here, so you can you can cycle. This place is like really nice as well. The trees above it just provides a nice shade and you can cycle here every evening and just have have a great time doing so. Really nice. You hear the birds as well. And then you get to see like chairs around here that are just like positioned strategically. So, you know, one can just walk up to this place and sit down anywhere. That’s really good. There’s like a water body over here. And I usually see people bring their dogs Yeah. So, I usually say people bring their dogs to that water, but I’m not really sure what they do, what the dogs do there. They’re like they try to search for something, but I don’t know what it is. Um, or what the significant of that significance of that is, but it does happen. Maybe I’ll I’ll find out later. But you can see over here there are trees being grown as well. So in like 5 10 years from now these will all be grown trees hopefully which is cool. I wonder what it will look like then. Probably come back and show you again hopefully. Maybe unlikely but hopefully. And yeah, that’s it for now. Still cycling. I’ll be bringing out this camera again shortly. So, something else that’s nice here is that for crossing for cycle parts. Yeah, you can see that. So, you can press a button and it’ll get cars to wait for you. So, you press a button and you wait and then you wait for the traffic light. And when it says you can go, the car stop and then you can just cycle past it. So, that’s really cool. Um, when you’re on psychopaths and you need to cross, we’re in another nice space as well after crossing. And it’s just like really good, really good natural trees over here. And that’s the playground in front. So, this is the Dbury playground. Dbury right the rivery walkway and I think I should see yeah we’ve passed here before on the way to king there then so it’s hazy well actually not dobury so hazy well um play area so I think it’s we can pass through that route and go go for the yeah and see those stones let’s let’s take Here we’re going to just here. Yeah. Yeah. We’re going that way. So because of those dogs are right there, they they refuse to stop. And those dogs are not on leash. But usually the dogs here are friendly. or maybe dogs in general, but there there are some unfriendly dogs. Um, yeah. So, we’ve arrived at the stone location. Yeah. I was here. I was here the on on Friday, the day before yesterday. Yeah. So, I’m going to show show you now. And they’re really nice. Interesting. Is it rock you call them or stones? I’m not really sure. probably rocks or stones. Maybe they are the same thing, but it’s it’s well structured. Are you feeling it? Are you feeling the code? You feeling it? Feeling it. Ah, Idris um came with short sleeve and he say it’s because of Alexa, but Alexa told him it’ll be sunny. Yeah. But these stones are nicely structured and people come here and they can just sit on it. like this. So can just sit on it, chill, beautiful environment as well. Or you can go under it. You can also go under it because it has like above here. So So I’m under it right now. And this is probably another way to enjoy it. Or maybe if you’re hiding from the world. Um but it’s cool. It’s really good. Do you want to take pictures here? You can take I can take you. But I don’t charge much though. £100. £100 per shot. Where did we pass that has all these things? Which things? Don’t know where you passed to John. My body. No, it’s not. Where did you pass? Even this maybe you you splashed like you splashed through water. Yeah. Okay, let’s take some shots and we’ll head onto the road for the next phase of our journey. We’ll be passing through canals today as well. Canal roads. Those are cool as well. Stop recording. Wow. How what is this? the camera that that that owns yes the camera’s feature. So he just tried the with this um this is a DJI Osmo Action 5 and you can say stuff like if I say it it’s going to stop actually but you can say start plus the word recording and then it starts plus the word recording. One thing I would really like is when they add like an LLM in between that will be able to detect context so that if you’re just talking and you’re not really giving an order it either starts or stops. But so far, like currently, this works really good. I want to take a picture, I can say take photo, and it takes me a picture. Yeah. So, it’s it’s really good that way. And I can use it without touching it. But we’re done taking photos with this stone. Look at those nice. Should I use nice for dogs or lovely? But adorable. Back on the road and let’s get going. So, back on the road. I love cycling here cuz it’s a really nice view. Hello. I think I have to wait for them. Still on a way. And I just love this place as always. Although this road has like a lot of bumps. So, one has to be careful here, especially as I’m riding with one hand. But I have to use both hands now. That’s that’s a lot of bumps. And just pass the side of the road. And we’re back. Another set of bumps in front there. So again, I think I’ll just let I think I’ll just let my suspension work. And again. And I think that’s probably all for now. More bumps actually. And there they’re more in front. So this road in particular, I don’t like that there are lots of bumps on it. So we’re going straight as well. So this is another Yeah, this is another stop for crossing. And we can go now. Yeah. Straight. So, see, I just pressed I just pressed that and in a few seconds it was ready and the cars had to stop for us to pass. So, that’s really nice. So, if you’re passing here without a map, I’m not using a map now, but I’ve been here before. If you’re passing through this place without the map, you would not know there’s a road here because it feels like a close and you can see a lot of houses around it. But there actually is left. Yeah. So by the left there and thankfully there also helpful signs there um which one can use to figure stuff out. But this feels like someone’s home and you’d hardly know that there’s actually a way there. And we have to pass through that place in front. Yeah. So straight now. Yep. So here I’m just going to walk my bike and maybe I just since I’m recording I’ll just walk out of this place and then we have a canal sidewalk here. So that’s cool. something nice to ride by the the water. So, this is what it’s like to ride by the water, the canal. These are called like canal walks, canal roads. Um, cycles use this a lot. And these canals were actually built for boat transportation during the should I call it industrial revolution. Um not sure if that’s the right term but boats used this to transport stuff and that was why these canals were built and it spans across the city and you know into other cities as well. Um this is Birmingham by the way. And before engines as well, there were horses that used to use where we’re cycling now this walk. Um they would attach the boats to the horses and the horses would be the the engine, you know, the animals the animals taking the boats along. So, we’re out of the canal walk and we should be on the road in a bit over here. Oh, that’s what it’s called. Yeah. Leaf for reservoir. So, we are on or we’ve gotten to our destination actually in just a few meters. So, it’s called Leford Reservoir, and we’re just going to see another nice body of water with swans hopefully and ducks. And we are here. Yeah. So, we’ve arrived at Leford Reservoir right here. How’s the place? Yeah, you’re clearly advised not to swim. Although I think some people fish here, right? Yeah. So, I think this person wants to fish. So, this is what it looks like. And I think that man over there wants to fish. But then this is Leford Reservoir. Yeah. I wonder. And there are swans over there. I think if we go to that area, we’ll see the swans up close. Um but then Yeah. He’s actually trying to fish. So he’s actually trying to fish here. He wants to fish. See the net. Yeah. So that’s really cool. And then there’s one down there. So we’ll go and check it out. And I can maybe take a few more steps and go closer to the water. And it’s clearly written right here, danger, no swimming, so you don’t try to swim. And that’s because the I think there’s like an industrial plant or something around here. And this water can get contaminated at any time. So you’re strongly advised not to swim in it or paddle in it as well. Um, but it’s right here. I can see some movement there. I don’t know if it’s the wind or if it’s a fish in it inside of it. Yeah. But the man behind is fishing or attempting to fish right now. I I wonder if we’ll be able to see him catch something. We’re taking a walk down to see the ducks and the swans. I haven’t seen a fish in the water, but the man has set up his um fishing net there. So there it means there certainly is or there certainly are fish or fishes in the water. And hopefully by the time we’re passing through that place, if we do pass there on our way back, he would have caught the fish and I’ll see it. If not, um that’s still fine. So, wonder if it’s visible right now, but they’re like ducks in the water. I wonder what the time is right now. I haven’t checked in a long while. Just see. Oh, 700 p.m. Today has been cloudy because it’s rained. So, it’s a bit darker than it normally would um this period. Yeah. But at 7:00 p.m. and you wouldn’t be able to tell either. Um, but usually during this period at this time, you could still see the sun and um, but that’s it for today. So, it rain in the morning and parts of the afternoon and it’s been cloudy, but still cool. not not dark cloudy or bad cloudy. I think it’s the type I like for an evening ride cuz it’s just like cool calm um weather and you just feel like nice breeze. So, it’s not too cold, it’s just like cool and it’s lovely to cycle in. This place has what I call it muddy ground. Um not sure what this is called. Red sand um with stones and it’s been like a progression. So we start from smooth road and then we get to the dark sand and then now we’re in this red muddy sand and then going right we’ll get to um grassy path um back to the roads. So that’s it. I wonder if I’d call this a factory. Um, but you know, if we call it a factory, that’s a factory right there down there. And not sure what they produce, though. [Applause] Your bike would love this road. You won’t feel it at all riding, right? Because of the fat tires. Yeah. [Applause] And then we have this locked place. Not sure what this is for. Um, please tell me in the comments, but it’s we have this usually in like the reservoirs I’ve been to now. There’s usually something like this. Do do can like can you guess what this is for? this. Yeah. No, the the locked part. Yeah. Oh, I don’t know. Yeah. So, maybe for boats. Maybe they they can launch boats from there. Yeah. But let me take a picture. So, I’ll just search or ask um AI and John. Oh, you’re still on the call. Okay. And these are the swans right there or two of the swans. There are still some more over there. What would I call this one? So they start So when the swans are much younger, they are very tiny and just black. The the like they’re colored black or should I say brown, but I think it’s more black. And then as they grow, they then change. So this is like halfway there, these ones. So I think these are the children and they’re halfway there in terms of color. And by the time they grow into mature swans, they become white. Wonder how that works. But it’s really cool. That’s something cool about nature. So, um, these are the should I say, um, teenage swats, cuz they’re not baby swans anymore. We’ll probably see baby swans down there, but these are like teenagers in the swan ward. Hey, Swan, can you say hi to the camera? It said no. Oh yeah. So those are they do you want to do you want to tell us what happened to your leg? No comments. Do you want to tell us what happened to your leg? Nope. No comments. Okay. I tried my best to get an interview from the swans but um no comments. I think they’re having a busy day. And still here, it’s another nice um part of this reservoir cuz there are like chairs here which you can just come and chill and maybe eat um or have a picnic here and founded by the national lottery and cottage quaker community funds. Yeah, but it’s you can take lovely for sitting and watching the water. So my view right there in front is the water. So that makes sense. And I think there’s a path down here. Is that possible? It does seem like there’s a path down here. I can see like tire path as well, like cycle tires. Or maybe there isn’t, but we’re about to find out. So, there is down here to the path down here. And I wonder where that leads to. And is there another one here? Cuz this looks like a path. Why is there a path here? Cuz there’s a dead end, it seems. Or it was once away and now it’s covered by trees. Possible. But this looks like a path and this is a new tree. But that’s it for the the paths or the way this place was and we’ll have to continue. Are you guys ready? Ready to style to wait for John. Okay. He has been on the call. Cool. I think I will have to leave you guys. I’ve been made wrong choice for my dress today. You want to stop at my house and take um um jacket since I’m going you too. Even is complaining you with your sweater. You want to complain too. Hey John, yeah I saw the code. That’s why I wore my sweater today. Oh, I didn’t know it was getting this cold. Yeah. Good. Good thing good thing we wore we wore the sweater. Man, you’re really feeling cold though. Do you want to try my own? Should I give you mine? I’ve been cold since. But no, no, no, no. Don’t worry. I Are you sure? Let me give you mine cuz you’re you’re dying to wear. I’ll manage now. No, don’t worry. Don’t worry. Don’t worry. Don’t worry. Since we’re going me, I’m going [Laughter] to flash. I think also this place contributes to Yeah. Yeah. This this place is Yeah. Just the water, the trees and everything. Yeah. Just cool. If you’re wearing that, you enjoy it like I am now. You just relax here. When I stand down here, I didn’t feel like standing up. I just sit down and watch the water. It’s nice. Let’s continue our journey. He’s shaking though. Do you need my sweater though? I can manage. Me? I can manage. Your sweater. Who makes sense to give you on top on top of this one? You’re already wearing. Yeah, but look at look at the trees the way they are. Idris, I can like me. I’m It’s not so easy for me to catch cold. So, I I’ll be fine if I give you my sweater. No, no, don’t worry. I’ll fine. I’ll be fine. I want to get out of this. Okay, let’s go then. All right, so we’re back. Were you planning to take the call on the road? It was not a video call. Yeah. No, but when you’re in a long call on the roads, you can get too focused and miss what’s in front of you. A short course can be good, but then when it’s like long, um, you might lose focus. So that’s it. No cause is much better actually. So taking no cause while cycling is much better. Um cuz my tires are quite slim. I don’t like cycling on this type of ground. So, I think I’ll just walk walk walk you through this place. Yeah, but we were not speeding. So, yeah, this is still okay. Well, I just want to walk past this place. Yeah, but I I wanted to show what happened. Did someone remove it? What do you remember? There was like a QR code here with like that linked to this area and the birds and and some nice stuff. It was just the day before yesterday. I saw it. I have the picture. So, it was just here. Huh? Okay. He’s calling you. Somebody I wanted to show you the picture, but let’s go. He drew his code. Yeah. But it was just here. Nice stuff. It had like bed facts, you know, and jokes and all that stuff. You Yeah. Okay. After scanning it. Yes. After scaring it. So, I don’t know why it’s not there anymore. But that’s it though. Let’s keep going. Okay. So, we’re back on the canal path and out of the Leafford reservoir. And you can’t see the canal, but it’s on my right. The the waters or the water. It’s on my right. And there are boats in front. I wonder how easy it would be for me to to show you now. Let’s try. I don’t think um yeah because the camera is facing downwards I don’t think you can see that but okay I can stop here and see what happened with John oh did it does it like wipe you oh manip sorry you have to be very careful pass there and I when you’re wearing a helmet John now immediately after he pass so he stop it raise it up a bit the next person like it But when you pass if it’s down like that, since you’re wearing a helmet, just put it like so. Use your head to pass it. Yeah, I tried doing but I forgot that I’m not wearing a helmet today. Yeah. So Oh. Aha. So this is the the boat by this side. And it has like lots of flowers on top of it. I think someone is living in there. I’ve seen someone um here before. So I think someone is living in in these boats. People usually live in these boats. I’ve seen someone out there like tending to it. So, and then they can easily move like when they’re done. But that has been there the day before yesterday. Um when I came here, that boat was there with I I saw someone and I think when they’re done with the environment or whatever it is, then they just move move on. There’s a turn on the left that we missed, but since John is like so far ahead, let’s just keep going and then we we’ll pass the other road. But this would have been much easier for us. Um the other road is a more difficult one and it involves a steep not really steep but the climb. Um, and I don’t think because of the way the canal is structured and it has like um some things blocking the road just so you you don’t speed up or speed off on this place. Um, it’ll be easier to just walk your bike when we get there. But we’re there right now. So, we’re going and yeah, so right here I can probably cycle through this place if if I wasn’t record, but it’s just better to walk your bike past it. John, left. Yeah, left. Left and left again. Since I’m recording, it’s just and I’m using like one hand mostly. It’s just better to walk my bike up. It’s much steeper than it looks on camera. And I’m here. All right. So, we’re taking a left now. and another left. Okay, so we’ve taken a detour to my home and just to like eat a little food here and I’ll be ending the the journey here as well. But after now, we’ll we’ll like I’ll see them off to half of the roads probably back to Canon Hill Park. Um yeah. Okay. So, we just took our right turn and it’s good. We have a slight downhill, so I don’t need to pedal much. Just like a slight steady road and you can survive it without pedaling. So, it’s cool. And straight, straight, straight. Yeah. Let’s slow down for John. So, we’ll slow down for John. We’re about entering the road, so I’ll have to stop for now um with the camera so I can focus. But see you in a bit. Okay, so I just saw them off and I’m on my way back home now. So, they just took that road back. This is like 70% of their journey and they would find their way home from here. So, I’ll use the the bike zebra crossing we have here, which is really nice. I think this is the only place I’ve seen that so far. A zebra crossing just for bikes. No, for both bikes and pedestrians, but like pedestrians have their their stripes and there also the stripes for the bikes. So I once like if you’re riding a bike and you just get there, the cars will stop for you and you cross. That’s really nice. So on my way back home and this road is a bit busy, so I’ll have to drop the camera. So, go to sidewalk and then let’s let’s put the gimbal in my pocket cuz there were a lot of cars there and just doesn’t make sense to to not have proper control of my bike. So, but when we get to a much calmer place, um I’ll bring this out again. Okay, so we’re out of the major road and into the streets and I can safely bring out my camera again and use it with one hand. So, it’s been a good day. It’s been a lovely day. Um, good ride as well. and the the places we went. The detour back home to have some food. And the weather is it’s not sunny today, but it’s okay. It’s not too cold either. And overall, it’s been enjoyable altogether. Same with the ride. Same with um this recording cuz this is the first time I’m like recording myself fully with this camera. I’ve been doing like recording with the phone um while using the camera for just like the road view usually like this in my videos. Um but now um I’m trying this and let’s see how it goes. you let me know how it goes and if you like this video this style um if you want the discussions and chatter let me know what it’s like for you. Thank you. So that’s it. That’s it for the the ride today and I’ll see you in the next video. Go check out my other videos, including the cycling videos where I just show the roads. You know, those are also interesting videos which I’ll I’ll continue to do. Um, so check them out and check my other videos and see you in the next one.