Down The Cut - Canals in Birmingham and the Midlands

Wharfs (1) : Cambrian Wharf

2012-02-17T10:50:00.001Z

Cambrian Wharf at the Birmingham end of the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal is the site of the old Farmer's Bridge Junction of the canal where it used to link to the now lost Newhall Branch.

Lock 1

2012-02-15T10:34:00.004Z

Lock 1 on the Farmer's Bridge Flight of the Birmingham & Fazeley.

Pink icebreaker

2012-02-13T08:34:00.001Z

Gosta Green to Brindley Place

2012-02-11T14:19:00.002Z

I've been meaning for a couple of years now to complete the Birmingham & Fazeley from Aston Junction up to Old Turn Junction and today i did just that. Its a very interesting stretch of canal through the ruins of the industrial age and the rise of the leisure age. The building built on top of a lock flight is also pretty amazing, only in Britain! Here you can see the photos.

By the way if you are wondering what the above is, it shows the canal area i covered on my walk, its based on my midlands canal tube map which you can see also on this blog.

Ice bound

2012-02-08T08:21:00.001Z

Yeah its a bit nippy right now.

Winter trees

2012-02-06T09:07:00.001Z

Boats on the canal (52)

2012-02-03T09:35:00.001Z

Moonshine at Bishopton.

Pubs (7) : The Dun Cow, Warwick

2012-02-02T09:48:00.001Z

By the side of the Saltisford Arm.

Bridge 75

2012-01-30T09:40:00.001Z

Canal Maintenance (7) : Berkswell

2012-01-27T08:42:00.002Z

At Hatton.

Canal Maintenance (6) : Aquarius

2012-01-25T11:33:00.001Z

Junctions (15) : Kings Norton Junction

2012-01-23T13:29:00.003Z

Where the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal splits off from the Worcester & Birmingham.

Canal Maintenance (5) : Reward

2012-01-20T12:36:00.001Z

Skips

2012-01-18T09:22:00.001Z

Kings Norton Stop Lock

2012-01-16T08:59:00.001Z

The unique guillotine Kings Norton Stop Lock which in the past used to help maintain water levels between the Stratford-upon-Avon and Worcester and Birmingham Canals at Kings Norton Junction.

Canals of Bournville and Kings Norton

2012-01-14T17:31:00.002Z

Today i joined the Worcester & Birmingham Canal at Bournville (to be exact at the railway station which is alongside the canal, in fact you can walk straight off the platform onto the towpath!) I went down this canal down to Kings Norton Junction which is where it joins the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal. This is where the Stratford canal either starts or ends depending on your point of view. I prefer to say start as Bridge 1 is at this end and Bridge 66 at the Stratford end. The Worcester & Birmingham Canal photos can be seen here, and the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal photos here!

Canal Maintenance (4) : Turning around

2012-01-13T09:24:00.003Z

Canal Maintenance (3) : Smith

2012-01-11T15:03:00.002Z

Smith in Worcester, work being done on a lock.

Canal Maintenance (2) : Beech

2012-01-09T10:02:00.002Z

On the Wednesbury Old Canal.

Canal Maintenance (1) : Boats at Wilmcote

2012-01-05T12:01:00.000Z

A whole collection of canal maintenance barges were at Wilmcote last week.

Junctions (14) : Diglis / Severn Junction

2012-01-03T09:21:00.001Z

Where the Worcester & Birmingham Canal meets the River Severn, not sure what this junction is called. Diglis junction (as the basins are called that)?

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T18:47:00.000Z

Happy New Year to all visitors, there will be lots more canal photography in 2012. Photo below of two boats on the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal taken last week.

By the way although not Midlands canal related i took some photos at Little Venice in London along the Grand Union and Regent's Canal yesterday that you may be interested in?

Wilmcote to Stratford-upon-Avon

2011-12-28T16:32:00.000Z

The perfect way to detox after Christmas is a nice long canal walk, so how about the three and a half miles or roundabouts from Wilmcote along the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal to the canal's termination point at Bancroft Basin? So that is what i did and here you can see the photographs.

Worcester Pirate

2011-12-26T11:57:00.001Z

Boats on the canal (51)

2011-12-21T22:11:00.000Z

Oxford bridge

2011-12-19T20:36:00.001Z

Pink bridge

2011-12-16T11:08:00.002Z

In the background the cathedral

2011-12-14T21:27:00.002Z

In Worcester.

Pubs (6) : The Safe Harbour, Perry Barr

2011-12-12T08:27:00.001Z

Mid Warwickshire Yacht Club

2011-12-09T15:46:00.001Z

At Hatton, just past this bridge in fact.

Boats on the canal (50)

2011-12-07T08:31:00.001Z

Once was a bridge

2011-12-05T15:38:00.001Z

Over the railings

2011-12-02T15:07:00.001Z

Troutpool Bridge

2011-11-30T09:19:00.001Z

Both Ends (1) : Worcester & Birmingham

2011-11-28T10:07:00.001Z

A new series showing where a canal begins and ends (or ends and begins depending on your point of view), starting with the Worcester and Birmingham which starts and ends in the 2 cities as you might have guessed.
The Birmingham End where it joins the Birmingham Main Line (and the BCN)
Diglis Lock in Worcester where the canal joins the River Severn.

Boats on the canal (49)

2011-11-26T17:49:00.001Z

Up the steps

2011-11-22T10:36:00.001Z

Pubs (5) : Red Lion, Stratford-upon-Avon

2011-11-19T19:59:00.001Z

Worcester

2011-11-18T15:35:00.001Z

I went to Worcester for the first time in early September though didn't have time to see the canal (the Worcester & Birmingham Canal terminates here and joins the River Severn), so i returned today and rectified that. Here are the photos i took including many at the huge marina!

Barriers

2011-11-16T11:23:00.001Z

Bancroft Basin

2011-11-14T08:37:00.001Z

Boats on the canal (48)

2011-11-11T11:20:00.001Z

Dodgy looking bridge

2011-11-09T11:25:00.001Z

Pubs (4) : The Cape Of Good Hope, Warwick

2011-11-07T08:15:00.001Z

Oxford duck

2011-11-04T09:21:00.001Z

Toe Path

2011-11-02T08:13:00.001Z

Boats on the canal (47)

2011-10-31T08:15:00.001Z

Three horses

2011-10-28T11:24:00.001+01:00

Junctions (13) : Tame Valley Junction

2011-10-26T08:24:00.001+01:00

Where the Tame Valley meets the Walsall Canal, here you can see down the Tame Valley... keep going this way and eventually you'll end up at the Spaghetti Junction!

Tunnels (3) : Shrewley Tunnel

2011-10-24T09:29:00.001+01:00

Hatton to Shrewley

2011-10-22T15:19:00.001+01:00

I enjoyed my visit to Hatton in the Summer so returned this morning, this time to travel along the Grand Union in the other direction towards Shrewley. In doing so i came up to the Shrewley Tunnel, now this 400m long tunnel doesn't have a towpath alongside so i had to climb the hill and go through the tunnel and then rejoin the canal on the other side. This is a very nice stretch of canal indeed, and you can see my photos here of course.

Without A Motor (1) : Oxford Canoe

2011-10-21T08:21:00.001+01:00

Pubs (3) : The Boat Inn, Minworth

2011-10-19T09:49:00.001+01:00

Boats on the canal (46)

2011-10-17T15:21:00.001+01:00

Oxford Canal

2011-10-16T18:48:00.000+01:00

Over the last couple of days i have visited Oxford for a short holiday and of course my trip included a canal walk along the Oxford Canal which terminates there (natch).

Now of course this is a Midlands Canal Blog and can Oxfordshire count as the Midlands? Personally i do think of Oxford as being at the very southern edge of the Midlands though some do include it in the South East. The Oxford Canal in any case goes up to Warwickshire... so can it be included here? Well its my blog so i decide... and its included! Here you can see the photos i took.

4 cans

2011-10-13T17:17:00.001+01:00

Deep in the countryside

2011-10-11T12:51:00.001+01:00

Midlands Metro

2011-10-07T08:30:00.000+01:00

Pubs (2) : Eight Locks, West Bromwich

2011-10-05T09:10:00.001+01:00

Junctions (12) : Ryder's Green Junction

2011-10-03T10:03:00.002+01:00

Where the Walsall Canal ends and joins the Wednesbury Old Canal.

Boats on the canal (45)

2011-09-29T09:25:00.000+01:00

Old locks

2011-09-27T07:18:00.000+01:00

By the side of the Walsall Canal.

Completing the Tame Valley

2011-09-24T18:45:00.002+01:00

The Tame Valley Canal is the one i walk along most, as its close to where i work i tend to walk a short stretch in Perry Barr most days. However the furthest along the canal i have gone from one end of it at Salford Junction is up to the M5 aqueduct so today i started at Great Barr and finally walked the remaining 4 miles or so. The picture below is Tame Valley Junction, the end of the canal (or the beginning depending on your point of view). The photos i took along the Tame Valley can be seen here.

The canal joins the Walsall Canal at this point so i walked this for the first time (and can cross it off in my Ian Allan ABC of Birmingham Canal Navigations). I even did a short stretch of the Wednesbury Old Canal too, and the pictures from those two canals can be seen here.

Saltisford Canal

2011-09-23T14:56:00.001+01:00

The Saltisford Arm of the Grand Union Canal in Warwick.

Gauging Weir House

2011-09-21T08:55:00.001+01:00

City Centre

2011-09-19T09:44:00.001+01:00

Birmingham is the host for this year's Liberal Democrat party conference and all of the news teams have been quick to capitalise on the canals around the ICC to get some nice backgrounds for their reports!But then again it is a very nice area.

Eye level at Edstone Aqueduct

2011-09-18T14:36:00.001+01:00

Big lock

2011-09-13T09:45:00.001+01:00

SONACS

2011-09-09T08:16:00.001+01:00

After the harvest

2011-09-07T02:04:00.000+01:00

Idyllic

2011-09-05T08:58:00.001+01:00

Boats on the canal... er... river (44)

2011-09-02T16:39:00.002+01:00

Canal barges can also be seen on the river, as in this one on the River Severn in Worcester.

Under the bridge

2011-08-31T15:42:00.000+01:00

End of the line

2011-08-29T10:53:00.001+01:00

A canal tube map 2.0

2011-08-28T11:05:00.003+01:00

A few years ago i combined two of my loves : canals and the London tube map and created a "tube map" of my own depicting the canal network in Birmingham and the West Midlands. A few days ago i decided to redo it and the results can be seen here.

It was originally created on a PC in Photoshop back in 2009 but since then i have moved to using a Mac at home sans Photoshop but with Pixelmator instead. Although i could edit an imported version of the original in Pixelmator it was becoming a bit untidy and i also wanted to improve how the map looked, optimise it for viewing on an iPad, and include some of the canals in Warwickshire i have been exploring over the last 12 months.

So i recreated it from scratch. Next stage will be to turn it into a full-fledged HTML5 interactive map using Hype with information on the various canals and links to my imagery. So keep tuned.

Warwick & Saltisford Canal 27/08/11

2011-08-27T20:26:00.000+01:00

Another trip into Warwickshire to do some canal photography, this time Warwick itself and i walked the Grand Union Canal there as well as the Saltisford Canal Arm. You can see the photos i took here!

Duck away

2011-08-26T09:45:00.001+01:00

The nick

2011-08-24T21:38:00.002+01:00

Canal next to HMP Birmingham (Winson Green).

Farm house

2011-08-22T09:42:00.001+01:00

Boats on the canal (43)

2011-08-19T09:16:00.002+01:00

Going to London? You have a long way to go!

2011-08-17T12:59:00.000+01:00

Sheep

2011-08-15T09:29:00.001+01:00

Aqueducts (1) : Edstone Aqueduct

2011-08-14T18:02:00.001+01:00

The Edstone Aqueduct is the longest in England and is on the Stratford-upon-Avon canal between Wilmcote and Wootten Wawen. Interestingly the towpath that runs alongside is on the same level as the canal bottom so the water level is near your chest.

Wilmcote to the Edstone Aqueduct

2011-08-13T20:23:00.003+01:00

This morning I headed down to Wilmcote which is a small village not far from Stratford-upon-Avon. Its most famous for being where Mary Arden used to live though i was more interested in the canal and walked up the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal beyond the amazing Edstone Aqueduct. You can see my photos here, i also did take some photos around the village which is very nice and is now in my top 5 desired places to live!

Horses

2011-08-12T08:44:00.003+01:00

Boats on the canal (42)

2011-08-08T11:19:00.002+01:00

Junctions (11) : Bancroft Basin

2011-08-08T11:17:00.003+01:00

Where the Stratford-upon-Avon canal meets the River Avon.

Industrial wasteland

2011-08-08T08:09:00.001+01:00

Lock and bridge

2011-08-05T11:19:00.001+01:00

Hatton Locks heritage centre and workshops

2011-08-01T09:49:00.001+01:00

Hatton Locks

2011-07-30T16:57:00.001+01:00

When i went to Leamington Spa on the train earlier in the month i noticed how close the canal is to Hatton station on the same line. In fact most stations along the Chiltern Line seem to track the Grand Union Canal (at least as far as Leamington anyway). Today i visited Hatton and had a nice canal walk up to Hatton Locks which is quite an attraction. The locks are very interesting with double boat locks, waterfalls, service bridges the works!

I shall be visiting here again soon i suspect, i had to make my visit fairly brief as i had a train to catch (though it was late anyway). I took a lot of photos today, along the canal and of the Warwickshire countryside, you can see the set here.

Funky bridge in Leamington

2011-07-27T11:41:00.001+01:00

Boats on the canal (41)

2011-07-23T23:22:00.001+01:00

Reflections

2011-07-21T11:42:00.001+01:00

Goose armada

2011-07-19T14:41:00.001+01:00

Junctions (10) : Winson Green Junction

2011-07-15T09:19:00.000+01:00

Close to the prison (!), where the Soho Loop rejoins the Main Line.

Birmingham Main Line & Soho Loop

2011-07-11T22:37:00.001+01:00

Another day off another canal walk. Today i walked along the Birmingham Main Line from Brindley Place up to Rotton Park Junction (i have walked this before) but at the junction i then headed off down virgin territory in the shape of the Soho Loop. Some grim examples of Britain's rusting industrial past exist down this loop and i was also surprised to come across HMP Winson Green! Luckily there were no escaped convicts on the towpath. Here are the photos i took.

Boats on the canal (40)

2011-07-05T15:43:00.001+01:00

Lock 1

2011-07-04T10:10:00.001+01:00

Grand Union in Leamington

2011-07-02T19:48:00.000+01:00

Back to Leamington Spa where the Grand Union flows through the centre of the town (and handily flows opposite the railway station!) I had a nice walk along the canal until i was outside of the town. Plenty of boats, interesting sights and ducks. Millions of ducks! They all seemed to want bread from me too but alas i was bread-less. Here are the photographs.