Wilmcote to Stratford-upon-Avon

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

Boats on the canal (51)

Oxford bridge

Pink bridge

In the background the cathedral

In Worcester.

Pubs (6) : The Safe Harbour, Perry Barr

Mid Warwickshire Yacht Club

At Hatton, just past this bridge in fact.

Boats on the canal (50)

Once was a bridge

Over the railings

Troutpool Bridge

Both Ends (1) : Worcester & Birmingham

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)

Up the steps

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

Worcester

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

Bancroft Basin

Boats on the canal (48)

Dodgy looking bridge

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

Oxford duck

Signs (3) : Toe Path

Boats on the canal (47)

Three horses

Junctions (13) : Tame Valley Junction

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

Hatton to Shrewley

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

Pubs (3) : The Boat Inn, Minworth

Boats on the canal (46)

Oxford Canal

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

Deep in the countryside

Midlands Metro

Pubs (2) : Eight Locks, West Bromwich

Junctions (12) : Ryder's Green Junction

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

Boats on the canal (45)

Old locks

By the side of the Walsall Canal.

Completing the Tame Valley

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

The Saltisford Arm of the Grand Union Canal in Warwick.

Gauging Weir House

City Centre

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

Big lock

Signs (2) : SONACS

After the harvest

Idyllic