Taking the canal towpath East towards the city centre, a different city presents itself as I ride slowly along the water’s edge under the bridges leading to the NIA, ‘new ‘ housing circa 1980s mimicking 1880s faces onto the canal on one side whilst the original canal side warehouses stand crumbling under the onslaught of British winters, neglect and industrial decline. To the right the canal opens up to become Cambrian Wharf, immaculately kept houseboats moored against the quayside with a crane at one end and the Flapper and Firkin, a good venue for live music, student nights and ‘Dogbolter’ at the other. The whole scene standing against a backdrop of ‘60s residential towers in parkland and mature trees. Passing beneath Farmers’ bridge carrying Summer Row the canal descends beneath the city in a series of locks, cycling becomes a lot slower as the worn brick cobbles that provide grip when ascending make for a bumpy descent. A burned out warehouse dominates the right hand side of the canal, rusting cast iron beams, fading green paintwork, blackened timbers and the ever present dark brickwork bursting with plant life and pigeons. At the head of another drop this time beneath Fleet Street is Birmingham’s Science Museum, a glimpse through the dusty windows reveals a huge steam locomotive, one of Sir William Stanier’s beasts that led the LMS’s quest for speed in the 1930s looking every bit like Rodney Matthews’ ‘Heavy Metal Hero’ in its close surroundings although I guess its fire went out long ago.
A forest of concrete columns sprout up from the canal bank and from the water of the pound next to the lock to support an office block that sits over the canal. On the opposite side the base of the BT tower, an elegant landmark when viewed from afar meets the ground amongst a scrum of grey transit vans in a secure compound behind steel fences. From one dark space to another, brick walls line the canal side, as the descent continues, a cavernous space opens up beneath Snow Hill where a mainly derelict railway spans the canal. In the damp world below pigeons dominate, roosting on every ledge that is available. It is easy to see where Tolkien found the inspiration for Isengard in Lord of the Rings. A longboat chugs its way between locks making the climb into Birmingham with glum faces on the fifty-somethings experiencing the less picturesque side of a relaxing canal boat holiday....’More canals than Venice’??? I guess quantity is not everything.
As daylight permeates the gloom and sky becomes visible again, the cinder track is smooth and cycling becomes easier. A metallic tang fills the air as machine shops are busy producing nuts, bolts and washers and the ride moves from city centre to what remains of the industrial heartland. Trees begin to appear on the right side as the canal widens out at Aston Junction, and the canal enters a more recently developed area, Aston Science Park, decaying brickwork gives way to steel, glass and aluminium composite panels set among trees as 1980s industrial architecture takes a hold. In the background the vast brick building that is Aston University with its ‘Eiffel tower’ communications mast. Brick cobbles, cast iron plates, deeply scored by years of tow cables line the entrance to Ashtead tunnel, a narrow track and another cyclist waits patiently at the other end. Out into daylight and more canal pounds lined by old brick buildings, some occupied, some vacant some crumbling, a flash of blue as a kingfisher darts across the water. A turn in the canal and what a tangle of viaducts! The railways that link Birmingham to the rest of the country converge at different levels as trains wait to enter New Street Station. At the bottom of the pile a very grand stone bridge that carries a line to a cement works. With a brick bridge built on top of it. The Cement works all that remains of the entrance to the original station at Curzon Street that was the first route linking London. The Greek temple like structure that was the original ticket hall now standing as a monument surrounded by tin sheds. In the distance a gantry crane works relentlessly unloading shipping containers from the trains onto trucks to carry the cargo for the final leg of its journey.
Proof house junction, an elaborate building known as the Proof House and centre piece of the ‘gun quarter’ looks out across the canal to a scrap yard where cars are crushed into cubes and stacked awaiting disposal. Under the bridge carrying Fazeley Street and into Typhoo Wharf, overgrown with weeds and feeling distinctly forgotten about, as blue tin sheds turn their back on the waterfront. A quick u-turn and a ride along the Grand Union Canal towards Solihull, warehouses line the right side and the scrap yard to the left gives way to another junction completely walled in by brick buildings.
A few miles past more scrap yards, industry, gas holders, St Andrews football ground sitting at the top of the hill. The canal meets the Gravelly Hill Interchange better known as ‘Spaghetti Junction’ the whole evolution of Birmingham can be seen in one spot. The River Tame, being bridged over by the canal network where the Bordesley Branch canal meets the Fazeley Canal and the Tame Valley Canal, with all the associated locks bridges, toll houses needed to make the canal network operate. The Local roads of Gravelly Hill, Nechells and Witton converge at Gravelly Hill Circus. The M6 and the A38M meet on concrete legs high above, with feeder roads linking from all directions, whilst the railway threads its way through the middle. A lake surrounded by trees and green spaces sits alongside the canal at Salford Park giving a small impression of what life may have been like before the onset of industrialisation.
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