Birmingham
& Fazeley Canal:(Adjacent
canals can be viewed with
the above links)
The Birmingham & Fazeley canal formed an important link from the centre of Birmingham to the Coventry canal, which itself forms part of the main north - south route, by-passing Birmingham.
The Birmingham & Fazeley canal formed an important link from the centre of Birmingham to the Coventry canal, which itself forms part of the main north - south route, by-passing Birmingham.
Parts of the eastern section
of the canal towards Fazeley are safe and attractive enough, but much
of the canal passes thru some of the seedier areas of the Birmingham
conurbation (eg Castle Vale) and are perhaps best avoided.
Alternatively the route can be travelled in the morning, before the
local youth rises from it’s previous day’s vandalism efforts. This is
all a great pity because BW, in partnership with Birmingham Local
Councils, have genuinely put in a lot of sterling effort, and
resources, in an attempt to improve things - but regeneration of
infrastructure doesn’t necessarily change peoples behaviour, which is
what really counts. We believe our canal assessments must be frank and
candid, or they will lack credibility. We enjoy, and do cruise, much of
the BCN (Birmingham Canal Navigations) without any difficulty, but we
tend to avoid the Birmingham & Fazeley for the reasons stated -
Sorry!
So if on leaving the BCN we
want to get to, say, Fradley, we would take the alternative route of
descending from the BCN via the ‘Wolverhampton 21’ flight of locks;
then onto the Staffs & Worcs to Gt. Haywood; then east on the
T&M to Fradley - a much more interesting and prettier route.
The Coventry canal link to the south is our preferred route from north
to south - but not using the Birmingham & Fazeley link to the
BCN. If we wanted to go south from Birmingham, more directly than via
Fradley, there are other alternative routes south rather than via the
Birmingham & Fazeley. Here's two photos - bit bleak....
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| Having escaped the nastier subhurbs of Birmingham we descend locks heading for Fazeley and the welcoming Coventry canal - bleak 'canalscape'. | |||
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