Itinerary of the West Midlands trip

Saturday May 6

On Saturday I’ll start my bike ride south on the Worcs & B’ham from Gas Street Basin, where the canal meets the rest of the Birmingham Canal Navigation. I’ll want morning light and sunrise is 5:27, so Saturday will be a long day. I will ride from Birmingham to Droitwich Spa and spend the next two nights at Phepson Farm Cottages, a nearby bed and breakfast. That’s about a 20-mile ride Saturday and I’ll have a lot of interesting demands on my time. I would like to ride through Bournville Village, the Cadbury company town that’s still being administered by the trust George Cadbury established in 1900. There’s also the Lapworth Geology Museum and the Barber Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Birmingham.

Next is Kings Norton Junction where the North Stratford Canal joins the Worcs & B’ham, set off by the picturesque former toll house. I’m sure I’ll be spending a lot of time photographing the bridge and the toll house and the intimidating guillotine gates that guard the Stratford Canal.

The next attraction is also an obstacle to my path, the 1.5-mile-long Wast Hill Tunnel. I’m hoping I can catch a ride on a narrowboat going through the canal, which should take about 45 minutes. If I can’t, I’ll have to detour around the tunnel, but some cyclists have mentioned the anti-social nature of some of the residents of the Hawkesley Estate (there are three housing estates south of Kings Norton). I can either take Redditch Road (the A441) to the north or Longdales Road to the south and I’d love to hear some recommendations on the best route. The southern route skirts open country and I think would be the more attractive path.

After the Wast Hill Tunnel I’ll encounter the Shortwood and Tardebigge tunnels, but the detours around those are much easier and direct. After Tardebigge, of course, I’ll encounter the longest flight of locks in the UK. Starting at Lock 58 (58 being the nickname of the Worcs & B’ham), I’ll ride by 30 more locks to Lock 29. (NOTE: I’ve always been suspicious of the rather large gap between Lock 57 and 58 and suspect someone wanted a nice, round number.) If I stop to photograph every single lock, I’ll never get to my destination, so I will have to push on. Although I can average 10 mph on a concrete or tarmac (or metalled) bike path, I think 6–8 mph is a better estimate on a dirt towpath and even slower if it’s muddy and raining.

I hope to arrive at the junction of the Droitwich and Worcs & B’ham canals sometime between 5 and 6 pm and have dinner at the Eagle & Sun pub. From there it will be a 2¾-mile ride to Phepson Farm. If the weather and my legs are willing, however, I might ride back to the canal after checking in at the bed and breakfast so that I might get an evening photo of the water.

I hope at some point to ride a little way on the Droitwich canals and to tour the Salt Museum at the city’s tourist bureau.