Walk from Whitlock End

It was another cracking start to the day, at least weather wise.  The less said about the overcrowding on the train into Birmingham the better.  Apparently signal problems and a cancelled train were the cause.  I had a mental picture of the Tokyo underground and the 'helpers' who squeeze passengers onto the carriages as I looked at a wall of humanity as the doors slid open at the station.

My plan was to head out to the suburbs and link up with a section of the Stratford Upon Avon Canal, walking back towards Birmingham before joining the Worcester and Birmingham Canal for the final 5 miles into the city centre.  It was a great start to the walk, with brief flashes of iridescent blue catching my eye for the first few hundred yards.  I only had a mid range zoom so satisfied myself with the pleasure of just watching the kingfisher dart from perch to perch for a few minutes.

Just before joining the Worcester and Birmingham Canal I came across a most unusual structure, a guillotine lock.  This was used to control passage and the levels of the water on the adjoining sections of the two canals.  

Our canal network was created with the patronage of wealthy individuals and companies and the water it used was jealously guarded.  The water of the Stratford Upon Avon Canal was one inch below that of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal.  Both canals were built in the same period, at the end of the 18th and early 19th Century.  The height difference suggests that the Stratford upon Avon canal took precedent over the Worcester and Birmingham Canal.  The difference in water levels was created to ensure that the one canal would not loose water to the other canal.

The final section into the City first passed Bournville and the Cadbury's factory and then the University of Birmingham.  A couple of narrow boats caught my attention moored on the University bank of the canal.  The first was a boat called Ross Barlow.  A plate on its side said 'Hydrogen Boat - Fuel fo the Future - the world's first hydrogen-powered narrow boat".  The second was called 'The Solar Kingfisher' and was covered solar panels.  It did make me smile that a small flue came off the roof, puffing out smoke from what I assume was a solid fuel burner!

I completed with walk into Gas Street Basin and now means I have walked into Birmingham along each of the four main canals that meet in the city.