Away2Canal

I was recently caught in the position of being a tourist in my home city. A college friend was visiting from London., and I met him at Moor Street Station. After answering his question as to what the differences between The West Midlands, Birmingham and The Black Country were, he asked me where we should go. ‘Well, apparently we’ve got more canals here than in Venice’ I said and we walked to Brindley Place (I refuse to call it ‘Brindleyplace’ like I refuse to call The Bull Ring ‘bullring’. You can’t just all-​one-​word places on a marketer’s whim).
We paid £6 each and then started off. The cruise travels on a route as far as Birmingham University. The sight lines are really good as there are continuous windows running down the length of the boat. The commentary is actually interesting and well-​written and delivered, informing you of both canal boat and rail routes along the journey and their role in the development of industry of the area. Additionally, commentary on The Mail Box development gives some modern history to boot, and shows the change from industrial Birmingham to a city-​living city. There’s a licensed bar on board the boat as well as washroom facilities.
An incidental bonus is the detailed graffiti that lines some of the walls along the tow-​path, as well as gaggles of water fowl. There are a few canal cruises you can take from Brindley Place, but don’t take your chances by going on one that takes you on the grim route north featuring dumped shopping trolleys-​This is the one.