My narrow escape (Home)

There are several options to continue north from Birmingham. One is the already mentioned New Line (the canal motorway), which continues to Wolverhampton and connects there with the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal. This is the short and allegedly more boring option. Another option, which was recommended to me as much nicer, but longer is to leave Birmingham to the south-west via the Netherton Tunnel, The Dudley Canals and Stourbridge. As we were not in a hurry, that's what we did. It took us all of five days to reach the junction where the Wolverhampton branch joins again! But it was indeed a very nice route. Here are the highlights: First of all we had to retrace our route for a few miles from the Black Country Museum to reach the Netherton Tunnel that was built to relieve congestion on the Dudley Tunnel. The Netherton Tunnel is newer, quite wide and high and not half as scary as the other tunnels I have done before. The only memorable feature of this tunnel were a nu

I reached the centre of Birmingham not through the Grand Union Canal but through the Worcester & Birmingham Canal, which ends at the Worcester Bar right in the centre of the canal development in the city centre. I got the recommendation to do that as a single-hander as it means less double locks and a nicer cruise. I think it also means more locks, but that was fine as they are all but forgotten by the time you reach Birmingham. The arrival in Birmingham was challenging as it was very windy. The turn into the central area of the canal system is a 90 degree left turn to the stretch that is the new development with lots of bars and restaurants near Gas Street Basin. The turn was fine, but as soon as I came round the corner the wind hit the boat from the side and pushed it into the bank. Approach of Birmingham Centre Stuck near Gas Street Basin I was stuck there as it was impossible to push the boat off the wall enough to actually get off the wall. It doesn't loo