Cruise Historic Canals in Birmingham, England
Narrowboating on Waterways Through England's Second-Largest City
Sep 28, 2009
No longer heavy-laden with goods, Birmingham's historic canals are recreation webs for pleasure boating, cycling, walking and enjoying a waterside pint or two.
Birmingham was once called the City of the Silver Cross because of the way the sun shone on the canal water. To recapture some of this waterway heritage, just hop on a narrowboat and glide into the past.
Birmingham’s Gas Street Canal Basin
The Gas Street Basin is the heart of the British canal network, one of the most intricate in the world. There are more than 2,000 miles left from the canal system, which began in Manchester in 1767 and lasted commercially for nearly 200 years.
Birmingham was close behind, with James Brindley opening the Birmingham Canal Main Line in 1769. Narrowboats carried coal, salt, limestone, wood and chemicals — plus chocolate crumb to the Cadbury chocolate factory.
Quickly, Birmingham's Gas Street Basin became so busy that canal owners installed gas lights in the locks so the boatmen could work 24 hours a day.
Today, Birmingham’s historic canals are all about leisure. Sit at a canalside table at Brindley Place and enjoy a ploughman’s lunch and a pint as narrowboats with names like Dalton Dame and Mad Hatter putt by.
Mastering the Narrowboat on Birmingham’s Canals
Want to join the historic canal fleet by renting a narrowboat and skippering it?. Operators will show novice narrowboaters how to steer by the rudder in the stern, cruising along at 4 mph.
But be warned: Birmingham sits atop the Midland Plateau, about 200 feet above the surrounding countryside. That meant engineers had to build locks to move the boats up and down, and locks mean more work for modern boaters.
Cruise the 30 canal miles from Birmingham to Worcester, for instance, to Tardebigge Flight, with 30 locks in little more than two miles – it’s one of Britain’s steepest waterway inclines.
Walk and Cycle Birmingham’s Historic Canals
Hikers can follow the old canal tow paths for miles, hopping off to visit Birmingham’s National Sea Life Centre or the multi-media Ikon Gallery. Serious walkers dedicate a weekend to the 29-mile Worcester to Birmingham canal walk.
Cyclists can follow the tow path from Gas Street Station to Aldersley Junction, a 14-mile time trip that winds through tunnels on its way past aqueducts, basins, stables and a pumping station.
Cruising with a Meal
Prefer to sit back and enjoy the view? Narrowboat crews are ready to welcome you onboard.
Away2dine operates from the canal behind The Mailbox. Once England’s largest mail-sorting office, The Mailbox is now a chic entertainment center with dozens of bars, restaurants and shops - plus the only posh Harvey Nichols store outside London.
Away2dine’s sleek narrowboat Moira Rose sets out at noon Sunday for the traditional English roast lunch, or evenings from Wednesday through Saturday for dinner cruises. Passengers step down into the long boat and settle in at tables with white linens and tea lights.
For the dinner cruise, you might start with roast duck salad or poached salmon as the boat pulls away from The Mailbox glitz and heads back in time to the Gas Street Basin.
Soon the Moira Rose is passing the new Brindley Place and sliding under an 1827 iron bridge. It’s a great vantage point just inches above the inky waves.
The route continues past new condos, fitness clubs and businesses, juxtaposed with a few crumbling walls and rusting narrowboats from the old days. But much of this fluid heart of Birmingham is being rejuvenated, old factories removed so England’s second city can build again.
Tracing Birmingham’s Historic Canals
Birmingham’s waterways are part of more than 4,000 miles of canals, rivers and lakes in Britain. Waterscape (Tel 44 0845 6715530) has downloadable maps of the canal network for boating, hiking and cycling.
Visit Birmingham (Tel 44 0121 2025115) has complete listings of canalside restaurants, bars and activities.
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