canal tunnel wheel

I took the 97 bus in about an hour before sunset to Fazeley Stree, Digbeth to catch the GWR viaduct and the See Birmingham in a new LIGHT festival, which ends on the 26th February 2006

Floodgate Street with the pub and GWR viaduct in the last blogs

part of the new Birmingham Eastside Heritage trail










3 x 3 glass bricks in 1950ies



modern standard bricks and to the right the bigger victorian bricks










Medical Mission building




1935 lettering style









GWR viaduct and granite setts



two of the four guides hid from the camera









Typhoo Basin needed to be photographed in this light


Annukka Larsen from Finland was the lead designer









Curzon Street "Tunnel" in fact successive railway bridges as the mainlines to London and Leicester got widened and realigned


Sutton-Vane Associates designed the permanent instalation




















looking back west at the original railway bridge

and then I walked on eastwards through Ashstead Tunnel to Aston Junction

descriptionof walk in reverse order

cruising on the towpath

daylight pictures










Ashstead Tunnel is a a real tunnel

Ashted Lock, Ashted Flight and Ashted Tunnel













exit towards Aston








the world's largest canal system, the Birmingham Canal Navigation

- even now around 150 miles of canal exists between Birmingham and Wolverhampton. It is much easier to get at than was the case in 1980, largely because of Birmingham City Council's support for the canal's recreational use and the efforts of it and of the BCN Society in making improvements. The canals are the responsibility of the British Waterways Board.

I left the towpath at the Cambrian Wharf

and headed for the Birmingham Wheel by Symphony Hall

after about 2 hours footing it, I was glad to catch the buses home.

a more ambitious walk

The Grand Union Canal runs for 147 miles from Paddington right into the heart of Birmingham. As it links the two biggest cities in Britain it was a major transport link before the coming of the railways, although nowadays it is almost exclusively used by pleasure craft.