LET'S PARTY AT
PERDISWELL As Perdiswell Park plays host to the IWA Festival of Water this summer, we take a look at the 30-mile-long Worcester & Birmingham Canal on which it’s located
T
he Worcester & Birmingham Canal links the Birmingham Canal Navigations with the River Severn, and is one of the most heavily locked routes in the country. It was on this waterway near Tardebigge that Robert Aickman and Tom Rolt took their inaugural canal cruise together in 1945, inspiring the formation of IWA a year later. We’re kicking off the Association’s 75th anniversary celebrations at the IWA Festival of Water on 29th-31st August at Perdiswell Park on the banks of the W&B at Worcester. The 30-mile-long W&B traverses a surprising mix of environs from the vibrancy of inner-city Birmingham to the rolling hills of rural Worcestershire and the charm of Diglis Basins close to the canal’s meeting point with the River Severn. But with 58 locks packed into its length, it’s not one for the fainthearted. Thirty of the locks are located in just 2 miles at Tardebigge, which raises the canal more than 200ft to its summit level. Here’s what else to expect on a cruise to the Festival of Water’s showground…
below: The W&B begins at Gas Street Basin.
1 The Worcester & Birmingham’s starting point is Gas Street Basin in the
heart of Birmingham. Passing through the now-defunct ‘Worcester Bar’ lock chamber, the canal makes an abrupt 90º turn outside the Mailbox retail complex and beats a rapid retreat into Edgbaston. Beyond Edgbaston Tunnel is a pleasant stretch of urban canal passing the city’s botanical gardens, University of Birmingham campus and Cadbury World at Bournville.
2 King’s Norton Junction is where the canal meets the northern Stratford
Canal, marked by a handsome toll house, parkland and roving bridge. Convenient mooring rings are located here for a lunchtime stop before the 2,726-yard-long Wast Hill Tunnel. The structure has no towpath but, in spite of appearances, it is wide enough to allow two boats to pass. After around half an hour, you’ll emerge into a different world; gone is the urban sprawl of Birmingham, having been replaced by Worcestershire’s pretty countryside. Hopwood provides a clutch of popular moorings.
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Edgbaston Tunnel.
below: King’s Norton Junction.
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