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

The 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…

1The 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.

2King’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Birmingham, having been replaced by Worcestershire’s pretty countryside.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.

below: The W&B begins at

Gas Street Basin.

Edgbaston Tunnel.

below: King’s Norton Junction.

Looking down the Tardebigge flight.

Approaching Bridge 30 at Dunhampstead. Alvechurch.

Tardebigge Tunnel. BOOK NOW FOR THE FESTIVAL OF WATER

Join us for a weekend of festivities at Perdiswell Park, Worcester, on 29th31st August. Book a mooring or campsite pitch for just £35 for the whole weekend, including evening entertainment. Entry to the festival and car parking are free. More information, including how to book your mooring or pitch, is available online at waterways.org.uk/festivalofwater.

3Alvechurch comes next with its marina and array of brightly painted hirecraft. The town’s railway station is located just over the hedgerow and provides direct links to Birmingham, Lichfield and Redditch, while the centre of Alvechurch is around a 15-minute walk away. The canal heads into lush countryside before a deep cutting leads to the 613-yard Shortwood Tunnel, shortly followed by Tardebigge Tunnel. Pleasant moorings located opposite

New Wharf give boaters the chance to prepare for the challenge ahead.

4Your journey down the Tardebigge flight begins at Top Lock No 58 – look out for the plaque commemorating the meeting of Rolt and Aickman located on the lockside. On your descent, you’ll pass the old engine house near

Lock 57, once needed to maintain the flight’s water supply, and at Lock 54 you’ll be afforded your first view of Tardebigge Reservoir. The short pound between locks 29 and 28 provides a well-earned opportunity for rest and recuperation, with the perennially popular Queens Head being ideally located for this purpose.

5After negotiating the two six-lock flights at Stoke Wharf and Atwood, a 5-mile pound provides welcome respite from all the windlass-wielding activity and gives boaters the chance to appreciate the lush, rural surrounds. The meeting point with the Droitwich Junction Canal at Hanbury

Wharf marks a pleasant interval with the Eagle & Sun pub overlooking a large workshop, chandlery and rows of moored boats. Sedate progress continues as the canal skirts the quiet settlements of Shernal Green,

Dunhampstead and Oddingley. Good moorings and a handy range of facilities are on offer a little further on at Tibberton.

6Six locks at Offerton raise the canal towards the centre of Worcester where you’ll find plentiful visitor moorings close to the Festival of Water site,

Perdiswell Park. On leaving the cathedral city, the W&B ends at Diglis

Basins where narrowboats rub shoulders with sleek motor-cruisers and trip-boats. You can wind here for your return journey to Birmingham, or volunteer lock-keepers will assist you through the two broad locks that emerge onto the River Severn.