Smethwick to Gas Street Basin

Needing to go to Birmingham, I bought a Rover ticket for the train, and got off at Smethwick Galton Bridge, and headed for the canal. It's first left, by the roadsign.

On the bridge, some firemen were doing rescue training

Galton Bridge was once the largest single span bridge in the world.

One firefighter on the towpath, while another, barely visible through the trees, makes a descent.

This is Galton Tunnel. More of a concrete channel really

I love this stretch of canal. There's a lower route, or a higher route (the higher route is nicer, as the other was built later and is straighter, running through a cutting)

Galton Valley Pumping Station. Old (higher) canal on the right. The lower, newer, branch is just visible, left.

The two canals, old and new, meet here.

Here we can see history - the old brick-built factory on the right, the more recent engineering factory with the blue chimneys, and the newly built warehouses on the left. This is the Soho area, full of engineering and foundries during the Industrial Revolution, but much quieter now.

The canal is left mostly for leisure these days (I ate my lunch here)

The Old Canal meanders in and out of the main route first turning off to the left...

...then coming in from the rght.

Wow - the train startled me: I hadn't realised how close I was to the railway.

And here's the problem with urban canals - a beautiful scene half ruined by graffiti.

A CRT (Canal and River Trust - used to be British Waterways) boat emerges from another branch

Reflected graffiti under a modern road bridge.

And suddenly, just round the corner, proud modern buildings

I was just coming up to Gas Street Basin,

... right in the the centre of Birmingham.

Of which, more in the next blog.

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