Warwickshire Ring - Route - Birmingham and Fazeley Canal

Birmingham and Fazeley Canal

At Salford Junction, boaters following the Warwickshire Ring turn to the right onto the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, which is sandwiched between the backs of factories and the M6 motorway. The route passes a major electricity high voltage distribution centre on the south bank, before reaching Erdington Hall, where a factory has been built over the canal, almost forming a tunnel, although one side remains open to the light. Close by was Fort Dunlop, where the Dunlop Rubber company made pneumatic tyres, employing 10,000 workers at the peak of production in the 1950s.

Eventually the canal re-emerges into the comparative calm of Minworth, where three locks lower the level of the canal. To the south is Minworth Sewage Treatment Works, one of the largest in Britain, capable of treating 220 million gallons (1000 Megalitres) per day. The canal continues through a cutting lined with trees, through the short Curdworth tunnel, which is 57 yards (52 m) long, to pass under the M6 Toll motorway. The first of the eleven Curdworth locks is immediately after the bridge, and the canal continues through open countryside and flooded gravel pits, although the M42 motorway is never far away to the east.

Some of the gravel pits have been landscaped to form Kingsbury Water Park, which covers 600 acres (240 ha) and contains 30 lakes and pools, providing activities including walking, nature trails, sailing, windsurfing, power boating and horse riding. There is also a children's farm at Broomey Croft. At Fazeley, the canal runs alongside Drayton Manor Theme Park, and crosses Bourne Brook, another tributary of the River Tame, to arrive at Fazeley Junction and the Coventry Canal.