The Grand Union Canal - Birmingham to Bordesley Junction and Typhoo Basin Section.

The Grand Union Canal Main Line seems to officially start at Salford Junction in Birmingham

- it soon reaches a canal junction at Bordesley where it is joined by the Digbeth Arm. The Digbeth Arm itself could also perhaps be considered part of The Grand Union Canal. Generally speaking the Grand Union Canal photos below show the bridges and locks involved on the canal's route south looking from both directions. However each time we have visited Birmingham the smog and unhelpful sunshine angle has meant we only have photos from Salford Junction to Bordesley Junction from one direction i.e. as if heading north. Sadly one of the "features" in this part of Birmingham is the appalling amount of graffiti everywhere - just about anything flat has been scribbled and painted on by these morons. Whilst wandering along the towpath we stopped to talk to some people - they said that much of the crap had been cleaned up at considerable expense but the delinquents had re-covered it all with their mess within weeks. This is a real shame because some of the old bridges as well as many of the canal-side warehouses etc. have obviously got lovely brickwork and shapes.

In our version of the Nicholson Waterways Guide the locks which make up the

Grand Union Canal Garrison Lock Flight

(photos above) are shown numbered in a 60's sequence however these canal locks are actually marked as we have shown i.e. no.1 no.2 etc. - the book's numbering is shown in ( )s

The fairly narrow

Ashted Tunnel in Birmingham

is 94 metres in length and only able to accommodate boats passing through it in one direction at a time - there is a railed towpath inside the tunnel though if on foot you may need to be careful of not banging your head as the tunnel's roof is quite curved on the sides. When exiting from the northern end of the tunnel you are immediately faced with the lock-gates of the first of the Ashted Lock Flight (Lock1).

Curzon Street Tunnel and The Digbeth Branch.

Curzon Street Tunel is wide enough for boats to pass through in both directions - the tunnel is 147 metres long and has a railed towpath along its route. When looking at a map it's apparent that really the tunnel is just a series of joined up railway bridges - there are six railway lines going across the top, the rest of the top area seems to be wasteground where once there must have been some large warehouses or similar - now demolished. The Digbeth (canal) Branch - opened in 1799 the 1.25 mile long Digbeth Branch links the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal at Aston Junction with the Grand Union Canal at Digbeth Junction. The drop of 40 feet is achieved by use of six locks at Ashted Lock Flight. Typhoo Basin was so named because of the huge Typhoo Tea Building located there although to be correct it should actually be called the Digbeth Basin.
As you wander along the canals which criss cross in and around Birmingham you often come across short side-arms or at least can see where they once were. These mini-inlets - which often were only a few hundred yards long - were created as an alternative to simply having wharfs along the actual canal and provided the "off-canal" needs for a group of factories or warehouses. Sadly many of these side-arms have been filled in or blocked off although you can sometimes tell where they were as the towpath will just climb up and over a nicely brick built arm-entrance.