Riding the Canals, ever do it?

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canals aren't like the track mind you, speed is not the main criteria, more a leisurely look at nature in nice surrounding ( well apart from the birmingham bit ! )

The part of the canal near Birmingham university and Cadburys is actually pretty idyllic, very pleasant ride into city centre from there. But the Gas street basin bit is horrific, if you want to ride from digbeth to brindley place (near ICC/NIA, broad st etc) you have to go in a massive loop around city centre, loads of low tunnels and extremely rutted cobbles.

If you want to go past this point to get to west bromwich/smethwick (where the Brooks factory and Archie Wilkinson cycles is) the paths become unpaved. So like I said earlier it gets boggy for most of the year. There is some impressive looking bridges along the way though.