'Fat Boy' Rides Again!! by ratclima

Sunday July 4^th 2010: I decided to take the mountain bike out on Sunday to recce a commuter route to work. My plan, as you may recall, is to use the extensive canal network in and around Birmingham, apparently more canals than Venice in this land locked city, to commute between the aforementioned city and Wolverhampton a couple of times a week. 20-30 miles round trip twice a week would be a good core mileage.

It can’t be difficult can it to follow a man made stretch of water between two points. After 15 miles ‘en route’ I would like to paint a slightly different picture than that given us by British Waterways. These water ‘super highways’ are probably just that, great for floating craft of the long and thin variety, gaily decorated, with a jungle of pot plants on the roof and possibly the odd wooden duck adorning the pointy bit at the front. Maybe even for those of us wishing to stroll along the canal banks on a sunny summers day or participate in a spot of stick dangling, a ‘sport’ I believe better known as fishing. But for navigating on a bike?

Firstly there is the red tape. Apparently to ride on the towpaths you need a
permit issued by British Waterways, www.waterscape.com/things-to-do/cycling/permit where you sign up to follow the Waterways Code www.waterscape.com/media/documents/versioned/waterways_code_2005.pdf
. However this does not apply if you ride in London where you must just follow the Towpath Code of Conduct www.waterscape.com/canals-and-rivers/regents-canal/londons-towpath-code-of-conduct No doubt all very sensible but also just common sense?

Then there is the signage, or lack of. Now I don’t expect the same level of signage we get on our roads but some clue as to the direction you’re heading in would be useful and this includes those sections covered by the National Cycle Routes scheme. Suffice to say in the time allotted to my ride I never got to Wolverhampton. One particularly useful sign would be that indicating a cross over to the other side of the canal to continue. I very quickly ended up in a dead end twice as I tried to go straight on instead of crossing over.

My ride began well as I pedalled into Birmingham on a well maintained hardcore surface, using the steps up the locks as mini hill sprints and generally enjoying this quiet, hidden greenway into the heart of the city. However I soon came upon my first obstacle, one of many ‘gated’ obstructions installed intermittently along the towpath. I’m not quite sure of their purpose but they force you to dismount and haul your bike over before continuing on your way. Nearing the city centre obstacle number two, tunnels. Quite rightly the towpath codes suggest you to dismount and walk through these. Given the narrowness of the paths and the greatly reduced headroom I would tend to agree, many others apparently either haven’t read the code or are considerably more vertically challenged than I am. Regardless, another good
reason to wear a helmet.

Finally in almost Hitchcokian style aka The Birds, I was first blocked then attacked by a flock of hissing spitting geese as they took umbrage at sharing their patch of towpath with me and my bike.

On the way out of Birmingham and heading towards Wolverhampton the towpath became little more than a dirt track. Not such an issue you’d think with knobbly tyres and a front suspension fork? Ha, more fool you, as the deeply rutted sections either had you slowing down to remain safely in the groove or risk snagging an edge and ending up in the water, the look of which was, well rodents and water fowl have to pee somewhere!!

So for my commute I think I’ll stick to the roads, far safer and easier to navigate. If however you want a traffic free ride out on a sunny day and are not in any rush then give the canals of England a try.