Paddle through the past

Jonathan Manning joins an illuminating kayaking trip on Birmingham’s canal network

With no current, side winds are the only issue. Image courtesy of Keith Wraight

If all roads lead to Rome, then perhaps all canals lead to Birmingham’s Gas Street Basin. Its arteries stretch as far as Gloucester, Chester, Manchester, London and York, with onward connections across the country. Rivers may have drawn settlers to build villages and towns on their banks, but it’s canals that often transformed them into cities; commercial conduits that carried raw materials to factories and finished products to customers.

To paddle Birmingham’s canals is to follow waterways that were shipping coal from the Black Country into the city as early as 1769, and then transported thousands of manufactured goods in a nationwide starburst of directions.

Within minutes of taking to the water, our guide, Keith Wraight, is pointing out the former factory of papermaker James Baldwin, who patented the square-bottomed paper bag in 1853, and the old Quadrant Cycle Company works, which at the start of the 20th century progressed to making motorbikes. Later, we’ll paddle past a Cadbury brother’s factory, built before the confectionery giant famously moved to Bournville. Brick walls by the water’s edge still carry the branding of the factories’ original owners, from warehouse operators to brewers – some faded, others freshly painted.

This is the true history of Birmingham; a past not of kings, bishops and barons, but where real lives were lived. A history where lamplighters carried a torch and ladder to illuminate the city’s dark streets, and where night soil men carted away human waste in the decades before sewers.

Keith has a gruesome account of a father and his 12-year-old son killed while trying to clear a two-storey pile of muck onto a barge. Today, the canals appear murky but fairly clean. “I wouldn’t drink it,” says Keith, who advises a decent dollop of anti-bac handwash after the tour. “But there are otters and kingfishers here.”

We only spot geese, squabbling territorially, but we hear a peregrine falcon that nests on the landmark BT Tower, and there’s loads more to see along the wharfs. All life passes by, from commuters to dog walkers, shoppers to joggers, cyclists to food delivery riders in a rush. People smile and children wave, a paddle somehow conferring C-list celebrity status upon our small group of four.

We pass residential narrowboats – these bobbing equivalents of seasonal-pitch caravans are joined on the water by touring vessels that can moor for a different number of nights depending on the season. Watching a 70ft boat attempt a five-point turn in a compact basin triggers stressful memories of trying to reverse a caravan into a tight pitch while the world looked on.

Pride of the Midlands

Narrowboats lined the route

Central Birmingham may not be able to compete with the majesty of Venice and its 150 canals, but there’s no shortage of Midlands pride in the fact that Brum’s waterways stretch farther. What it lacks in numbers and gondolas poled by opera singers, Birmingham makes up for in distance and a Black Sabbath Bridge, a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne and band.

In fact, the Birmingham Canal Navigations system spans 100 miles in its entirety, with waterways stretching to 35 miles within the city, says Keith. Whatever the distance, the boldness of the vision, the entrepreneurial confidence and the engineering genius required to dig the canals along level contour lines and construct locks and lifts to conquer gravity is awe-inspiring. The first barge of coal apparently halved the transport cost of horse and cart.

There were politics, too, in the construction of the canals, with the Birmingham Canal Navigations Company refusing to share its precious water with a new canal to Worcester. The result? An impassable seven-foot Worcester Bar barrier between the two canals that forced boats to transfer their goods from one side to the other.

Gliding through the city

Industrial history is ever-present

Today, we’re paddling broad, sit-on-top kayaks that prove to be reassuringly stable. With no current, only the head and side winds channelled between the canal-side buildings demand any effort. Gliding through the city centre is remarkably easy, which allows us time to gaze up at the surroundings.

Fascinating to observe is the juxtaposition of old and new buildings, industrial red brick mirrored in gleaming glass. The transformation of a once giant sorting office into the Mailbox complex of shops, bars and restaurants prompts Keith to tell an anecdote about jewellers from Birmingham’s famous Jewellery Quarter. They would apparently post their valuables to themselves on a Friday, because the gold and gems were safer with the Royal Mail than left in their shops and workshops.

Drips fall from the blade of my paddle onto my shoes, but the exercise is sufficient to keep me warm against the April chill. Woodsmoke curls gently from the chimneys of cosy narrowboats and there’s a similarly relaxed atmosphere on the tour, with none of the running-to-catch-up anxieties of a city walking tour.

Our pace is leisurely, with no question of anyone being left behind. Any stationary moments waiting for a narrowboat to turn are filled with endless things to see, from reflections to goslings, memorials to a giant Lego giraffe.

Two hours pass in a flash, and as we scramble from the kayaks back onto a pontoon at the end of the tour, it’s impossible to disagree with the slogan painted on the steps of Arena Birmingham: “We believe life is better by water.”

• Caravan and Motorhome Club members can claim 10% off the price of a new Paddle UK ‘On the Water’ membership. This includes a waterways licence, public liability insurance cover and more – for more information and terms and conditions visit camc.com/paddleuk.

Information

The Bustling Birmingham kayak tour costs £35-40.

Contact: roundhousebirmingham.org.uk, 0121 716 4077

Stay: Chapel Lane Club Campsite

Three more waterway trips

River Dart, Devon

Paddle a beautiful stretch of the River Dart into the rolling hills of Devon, with loads of wildlife to spot, on a four-hour guided canoe trip (£45pp).

Info: paddledevon.co.uk, 07527 422055

Stay: Steamer Quay or Ramslade Club campsites

Cromford Canal, Derbyshire

Enjoy a gentle paddle along the Cromford Canal, from Cromford to High Peak Junction, on a guided one-hour tour in a tandem kayak (£40 for two people).

Info: cromfordkayaks.co.uk

Stay: Firs Club Campsite

Llangollen Canal, North Wales

Take a guided tour over the spectacular Pontcysyllte Aqueduct on a two-hour adventure along the Llangollen Canal in two-person canoes (£39pp).

Info: tnroutdoors.co.uk, 01978 860 700

Stay: Lady Margaret’s Park Club Campsite