Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Midland Metro crosses at Golds Green
.
There are plenty of flowers to brighten things up. Birdsfoot trefoil accompanies blackber-
ries and there are no less than three shades of clover adding a splash of colour in summer.
A bridge arch carries the towpath over the entrance to Holloway Bank Wharf. This comes
before a 3km straight that is closely followed by powerlines. Houses on the outskirts of West
Bromwich are nearby on the right beyond long grass. More wild vegetation on the left stands
at the top of a high embankment with a stream, pond, college and school at the foot
The land gradually rises again to Church Hill at Wednesbury. A short aqueduct carries the
canal over a minor road before the canal runs into a deep cutting. This ends just before the
large A4031 bridge. The canal emerges to cross an aqueduct over a minor road, with a public
house below on the left, and then crosses another aqueduct over the railway.
An island divides the canal as it prepares to turn on to its most dramatic section, the
kilometre-long embankment that runs high across the Tame Valley. The canal first crosses the
western arm of the M5 on a concrete aqueduct. The height of the embankment can be judged
by looking at the elevated section of the M6. This runs beside the canal but can be seen mov-
ing away to the north-west on spindly columns. A stop gate provides protection as the canal
approaches the aqueduct that is to carry it across the River Tame.
At the far side of the valley the motorway climbs away up to Great Barr. The canal divides
around another island as it approaches Rushall Junction, where it was joined by the Rushall
Canal to win the coal trade from the Cannock mines. This is now a popular cruising link. The
water quality in the Tame Valley Canal improves from here with the only visible wild plants
being clumps of watercress along the edges.
The canal then passes under the eastern arm of the M5 and subsequently leaves the noise
and traffic behind. It It dives into a deep, peaceful wooded cutting, where the pleasantly rur-
