please empty your brain below

I studied for my first degree at Aston University and walked the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal many times. You've just brought me right back there. Fabulous post DG, thank you.
@THC - I agree this is is a fantastic read. I lived in Birmingham for 5 years and passed over Spaghetti Junction many times but had no idea there was so much of interest underneath. Am also intrigued as to what everybody's favourite Londoner was doing in the second city.
.. was doing in the second city.

It is allowed! There is a certain tendency among some Londoners to treat the rest of the world as not worth visiting. Like so many other bits of mental laziness, DG does not do this! (Not that you suggested he did, of course).

I'm off now to Wikipedia to find out more about a place I thought I knew a bit, but clearly didn't. Thanks DG.
I did my first degree at UCE and lived right by Villa Park, I used to spend hours exploring round the area and this post brought back loads of great memories :)
I am a Brummie and I have never seen the underside of the Spaghetti Junction apart from a quick glimpse from the car. Thank you.
Now I wonder how many Londoners travel to Birmingham to look at the underneath of a Motorway junction!.
I happened to be passing through on a narrow boat while they were building it. The contractors had inadvertently obstructed the canal, illegally, so they used their crane to lift us over the obstruction. Those were the days!
@ Malcolm - I definitely agree that some of DG's most interesting posts are about places outside London; my point was more related to the fact that I don't remember him ever blogging about Birmingham before.

Ironically I am probably opposite to the type of Londoner you describe as I left London when I was a kid and have lived all over the place since then; therefore I have a slightly romantic view of the place not sullied by actually having to work and commute there.
Ah Birmingham - the "Venice of the North". (Manchester makes a similar claim) Yes, they both have more miles of canals than their Italian rival - which doesn't seem keen to claim itself to be eithert the Birmingham of the South or the Manchester ditto - but they is also far bigger, so the comparison is hardly fair.

What intrigues me about the construction of Gravelly Hill is that each slip road seems to be supported entirely separately from the others - no supporting column is used by more than one viaduct. This would allow them to remove/replace any one viaduct without touching the others.
Salford is not a suburb - it's a city!
'...but you probably haven't ventured underneath to discover an even older form of transport lurking in the shadows'
I have! I have!
http://www.chertsey130.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/dawn-til-dusk.html

There's a link in that post too to a really well researched set of posts on disused parts of the BCN, for anyone who really can't get enough of it
Sarah, thanks for another really enjoyable read - I particularly liked the tail of the canoeist falling in the cut - and thanks again for the onward links to Ahab's dissections of lost canals. I'm looking forward to reading them.
Sarah, thanks for another really enjoyable read - I particularly liked the tail of the canoeist falling in the cut - and thanks again for the onward links to Ahab's dissections of lost canals. I'm looking forward to reading them.
good piece of exploration DG. Been under there many times and it always delights! For info there are 2 rivers as the Rea flows into the Tame there.
Best wishes
"Am also intrigued as to what everybody's favourite Londoner was doing in the second city."

Taking advantage of London Midland's 'Great Escapes' offer during the half term weeks, I imagine - a bargain !
I'd just like to support Dan's point that Salford is definitely *not* a suburb of Manchester.

http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/towns/manchester1.html

The City of Salford is a metropolitan borough that lies within Greater Manchester. To say otherwise could lead you to sound like...er....

http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1426278_jeremy-clarkson-id-rather-quit-top-gear-than-join-bbc-move-to-small-suburb-salford
Been along there by canal a couple of times, most recently in July 2011. The Birmingham & Fazeley canal comes down from Gas Street basin in the middle of the city, tucks behind and under buildings, weaves through Spaghetti Junction and before you know it you're out in the countryside.
By the way, it was always 'boatmen' on the narrow boats, and they would have taken great offence at being referred to as bargees.










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