Canal walks in Birmingham: five towpath routes

All five of these walks start at Gas Street Basin, off Broad Street in B1, and all of them are free and on public towpath. Pick one by how long you have: the Roundhouse is a stroll, Selly Oak is an afternoon. Wear shoes you do not mind getting towpath on.

1. Gas Street to the Roundhouse

Short, city centre. Take the Birmingham Canal Main Line north from the basin. Within a furlong you pass under Black Sabbath Bridge, the Broad Street crossing with the band's bench on it, and then the Symphony Hall footbridge at Brindleyplace. Carry on to Old Turn Junction, where the canal splits by the arena, and keep left on the Main Line towards Sheepcote Street.

The Roundhouse, the horseshoe-shaped building at 1 Sheepcote Street in B16, was built in 1873 and 1874 as stables and stores and owned by the Canal & River Trust. Its tours and kayaks have stopped, as Roundhouse Birmingham has closed its visitor centre, but the courtyard and the Italian restaurant inside are open. Walk back the same way.

2. Farmer's Bridge locks to Aston Junction

The best of the city centre. From Old Turn Junction, take the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal north. It drops straight into the Farmer's Bridge flight: 13 locks falling 81 feet, finished in 1789 under John Smeaton. The locks run down past Cambrian Wharf, the moorings at the top, and then underneath roads and office blocks in a sequence of dark arches and sudden light.

Stop at the top for the Canal & River Trust's Toll House Welcome Hub, run by volunteers, or for a pint at The Flapper on Cambrian Wharf, which has a beer garden on the canal edge. At the bottom of the flight is Aston Junction. You can turn back here, carry on down the eleven Aston locks towards Salford Junction, or take walk three.

3. The Digbeth Branch to Warwick Bar

For the industrial bit. At Aston Junction, the Digbeth Branch heads south east: about a mile and a quarter, with six locks dropping 40 feet. It goes through the short Ashted Tunnel under Jennens Road and past the site of the new HS2 station at Curzon Street, where the last lock sits under the approach. It ends at Warwick Bar, behind the old Proof House, where it met the Warwick and Birmingham Canal, now part of the Grand Union. From here, Digbeth and the Custard Factory are a short walk. Combine walks two and three and you have crossed the city centre without seeing a car.

4. The Worcester and Birmingham to the University and Selly Oak

Green, longer. From the Worcester Bar, follow the Worcester and Birmingham Canal south along the back of the Mailbox. Heading towards Edgbaston, you pass through Edgbaston Tunnel, a short 105 yards, then reach the University of Birmingham, where University station sits right alongside the canal. Cross-City trains run back to New Street from here, so it makes a tidy one-way walk.

Keep going and you reach Selly Oak, about three and a quarter miles from Gas Street by Canalplan's count, where the canal crosses the A38 on the Ariel Aqueduct, built in 2011. Bournville and the Cadbury works, once one of the canal's biggest customers, are a little further south. The whole canal runs 29 miles to the Severn at Worcester, with 58 locks, 30 of them at Tardebigge. That is another day.

5. The Main Line to Smethwick

For engineering. Past the Roundhouse, the Main Line runs west towards Smethwick. This is Thomas Telford's New Main Line, cut between 1824 and 1838 to straighten James Brindley's winding original. The highlight is Telford's deep cutting at Smethwick and Galton Bridge, Telford's cast-iron bridge made at the Horseley Iron Works. Nearby, the Engine Arm Aqueduct carries a feeder from Edgbaston Reservoir over the canal.

Which walk, then

First time on the cut: walks one and two together, out to the Roundhouse and back, then down Farmer's Bridge. Want trees and quiet: walk four, with the train back from University. Like your history with rust on it: walks two and three, ending at Warwick Bar. And if anyone tells you there is not much canal left in the city, the Canal & River Trust counts 35 miles of it. You have barely started.

Towpath rules

• Stay away from the edge. It is the Canal & River Trust's first piece of advice, and it is right.
• Towpaths are shared. Bikes should slow down and ring; walkers should keep left and listen.
• Locks are working machinery. Do not sit on the balance beams if a boat is coming through.
• The city centre sections are lit and busy. The quieter stretches out of town are better in daylight.