Sutton Coldfield to Birmingham

The Bike North Birmingham project has created two good-quality routes from Sutton Coldfield, starting in parkland before delivering you to the canals for the bulk of the journey. NCN 534 goes via the New Hill Valley; NCN 535 is a westerly route past Witton Lakes. The Birmingham & Fazeley Canal then continues to the city centre via Spaghetti Junction.

The canal climbs through 25 locks to Birmingham, so it’s not flat. The surface is mixed, sometimes good-quality brick or tarmac, but with rough cobbles past locks. Though clearly slower than the A5127, this is a much more enjoyable route.

Selly Oak to Birmingham

The Worcester & Birmingham Canal is perhaps the city’s best canal route. Flat and direct, it links Bournville, Selly Oak and Edgbaston to the city centre. The surface may not be tarmac but is generally good quality. There’s no cycling past Gas Street Basin, in the city centre, but you can dive off onto back streets here.

Bike life

Birmingham’s status as an emerging cycle city means there’s a real fellowship among bike riders. Bike shops are friendly and helpful, with long-established outlets now being joined by modern-style shops which will sell you a latte with your lubricant. A busy events calendar includes repair sessions, family rides, Critical Mass and jumble sales.

Cycle parking is improving, with some 600 locations across the city. Bike theft is far from endemic but you should still take care locking up your steed, particularly in the centre; New Street station is notorious for it. You can take bikes on any local London Midland train without booking; the longer-distance Virgin, CrossCountry and Arriva trains are less easy.

Push Bikes, Birmingham’s cycle advocacy group, campaigns for better facilities and publishes an informative newsletter. The city also has an active Sustrans ranger group.

Cycle hire

There’s no Boris-style municipal bike hire scheme, but private company On Your Bike rents out all kinds of cycles. You can also hire bikes from Cycle Chain, a bike shop on a boat at Cambrian Wharf (turn north at the NIA; the wharf is soon after, just above the first lock).

Roads

Even though the ‘concrete collar’ now longer encircles the city centre completely, the central roads remain hostile territory for cyclists. This is true of both the ring roads (Queensway and Middleway) and the arterial roads that take traffic into the city. These arteries also have frequent bus services, another hazard for the unwary. Some have been gifted with cycle lanes or paths, including shared-use underpasses beneath roundabouts. As is so often the case, though, they’re rarely designed to the highest standards.

With care you can find a back-street route that avoids the snarlups, though Birmingham’s estates tend to funnel traffic onto a small number of through-routes. Two routes are signposted from the city centre, one to Bordesley and Shirley, another to Ward End and Castle Vale.

20mph limits are uncommon, but the council is planning to impose more across the city. Contraflows for cyclists are also becoming more frequent.

More happily, cycles are permitted on most of the city-centre pedestrianised streets, such as New Street and High Street. The Bullring shopping development is out-of-bounds, but you can cycle underneath now that the ring road has been broken.

Birmingham is a hillier city than outsiders might think, and a bike with forgiving gears will stand you in good stead – though there are several hardened fixie riders in the city.