The canals and disused railways of the West Midlands have encouraged many locals to map their own favourite routes: after all, one of the most enjoyable aspects of cycling around Birmingham is discovering historic urban details. Push Bikes, Birmingham’s cycle campaign, produces an excellent set of ‘Urban Explorer’ routes that can be downloaded from their website. West Midlands Cycling catalogues off-road routes in each area, and the Birmingham Cycling Greenways site has lots of useful canal info.