Erdington to Birmingham City Centre – Full Cycle Route using Quiet Streets and Cycle Paths

Welcome to Bike Routes of Brum! A Channel dedicated to showing safe and quiet cycle routes to cycle around Birmingham – inspired by @Londoncycleroutes

In this video we will be cycling from Erdington High Street to Chamberlain Square in the City Centre. The route heads from Erdington, through Spaghetti Junction and Aston before joining the A34 Cycle Route into town.

The route should take about 45 minutes to cycle and the .GPX file for the route is below:

https://www.komoot.com/tour/1391099331

hi you’re watching bike roots of Brum a channel dedicated to finding safe cycle routes across birum in this video we’ll be cycling from erdington High Street in the north of the city to Chamberlain Square in the city center in this route we’ll be using quiet streets shared Pathways and the a34 blue route and it should take about 45 minutes to cycle the routs a little convoluted and the fastest way is probably to use the canals but this route should work okay in the dark winter months when the canals are a little less appealing I also forgot how hid it was around dington so just bear that in mind when you’re doing the route in Reverse I’ve put a link to the route into the description below so you can download the GPX file for yourself so today we’re starting at the end of the pedestrianized part of Edington High Street and we drop down onto the road and head south uh now this part of the road is one way so just bear that in mind if you’re coming in the opposite direction we go past the Central Square shopping center and continue onto the two-way part of the road and Past St Barnabas Church there when you left which has a really nice looking Cafe in the glass part that you could see now we’re going to take a left onto Church Road where you can see some of the bike symbols in the road now these are what we’re basically going to follow all the way until we get to Spaghetti Junction and they seem to be quite helpful in guiding us onto the quietest streets obviously I’d prefer a bike lane but at least there’s some indication to give drivers that we’re meant to be here now we’ve just taken a right onto tra Road and we follow this then all the way along here up to the lights um I don’t live around here so I can’t really comment on how busy or quiet these roads are especially as a filing this on a Saturday morning but I get the impression that they’re okay to cycle along um and we go straight over the crossroads here and onto Oakfield Road where the bike symbols guide us to the end of the road here uh up to this little T Junction where we’re going to take a left onto wood end Lane now I get the impression that this road is a little busier because it’s not as kind of tight as the other roads um but I mean you’ll probably be fine um the road does seem a little bit hilly which might slow you down a bit and I’m not really sure what the speed limit is around here I’m going to guess 30 so just bear that in mind as you’re cycling around now we go past that nice row of houses and continue along here for a little bit and you can just see now at this T Junction we’re actually going to pop onto this pavement here where it seems that cyclists are kind of forced then onto Kingsbury Road now the road quality along this was pretty poor um if you’re on a road bike it’s really not going to be fun to cycle along here so I’d maybe think about just sticking to the main road but again the payoff or kind of difference of that is it’s going to be a lot busier on there um we continue along this shed pavement and then pop off and cross the road onto Lind Hurst Road there just be aware of you know people parking right in front of where where you meant to cross so you can’t see we go on lindur road and follow this down now this is actually quite a steep hill which I didn’t realize when I was planning the route it was brilliant cycle down but uh if you come in the other way probably not so fun but we go right here and then onto erdington Hall Road uh I think part of the problem when you’re planning these routes I just tend to look on Google Maps and you know um the AAL view all looks fine and then suddenly you realize it’s the hilliest place in the world I mean I should have thought really that this is grally Hill um not far from around here so that really should have given me an indication but never mind um we continue anyway along here and over these little Junction and onto oval Road uh the reason for this name will become apparent because there’s a great big oval sort of roundabout in the middle of it um one thing I noticed cycling around here is when you do get a chance to see between the buildings the views are actually amazing um you can just see here as we go around here this little Gap that you can see right in front of us there the actual view down there over the motorway is you can see really far I didn’t realize how high up you were around here and then when you kind of go on minstead road straight in front of you the camera doesn’t really do any justice but you can see the city right in the distance and it does actually look really cool now this Road continues round this Bend not too steep at this part but as you can see it just just just gradually kind of get steeper so just factor that in if you’re going the other way now you can just about make out the beautiful raised section of Spaghetti Junction there really uh is a stunning sight but we get down here and where the symbols tell us to we hop up onto this multi-use pavement and down this ramp uh into sford circus uh if you’re ever wondering what the underneath of Spaghetti Junction looks like here it is um I’m not really sure what I was expecting to be honest it’s just a bunch of concrete pillars uh there’s no real sign of a path so just make your way directly to the opposite side where we’re going to go under this underpass and take a left up the ramp which will take us around this corner and onto Lichfield road now we passed under this part of the m6 and over the tame Valley canal and the river tame uh if you want to join the canals you’d cross over and make your way down to the next left and that will take you all the way um into town basically but instead we’re going to turn into southford park here and then to the Aston Reservoir now this part might not be the best in the dark but I thought it was a nice sunny day when I was going along it so I thought it might be quite nice to film um it’s a shared pathway along Lichfield Road there so if you wanted to just keep going and uh keep to the right when it splits onto ason Hall Road um where this path we actually eventually meet um one of the big problems I think with this part of the city is that the motorway really does split the city into two um there’s very few safe quiet routes to get from one side to the other that doesn’t involve using the canal and so when I’m looking at planning routes I just find myself you know it Le leads you all up to a canal all through a big industrial estate and in this side we’re going to have to go through the industrial State way because I kind of wanted to avoid the canals on some of these routes but you know the way the city’s set up it it really does make it difficult at times and it doesn’t really include it doesn’t help you want to cycle but we’re going to drop down now onto Aston Hall Road Round that roundabout and continue going around here um I don’t know how busy this would be um in the mornings probably not that busy if you’re around on Match day um just because we’re very close to Villa Park now it’ be heaving so just bear that in mind but on this quiet Saturday and if you’re looking at using this to commute You’ probably be all right we now take a left onto groa Road um this is one way for cars but as you can see there’s a a cycle path kind of just painted on going the other way uh this is one of the big problems actually around here is the cyclopaths are just absolutely crap as you can see it’s just filled with cars so it does force you out into the bit into the road a little bit uh whether it’s like that all the time whether it’s just a Saturday morning I’m not not sure but we take a right then onto Alfred Street um and we’re going to follow this for a little bit now there’s multiple ways you could get to eventually we’re trying to end up at the um the bridge that crosses the a38 motorway so this is just one way of going um take a right here onto Church Road um there’s multiple ways if you have a look on Google Maps you can just kind of strike the best way that you think is possible um we’re going to go up onto sick more Road here and follow this um as you can see I got lost a little bit there which is why the camera jerks around a bit um this seemed to be quite a quiet street can’t imagine there’s much through traffic here in fact I don’t think there is any because it’s just kind of one bigger State um one of the ways you could come is just with this park on the right if you went through the park it would take you basically to the um where the trinity church is by Aston um so that would be another way to come is just to skip through here but I think that road is a little busy so this way seemed a bit quieter um this road curves around onto Park Road North where we’re running parallel basically with the a38 motorway um and we’re going to come to the end of the road over there where we’re going to hop up onto the curb that you can see and we’re going to basically um go around this path now whether cycle was meant to be on here I’m not really sure um didn’t look like a proper way to get onto it I just had to hop the curb so just you know bear in mind with pedestrians as you come to park circus here we go over the bridge here and you get a stunning view of the a38 motorway and if you really wanted to take in the view there’s some benches there overlooking the motorway for some reason I don’t know who sits there um yeah it doesn’t make any sense but we’re going to take a right now and then go up this uh ramp here and then onto this little road here called upper Thomas Street now if you watch The Villa Park video that I did if you go straight on you’ll get to uh Aston park there we’re going to go left onto albert road now if you’ve watched The Villa Park video if you follow this road and then go on to Wht Road and take a left it will basically take you up to the a34 cycle route but I didn’t want to rehash the same video so we turn left now onto upper setting Street where you can see the cycle symbols come up to the lights and go straight over and continue along here for a little bit um I don’t think this road will get too busy because again there’s not really a through traffic from what I can remember it just kind of goes straight and then curves around so it’s not too bad to cycle along um the only issue you have is that when it comes to the end once we cross over this little road here um I don’t think when I tried to plot this bit out on Kimo it didn’t seem to want to let me go this way to certain street so if you’ve downloaded the GPX file and you’re following it it might take you a slightly different route because uh I think the path that we’re about to go down here isn’t an official cycle route at all um so we just go around here and again it’s going to be another hop up onto the curb job so just onto here and you can just see this little path now on the left uh I’m pretty sure you know motorcycle down there but it’s um covered in tree roots as well which make it quite difficult to cycle along but we’re on to southstar close and then left here and then we’re going to take a right onto Philips Street um again the easiest way might be to basically do the reverse of what I did in the in the Aston V VI Park video but um this just seemed a different way to go I thought I’d mix it up a little bit so we’re coming now to the a34 where we’re going to take a left and then come to these uh traffic lights and cross over and then there’s a little ramp here that you can cycle up again don’t know if you me to cycle along it not really sure um but we go up this ramp here and cross where we’re going to join the ace 34 cycle route for good um like I’ve said before this just seemed another way for me to go that I basic wasn’t rehashing and refiling the same bits that I’ve already done before um unfortunately you’re going to have to see this bit that I’ve already filmed in Reverse but at least it’s a much sunnier day and so you can see it is quite a nice bit to cycle along especially we got the city um in the distance cycling this way is actually quite nice now in case for some strange reason you haven’t watched all of my other videos and I suggest you absolutely do um the a34 cycle route is one of the two Flag ship cycle Lanes in the city uh the other one being the a38 cycle Lane um this one runs from the edge of the city center all the way up to Perry bar um it was opened in 2019 and I think it was meant to end up at the Alexander Stadium for the Commonwealth Games but like University train station it still hasn’t quite completed its objective yet uh maybe one day it will um who knows they’re not perfect uh by any stretch of the imagination but they are probably the best pieces of infrastructure that we have and I actually really enjoy riding along them um the a34 route does actually seem to go past more residential places than the a38 one uh which I think is good as that’s really what these types of lanes should be used for they’re great for getting people around the city quickly by bike you know and people will use them as long as they go between places that people actually want to go to like the a38 cycle Lane is great but it only goes between the edge of the city center and the university in s o doesn’t really go anywhere else unless you want to go between those two places it’s not so great and getting to it isn’t always easy but we end the a34 route there and we’re onto this shared bit of path by Lancaster circus and the Aston fly over now you could be brave and go down those steps there but if you want to go and be safe by bike you have to go around here and then all the way down this uh path where it split between pedestrians and cyclists but not everyone follows the right side that they meant to but doesn’t really matter uh now this is a slightly Nic um bit of underpass that we’ve been to apart from Spaghetti Junction um you know it’s got trees and stuff which is a bit nicer uh we go left out of here onto this shed pathway and we’re now onto this other blue bit don’t know if this is actually considered to be part of the a34 blue route um but we come off onto steelhouse lane and then follows this road round which is steel House Lane uh you got the Children’s Hospital on the right and you’ve got the old police station and the West Midlands police Museum on the left um I’ve not been I’ve heard it’s actually pretty good uh so maybe that’s one to do in the future and easily accessible by bike so there’s something something to think about um now this road is one way so um you only have to worry about cars coming behind you um now it does go to kind of two directions but the road spins off behind you come up to this roundabout and we’re going to actually hop up onto colore circus Queens Way where we can go through on your bike uh there’s a nice little ramp here past the Wesleyan building and we go over the tram lines follow this bit down and it punts us then onto Colmore row you’ve got Snow Hill station there on your right and the Old contemptibles Pub down there if you’re looking for somewhere good to go another drink uh you got the cathedral there on your left and pigeon Park as well now this bit isn’t the best to cycle on I suppose because you got lots of buses going on but you’re never going to get anybody bombing it past you um so it’s not too bad but again I’ve said it before in other videos cycling the city center isn’t great you’ve just got to kind of just make your way through regardless of what’s going to happen um Co K Moro going that way is isn’t too bad but if you go in the opposite direction it’s not great um but we’re into Victoria Square now got the market so you meant to Dismount here but I don’t think I did uh but I did here and then we’re now into Chamberlain Square where we finish the video thanks again for watching the video hope that you found it useful if you have any other ideas for alternate roots or once to mention anything that I’ve forgotten please feel free to comment below I try to upload these videos as much as I can so don’t forget to subscribe to the channel so you don’t miss any Roots thanks again for watching