The Shropshire Union Canal – Wolves to Gnosall – Linking Route 81 & 55 of The National Cycle Network

In this video I cycle up the Shropshire Union Canal, engineered by Thomas Telford from its start at Autherley Junction, Wolverhampton to Gnosall. This is to see if we can link the National Cycle routes 81 to 55 and provide a traffic free route from the West Midlands to Stafford and beyond.

Other videos mentioned in the video:

Pontcycyllte Aqueduct

Route 55

Buy me a beer
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/cyclingn8

Thanks for watching!

hello and welcome to the start of the shopshire Union Canal on the edge of wolver Hampton this canal runs from here all the way up to elmir Port linking the cities of wolver Hampton and Birmingham to the river Mery today we’re going to be attempting to ride a 15m stretch from here on Route 81 of the national cycle Network up to nosul to link up with the disused Wellington to Stafford Railway which forms part of Route 55 of the national cycle Network [Music] we’re starting today’s ride at orle Canal Junction where the shopshire union Canal branches off from the Staffordshire and westers canal and begins its Journey towards elmir Port the first mile and a half of the ride follows Route 81 of the national cycle Network before it leaves the canal and heads towards all Brighton and Telford but I want to carry on along the canal to see if we can find a traffic free route from wolver Hampton to Noel where we can link up with the traffic free section of Route 55 that runs between Newport and Stafford the tow path begins on the north side of the canal if you’ve come up the stafire and musterer Canal along Route 81 you take a left to carry on up the toe path which at this point is a lovely gravel surface I’ve chosen to do this ride on my mountain bike today just because I’m not sure what the surface of the toe path is going to be like as we head through this lovely park in the Pender for area of wolver Hampton the surface of the top paath actually turns to tarmac for a short while and it’s lovely riding as we make our way up the side of the canal as I made my way through this park I got my first glimpse of somebody doing some fishing in the canal I’m not sure if that home was successful there with this fishing attempt but I do know that the path turns back to gravel and then eventually as we approach the driveway it turns into a track I’m riding this in early summer and it’s been fairly dry for the last week or so so at the moment this path is absolutely fine no problem at all but I can imagine in Winter or after a lot of rain that this could be quite muddy and quite slippy however it wouldn’t be long as I make my way over the canal that I would consider a path like this to actually be very good it’s not long before we pass under wo Baston Road and head out of wol ampton as we pass under this bridge the character of the canal changes and it really feels like we’re out in open Countryside as we continue North up the canal as we leave over Hampton the toe path does begin to deteriorate you can see it is fairly grown over at this point but the grass is short but on this section as we continue through the open Countryside on the edge of wolver Hampton it still makes for very pleasant riding the surface of the path does get a little better as we carry on as you can see there’s no grass on the track here but it does get quite narrow and quite close up to the side of the canal I actually struggled a little bit here with my mountain bike cuz it has got quite wide bars on it I was catching the Hedge on the right I was a little worried a stray branch in the wrong place might send me off into the canal fortunately I didn’t end up in the canal as these are two local residents I would not want to upset 2 miles from Orly Junction where the canal began we start to hear the Roar of the motorway in the distance the motorway in question being the M54 but before we pass under the motorway we need to make our way through this section of toe path which has really deteriorated in quality I don’t know if you can tell by the footage but it was pretty bumpy at this point and pretty overgrown at the sides I really did have to look out for stray Nettles or brambles coming in from the side while also being cautious of the surface underneath me the concrete toe path that runs under the motorway was a welcome relief at this point the original idea for the M54 was to alleviate heavy traffic on the A5 in this area and the idea gained extra back in in the 1960s with the development of the new town of Telford the first section known as the Wellington bypass which is now Junction 6 to 7 was completed in 1975 with the 19 M section from the m6 to Wellington being completed in 1983 with shopshire being a royal County there was a lot of opposition to having this Motorway driven through this quiet landscape to help subdue this opposition you’ll find that the section that runs through shopshire sits much lower than most of the landscape surrounding it as it was built low down to hide it from the surrounding Countryside and help with the noise there was also a quarter of a million trees planted along its length to help with the noise further and hide the motor away from view the M50 before from here heads towards Telford the town named after Thomas tford who was the chief engineer of the shopshire Union Canal it was not completed in 1835 and it was the last major civil engineering accomplishment of Thomas tford although unfortunately he didn’t live to see it completed not long after passing under the lower Hatton bridge I came to a barrier on the tow path with a sign to say that it was impassible ahead although I could see that people have been passing around the left hand side of this barrier and with no public roads around around I decided to carry on up the canal to see how far I could make it and with the toe path looking like this I thought I wouldn’t be able to make it that far to be honest I think with the barrier across the toe path traffic on this stretch had been severely reduced meaning that the early summer vegetation had really taken over here there is definitely a track of some sorts under here but a lot of vegetation sticking in from the sides and I did catch the odd nettle as I made my way up this section of toe path the vegetation did un fortunately get worse I even tried holding the middle of the bars to try and avoid having my hands whipped by the grass as I passed through but that made me feel a little bit unstable and as the path is quite close to the canal here I decided holding the bars on the ends was the best option here we soon pass under the Monarch’s way a lengthy walking boot based on the Escape of King Charles II after the final battle in the Civil War in 1651 the quality of the toe path did improve after passing the Monarch’s way and after passing under Park Bridge the quality improved a little bit further as the canal enters a cutting you can see there’s still a fair bit of vegetation at the side of the path but the track underneath is much smoother and a little bit wider than it was previously making cycling down this a little bit easier it’s not long before we come to the section of top path that was considered impassible it doesn’t look too bad from certain angles but when you get a little bit closer you can see that the whole toe path here is slipping into the canal and you can see the water through this rather large crack however this is by no means impassible use a little bit of Common Sense and you can safely make your way past this point and I think the canal and River trust who manage the canal know that this is the case because although there are barriers at either side of this crack in the toe path these barriers are by no means impassible themselves they’re quite easy to make your way around and you can see see that a lot of people have been doing so and it looks like this has been the case for quite some time as the path is worn quite nicely down around these barriers moving on as we get closer to the Village of brood we come to a section of toath that is extremely muddy there was a few patches like this that were very muddy and pretty tricky to make my way through I was certainly glad I was on my mountain bike at this point struggling through the mud was worth it as I made it to the other side I got a great view of the ornamental Avenue Bridge which leads to Chillington Hall this bridge really stands out from all the others we’ve seen so far which have either been pretty standard Canal Bridges or very brutalist modern bridges that pass over the canal this bridge forms part of a Grand Avenue that leads to Chillington Hall the current grade one listed structure was built in 1724 but this was actually the third building to be built on the site with the first being a stone castle built in the 12th century the lower Avenue part of this Grand driveway is now a public foot path if you fancy walking part of it as the canal continues its way North through this deep cutting the toe path quality is much better and I really enjoyed riding this section on the outskirts of brood as the canal carries on a along an embankment the toe path really does become brilliant I started to get my hopes up that the toe path would continue like this for the rest of this journey to nosul as I continued the journey through brood the toe path continued to be in great condition I had to do my best not to be tempted by the cheese and the local pub that were advertised to me on my way through North of brood sadly the toe path does begin to deteriorate again although you can see here surface is perfectly fine to cycle along and it’s not actually too badly overgrown at this point this section of canal from brood up to the A5 is absolutely Arrow straight and this is one of the trademark ways that Thomas tford built his canals early canals were built to follow the lay of the land and so often meandered across the countryside but by the time this canal was built in the 1830s Thomas tord had the confidence to drive the canal in a straight line through the countryside using large embankments and deep cuttings to make sure that the canal stayed level and reduced the need for locks along its length and by the time this canal opened in 1835 it really did need all the benefits of that faster Journey time provided by a direct route and as little locks as possible because by this time Railways were really starting to threaten the viability of canals moving forward this section of canal from Orly Junction to nwit Basin was the last part of what we now know as the Shropshire Union Canal to be opened with the sections from nwit up to the river Mery being opened much earlier in the 1700s and as we battle our way through a slightly overgrown Toe Path again we come to the stren aqueduct which passes over the A5 and gives us the original name of this section of canal which ran from Orly Junction wolver Hampton to nwit I’m not sure how readable it is but on the front of this aquaduct it says the Birmingham and Liverpool Canal Thomas Telford engineer 1832 this imaginative name was given to the canal because it linked the river Mercy in Liverpool to the canal network of the West Midlands in including the Venice of the north also known as Birmingham this iron Aqueduct known as the streten aqueduct crosses over the A5 Thomas tford pioneered the use of iron aqueducts on canals from his first one at long and upon turn just outside tford and his most famous One the pon culo Aqueduct which Towers almost 40 m above the river D below if you want to watch my video on that I’ll leave a link in the description but we need to move on because we’re about halfway along our route here and we need to carry on the rest of the way to noal and at this point again the toe path does get a little bit overgrown unfortunately there is still a path underneath here it’s just very overgrown at the sides after heading through yet another cutting which really demonstrates the amount of effort that went into building this canal as it cuts through the landscape we get to the outskirts of Wheat and ason where we find that the toe path really improves in quality and we find our first and only lock on this journey along the canal that is if we ignore the stop lock at the start of the canal and it really demonstrates the determination of Thomas tord to make this canal efficient and the reason it was able to compete with the railways as the less locks the quicker the traffic was able to move along the canal in the mid 1840s when the canal was taken over by the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal company given it its current name the Shropshire Union Canal there was some discussion about turning the canal into a railway but due in no small part to the efficient route that Thomas tord created it was kept as a canal and was used heavily by commercial traffic all the way up until the first world war with some commercial traffic carrying on right up until the 1960s oh yeah the lock here at weaton ason drops the water level by 7 ft and as well as been the only lock that we’ll pass on our journey today as we head to noil it’s actually the only lock on the canal between the star to orle Junction wolver Hampton and market trayon a testament to the impressive engineering that went into this canal the toe path heading into weat and ason is one of the best stretches on the shops uni Canal that we’ve gone through so far apart from maybe that first stretch that’s part of the national cycle Network as we headed through W the Hampton as we head through weat and aen itself the canal heads into yet another cutting and the path here still continues to be of good quality there are places where it’s a little bit muddy but but generally I found this a very nice stretch to cycle down as we cycle further away from wheat and ason and further away from civilization the quality of the toe path really does deteriorate the section between wheat and ason and nosul has probably the worst stretches of toe path on this journey that we’re taking today there really are some pretty tough pits to make your way through there’s quite a few sections along here that are very overgrown and very difficult to cycle through and as well as being overgrown there are some sections that were quite bumpy underneath I was definitely glad that was on my mountain bike doing this section of top path I think this journey from wolver Hampton to NOA would be possible to do on a hybrid bike or a gravel type bike but definitely the best bike for this would be a mountain bike and I think I’d only use the other type of bikes if I was doing this as part of a longer Journey the to Bath wasn’t bad for this entire part of the journey between we ason and nosul and I did look forward to the sections of canal that dipped into cuting because I generally knew there’d be less vegetation in these sections and the toe path would be easier to ride that did mean of course there’d be more mud in these cuttings but generally the toe path was of better quality as we dipped into them just past hon Bridge we reach hyon Warf a lovely Scenic spot only slightly ruined by the sound of a diesel generator the next bridge on from high on Warf is where the toe path swaps sides of of the canal it moves from the East side over to the West Side on one of these Bridges where we double back on ourselves to make our way over the canal you may initially wonder why the need to double back on ourselves why didn’t they just put the ramp at the other side so you could carry on straight over the bridge without having to change direction well the reason for this is quite simple but also quite clever and you’ll find many bridges like this across the canal Network they’re designed like this so when a horse is pulling a boat up the canal it is able to cross over the canal without having to disconnect from the boat thus saving time and effort and speeding up Transit along the canal something that Thomas tord was very much in favor of unfortunately swapping sides did not help the toe path although there was a nice bit next to the bridge it did soon deteriorate and become very overgrown again and at this spot there was quite a few Nettles and brambles that I had to do my best to avoid and just to add to the challenge in places along the stretch it also came right up against the side of the canal so as well of having to avoid Rogue Nettles and brambles I had to do my best to avoid any Rogue bumps throwing me into the canal as we close in on nosul our final destination the canal enters another cutting and it gets particularly muddy at this point I think this is the muddiest section of toe path that we’ve had to navigate through on this whole journey there are sections where it is much better and you’re able to cycle at a good Pace but do watch out for for the mud here after continuing through this particularly deep cutting on the outskirts of Nole we come to the cowy tunnel this is a 74 M long tunnel cut through the local Sandstone the tunnel was originally designed to be much longer than it is today however when the engineers started to cut into the land here they found it to be unstable so the length of the tunnel was reduced down to its current 74 M as we head into the tunnel from the South Side you can see that it’s nicely faced with bricks at 74 M long it does get quite dark in the middle of here but I was certainly able to cycle through with no problems without a light the toe path is a really good quality here as it continues into the village of noil having a smooth toe path is great at the best of times but particularly useful when you’re cycling through a dimly lit tunnel looking back at the north entrance of the tunnel you can really see that this has just been cut through the rock there’s no supporting brick Arch underneath from here to where the canal meets the old Stafford to Wellington Railway the toe path is in excellent condition and it really makes for very pleasant riding no or Council look after this section of toe path that heads through the village and they really have made an effort to make it a pleasant place to cycle and walk and it’s not long before we reached the bridge that took the old raway over the canal here interesting enough the canal and the railway were eventually owned by the same company the shopshire union canal and Railways company from here we want to link up with Route 55 of the national cycle Network that runs along that old section of Railway track we need to make our way under the Railway Bridge which is Bridge 35a the a telling us that actually it wasn’t there originally when the canal was built and then we take a left up the embankment to the railway and Once on This Old Railway you can head south towards Newport or north towards Stafford along this traffic free route if you want to watch my video on that route I’ll leave a link in the description and so that’s it we finished our journey today we’ve made it from wolver Hampton to nosul linking up routes 81 and Route 55 of the national cycle network using a traffic free route the surface of this route along the canal is best described as mixed with it being pretty poor in place along this route that we’ve taken today so if you are feeling adventurous or particularly determined to stay off the roads this could be the route for you especially if you looking to make your way from the West Midlands up to Stafford and Stoke by using this section of a canal you can actually make your way from the center of Birmingham to the edge of Stafford without using a single road then using route five of the national cycle Network you could make your way from Stafford to stoke and then from Stoke to conlon using the bidoff valley way so there’s a potential route from Birmingham to congleton which is 95% traffic trffic free if you’d be interested to see me putting a video together on that please do let me know in the comments I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s video and if you have please do make the effort to subscribe to the channel it’s completely free and really helps keep the channel Alat and if you want to buy me a beer to say thanks you can do so via the link in the description thank you very much for watching and happy cycling [Music]