Route Developer: TS, MO and CW

[1] Come out of the Adderley Park Station and turn let (Bordesley Green Road), then go left into Burbidge Road; keep on the right-hand side, and watch out for overhanging branches. Walk up to the crossroads past Al-Hijrah School. Cross Cherrywood Road and continue ahead along a cul-de-sac, through bollards, and along a short drive. Cross Priory Gateway and walk ahead through a gap in the low fence onto a grassy area. Bearing left, walk clockwise around the edge of the green, past a snaking path and a play area to the tarmac path. Turn left onto the path through a decorative archway, turn right into Priory Gateway and walk on to the T-junction.

[2] Turn left into Fordrough Lane and follow it to the T-junction with Cherrywood Road.

(A) Fordrough follows the line of a very old lane which crossed Wash Brook near to the Campus gate. Parts were made there for the Colossus machine, which decoded German signals in World War II.

[3] Cross Cherrywood Road, turn right beside the deep Saltley Cutting, and walk on to the T-junction. The roads hereabout, laid out in the early 1900s, were named after symbols of the Boer War – Pretoria, Botha, Colonial, Churchill. Turn left into Bridge Road and walk across the high bridge over the railway.

[4] Bear left at the end of the bridge and follow Bridge Road where food and drink are on sale at the Village Kiosk. Go past the (B) Rosary RC Church on the uneven pavement. The Romanesque style building has a foundation stone from Nazareth, a carillon of 23 bells (many flat) and inside the golden ball on the apex of the main tower, a lock of St Therese’s hair. Turn first left into College Road and walk on to the entrance gate of St Peter’s Teachers Training College, where visitors are welcome to explore the courtyard.

[5] Cross College Road outside St Peter’s and follow St Saviour’s Road to the next crossroads, where you will be able to see The Zia Al Quran Jamia Mosque and the Maryam Ho inter-faith centre. Cross Arden/Bowyer Road and continue ahead along St Saviour’s Road to (C)St Saviour’s Church (1850).

Featuring a striking perpendicular sandstone tower, St Saviour’s was the first of the new churches opened in the area to serve the expanding suburbs. It is now a listed building and the secluded rambling churchyard is a nature conservation area. When the gates are locked, access to the grounds may be possible by the adjacent Vicarage gate.

[6] Immediately after the church, turn left into Hall Road, cross it and follow it to Ash Road. Opposite is the aptly named City View Cul-de-sac. Cross and turn right into Ash Road and walk to the busy crossroads near The Adderley Park pub. Cross Adderley Road and continue ahead into Duddeston Mill Road. Immediately after crossing the canal bridge, turn left down the ramp onto the canal towpath. Danger: unfenced waterfront. Note: the only gate on to this towpath may be too narrow for wheelchairs and pushchairs.  (D)The Birmingham and Warwick Junction was one of the last BCN canals to be built (1844) and links the Bordesley and Salford Junctions via the Garrison flight of six narrow locks.

[7] Follow the towpath ahead, with the canal on your left, past public benches, two locks, factory buildings and beneath a line of pylons. Don’t trip over the mooring bollards. Walk under the Landor St Bridge and up the towpath ramp to another lock.

Optional route extension: If time allows, the following quirky detour is worth trying. Continue ahead along the towpath beneath two railway bridges and then, at the next lock, turn sharp right on the brick ramp up to Garrison Street. This triangular patch, hemmed in by busy railways on all sides, contains a precast concrete building and a pile of rubble that was The Queens public house. Turn left into Garrison Street, then just before the railway bridge, turn right into Midland Street. Walk on beneath a railway bridge to the T-junction. Huge cranes straddling the Lawley Street Freightliner Terminus can be seen in the distance. Cross Landor Street with extreme care and turn right into it past the Topmix site, beneath a railway bridge, and past piles of squashed cars to the canal bridge, where you can rejoin the main walk route.

[8] Turn right here up the ramp, cross and turn right into Landor Street. Continue along Landor Street past old factory premises to the Adderley Road crossing. The Wheels Park was opened in the 1970s as a ‘danger zone’ where youngsters could let off steam. Its BMX and speed skating circuits occupy the site of old clay pits and brickworks that dominated the late 19th century landscape. Cross with care and turn left into Adderley Road. (E)The gothic building on the corner is the old Arden Road Board School (1879)which was built on the site of a medieval moated house.

[9] Walk along Adderley Road to the corner of Adderley Park and turn right through a gap in the railings onto a tarmac path. (F)This was Birmingham’s first public park, opened in 1856 on land leased from the benefactor who lent his name to the area – Charles Adderley, an MP in Disraeli’s government. Bear right at the perimeter path and follow it along the right hand edge of the park up towards the top corner. Turn right onto the diagonal path and follow it through the trees to exit the park at the Hams/Arden Road corner.Cross Arden Road carefully and continue along it up the uneven pavement to the crossroads. Cross Ash Road, turn right across Arden Road and continue ahead into Bordesley Green Road until you reach Adderley Park Station.

Would-be walkers are advised that kerbs are often unramped, and cars parked on pavements prevent wheel- and pushchairs passing.