Day 2 – 27 June 2026

Doulton Road to Gosty Hill Tunnel

A 6.30am departure to beat the heat. Bab, Hamish and I left the quiet streets behind and rejoined the canal at Doulton Road, just before the point where we’d turned back last Saturday. Unsurprisingly, others had the same idea as us: walkers, joggers and dogs were already out in force, in a desperate attempt not to melt.

And what a beautiful bit of canal it is. A cared-for, open, steady gravel path – absolute luxury for my wobbly legs. I’ve walked many towpaths, babs, and this one is right up there in the towpath charts. We had blue skies, ducks, geese, daisies, barbed wire and graffiti: basically the Black Country doing mixed media. I’m absolutely up for art on a towpath. Why should galleries have all the walls?

The Canal and River Trust look after our canals, and honestly, fair play to them. A decent path, signs pointing us the right way, and little history boards telling us what went on dahn that cut – what more could a nosy woman with a spaniel ask for? Credit where it’s due. Great work, babs.

I’d spotted info about Doulton Works while planning this bit of the route, so naturally I went digging – because apparently I now research random Black Country things for fun. The Doulton Pipe Works in Springfield, Rowley Regis, opened around 1848–1849 and became a major producer of sanitary pipes and those famous blue Doulton bricks. The fireclay factory closed in 1979, and the land is now an industrial estate. Even better, the old Doulton clay pit became Saltwells Nature Reserve, which is a very pleasing bit of industrial-to-green-space magic.

Hamish, meanwhile, was far too busy exchanging death stares with geese and ducks to be impressed by the winding arm at the site of the old Pearson Colliery basin. To be fair, the geese and ducks were not impressed by the winding arm either. Or by Hamish. Or by us. Geese have very high standards.

The housing estates of Cradley opened up to our left, while metal fences, concrete walls and barbed wire guarded the industrial secrets on our right. I always want to know what’s going on behind those fences. Probably something practical. Possibly something involving forklifts. Either way, my imagination was having a lovely time.

By Powke Lane Bridge I could finally locate myself, which is always a confidence boost. I could hear the quiet rumble of traffic nearby, imagine the crematorium up tha bonk, and feel the route starting to make sense in my head. Before long we were under another arm of the ring road and Garretts Lane Bridge, which was sporting more canal-side art, including some on an old utility pipe overhead. Very urban. Very Black Country. Very “who needs the Tate?”

Apparently this stretch is a bostin fishing spot, and it wasn’t long before we spotted another early riser. I’m not sure he was thrilled to see Hamish the springer arrive with the subtlety of a small, furry marching band, but Hamish considered himself part of the local wildlife-management team.

More art drew us towards an unnamed bridge – I think – which became an absolute saviour because it had steps to lounge on. We admired the graffiti, admired our water, and admired the fact that sitting down could happen. I needed that pit stop as the heat was starting to rise. I also had the unexpected cultural experience of spotting a ‘penis wiggle’ added to the slightly out-of-date “New Cemetery for Rowley Regis Opening 2022” sign, although apparently the new Canalside Cemetery off Powke Lane is now open. Local history comes in many forms.

Lounging on the steps also gave me time to learn that Rowley became notorious as the hiding place of Robert Wintour after the failed Gunpowder Plot. Nearby graffiti eyes had me wondering if they were still looking for him. If so, they’ve got patience.

My next fun fact comes courtesy of Waterfall Lane Bridge and its very informative elephant. In the 1900s, a visiting circus apparently either failed to keep an eye on its elephants or deliberately took them down to the canal for a paddle. Either way, elephants were frolicking in the cut. Haven’t we all, at one time or another? Maybe they were looking for the waterfall.

A note on these wonderful signs found along this bit of the canal. They are by a very talented local artist Luke Perry who runs Industrial Heritage Stronghold. You can see more on the Dudley Public Art website and check Luke’s work out as he’s done some bostin stuff across the Black Country and beyond.

Old bricked-up windows and more graffiti took us under Smith’s Bridge and then Wright’s Bridge, and then – joy of joys – we were approaching Gosty Hill Tunnel. Hamish immediately disturbed a group of lounging geese and ducks, who took this as a personal insult. I, meanwhile, could hardly contain my excitement. I had planned a point, walked to the point, and actually reached the point. This may not sound dramatic, but for me it was basically Everest with more ducks.

Cue me acting like a proper tourist – you know, someone from Birmingham – getting our photo taken by the tunnel and then shouting my name several times just to hear the echo. Dignified? No. Necessary? Absolutely.

This was the end of the road for us, because we did not have a boat, which is apparently quite useful when attempting a tunnel. There’s a great video by Drew’s Outdoor Adventures of going through Gosty Hill Tunnel, and it shows just how narrow, strange and cavernous it is. You can even see the air cavity that sits beneath someone’s garden, which is the sort of fact that makes me both fascinated and slightly scared of falling down a hole in someone’s garden.

Just outside the tunnel are the remains of a dock where Birmingham Canal Navigations once operated a tug service through to Hawne Basin. I love facts like that. Tiny practical details from the past, still sitting there if you know where to look.

Then it was time to head back: under bridges, past industrial works and housing estates, avoiding geese, ducks and fishers with varying degrees of success. My joy suddenly turned to panic as the heat bore down and I went very wobbly, with things going a bit black around the edges. I managed to get myself back to our unnamed lounging bridge, where Bab took one look at me and said, “I’ll go get the car.” Off he went at a much quicker pace, unburdened by an overweight, menopausal, MS-wobbly woman who stops every six steps to take photos of bricks.

Hamish and I lounged and met a few nice locals, one of whom I immediately asked whether it is Gorsty or Gosty Hill as I’ve seen it written as both. He gave me some advice, but once I learned he was a Brummie, I decided further research was required from more learned babs – by which I mean actual Black Country folk. We love our Brummie cousins, dow we, but they am saft in tha yed.

After a while, the lounging did its magic and I got my second wind. I rang Bab to say I’d start making my way off tha cut and find a landmark for my chariot to collect me. The exit was not quite as graceful as imagined: down a flight of steps, along the edge of what turned out to be Bunker Woods, and then out towards a housing estate.

And, as fate would have it, I found my landmark: another plastics factory, Sentinel Plastics Limited. Clearly there is a theme developing. But by then I’d found a third wind, so I carried on across the estate and past Ormiston Forge Academy, where Bab eventually found me wandering and wondering exactly where I was. Old Hill, I think? Eh it, babs?

Anyway, I was very proud of myself for dragging my bum – and everyone else’s bum – out of bed so early to do this stretch. I’m now nose-deep in the Heron Birmingham Canal Navigations map, Pearson’s Canal Companion Stourport and Black Country Rings, the OS Maps app and Google, hunting for interesting and not-so-interesting facts about the bit I’ve just walked. So, Dudley Canal No. 2 – your Windmill End Junction to Gosty Hill Tunnel section – is owned. Marked off. Coloured in. Crossed out. How exciting. Maybe I can do this. Maybe?

Walked:

• From Doulton Road bridge to Gosty Hill Tunnel and back via a random housing estate
• 4km logged on Strava – to follow my progress on Strava you can find me on there as Katie Ceit (Stourbridge)

Reflections:

• Find better walking trousers or leggings – for some reason I’m finding this really hard (any suggestions?)
• Take more breaks when I can – I got a second wind after bab had gone for the car and ended up doing the same distance as him anyway

Wot we learnt:

• I had no idea Saltwells Nature Reserve was created in 1981. There’s a great Friends of Saltwells Nature Reserve website, which I’ve been enjoying.
• The air shaft for Gosty Hill Tunnel that is in someone’s garden in Station Road is known locally as the ‘pepper pot’ and the photo in this article shows why that might be.
• While digging for information about Gosty Hill Tunnel, I also learned about Lapal Tunnel: a disused 3,470-metre canal tunnel on the Dudley No. 2 Canal. It opened in 1798 to transport coal, suffered repeated collapses, and closed permanently in 1917 after major subsidence. The Lapal Canal Trust is working to restore the lost link between the Dudley No. 2 Canal and the Worcester & Birmingham Canal, which feels like exactly the sort of ambitious canal mission I can respect from a safe distance.
• There’s a little guide by Coombeswood Canal Trust covering most of the route I’ve done, which I’ll be keeping close like the canal nerd I am rapidly becoming.

If you can, please sponsor me and Hamish as we take on this fundraising walk – every donation will help keep us motivated, watered, and only mildly dramatic. Fundraising link: www.givewheel.com/fundraising/17386/black-country-canal-challenge.