This cache is on an excellent canal tow path used by many in the city to avoid the hustle and bustle of the crowded roads. A tour down this canal path offers a pleasant contrast to its urban surroundings.
The canal is the Worcester and Birmingham Canal which links, as its name suggests, Birmingham with Worcester. This canal starts at the River Severn in Worcester (just after the river lock) and ends in Gas Street Basin in Birmingham, a few hundred meters from the cache. It is 29 miles long and has 58 locks including the 30 Tardebigge Locks, which is one of the largest lock flights in all of Europe. The canal climbs a total of 130 m from Worcester to Birmingham. The section between Birmingham and Selly Oak opened on 30 October 1795.
For twenty years a direct connection to the Birmingham Canal Navigations ("BCN") canal network was prevented by the Worcester Bar, a physical barrier at the Gas Street basin. This was designed so that the BCN would not lose water to the Worcester and Birmingham canal. Cargoes had to be laboriously manhandled between boats on either side. To improve effeciency, in 1815 an Act allowed the creation of a stop lock and the bar was breached. The Worcester and Birmingham raised their water level by six inches to reduce water loss to a minimum and today the two pairs of lock gates have been removed.
The commercial terminus in Birmingham was Worcester Wharf, a large complex extending from the bar along Bridge Street, Gas Street and Granville Street, and as far as the cache. Part of it now forms a water front to The Mailbox shopping and residential complex. This can be clearly seen from the cache.
When you visit this cache, take in the view, and try to imagine what the view would have revealed in say1875.