BCN 24 hours Marathon Challenge 2015 Image Library
190 large professional photos of 24 hours on the BCN on a narrowboat.
Birmingham Canal Navigations, West Midlands,
There are so many canals in the UK, many of them very popular with visitors from all over the world. Not many of them visit the Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN). The annual BCN Marathon Challenge, on the May Bank Holiday weekends, organised by the fabulous BCN Society, is to encourage boaters to navigate the rarely used parts of the network.
The BCN changes all the time. Gradually. Gas Street Basin was in the 1980s part of Birmingham's back yard, now it's part of a vibrant city centre. Many old canalside warehouses and factories still exist, some in a rather sad state. many of the old branches can still be seen, in years or decades they will be replaced by modern housing, anonymous industrial estates, or parks.
On most other canals the "site of former iron works" is only noticed when reading a canal guide carefully - it's all nature and beautiful now. On the BCN, the remains of former works are still to be seen, making the network a fascinating place for this photographer.
Two virtual tours were created during the weekend, please have a look:
- Birmingham Canals Interactive Panorama (taken on the Friday before the event)
- Lapal Canal Virtual Tour (taken on the Sunday of the event)
Should you find any errors in the captions to the photos below, please let me know!
Looking forward to the BCN Marathon Challenge 2016, if I'm lucky enough to take part again!
A lot of the information in the image captions comes from "Birmingham Canal Navigations, a criusing and walking guide" by The Waterways Sub-Committee, Birmingham Branch, IWA, 1984. A "Bradshaw of the BCN", highly recommended!
Birmingham Canal Navigations, West Midlands,
