Secret Birmingham
Cycling and walking are great ways to reduce your impact on the planet, get fitter and discover new things around us. Secret Birmingham is a self-guided digital cycling tour of heritage sites across South Birmingham using bike friendly routes through some of the city’s most beautiful and interesting green spaces. We have developed these routes with theatre company C&T, you can also access great video content to learn more about the fantastic heritage sites along the way.
There are three routes for you to choose from:
Tolkien Route
Follow in the footsteps of J.R.R.Tolkien, the author of ‘The Lord of the Rings‘. The Tolkien Route explores the 18th Century mill that inspired the writer’s epic novels, some of South Birmingham’s only remaining Prefabs and takes you through some of the city’s beautiful green spaces and canals.
Cadbury Route
The Cadbury Route will lead you through thousands of years of heritage including the history of the Cadbury family and Bournville Village, the more recent history of Longbridge town centre and Austin Village as well as learning about the Suffragettes in Northfield and Kings Norton. Finishing at Cotteridge Park.
Chamberlain Route
Starting on the A38 Blue Cycleway, the Chamberlain Route explores some of Birmingham’s hidden heritage around the University of Birmingham starting with Old Joe, the world’s tallest freestanding clock tower, as well as Harborne Walkway, Perrott’s Folly, the Jewellery Quarter and Port Loop via the canal towpaths.
Access the routes
The routes and video content can be accessed through through a FREE route finding app/website Komoot. You will need to create a free account and choose Birmingham as your free region to fully access this content. Click the button below to view the routes:
Download our Secret Birmingham PDF
Download our Secret Birmingham PDF which tells you everything you need to know about the three routes – information about the routes, links to access the heritage video content as well as some fun games to play to improve your knowledge about local heritage along the way.
We hope you have fun and ENJOY exploring #BrumByBike. We’d love to see what how you get on. Please use #BrumByBike and tag @ecobirmingham when sharing your adventures on on social media.
Ride safety
There are few things to remember while you are out cycling this route :
- Always follow the Highway Code. Give priority and be courteous to pedestrians, particularly on towpaths and share with care paths.
- Please be extra careful when riding near open water.
- Ride within your own ability.
- If stopping to rest or look at the map, please stop in a suitable and safe place.
- Most of all, have fun exploring Birmingham and its heritage secrets by bike!
Secret Birmingham is a digital guided cycling tour of heritage sites in the South of the city developed by ecobirmingham and C&T.
Supported by Heritage Lottery, Swire Trust, John Feeney Trust and Edward Cadbury Trust.
