Off in the Edgbaston Tunnel

[User]

 

[Will1985]

Oops! It's bad enough running through there. I've never tried riding through - for good reason

Who is responsible - council or waterways?

 

[Will1985]

Better get on to both of them then

 

[Downward]

Do you ride through ?
I gave up 1/4 way through it's a bit potholey.

 

[fossyant]

Lights ?

 

[Tynan]

I do usually. It's manageable, but you have to be able to see the ground. As I found out this evening.

It's not long enough (about 100m) to bother with lights.

clearly

 

[the reluctant cyclist]

I've cycled through that but I find that if you encounter anybody going the other way you've had it and have to try and squash yourself up the wall! Also I had to sort of duck and lean the whole time!

On one of my explorations of the birmingham canal system I found one tunnel that was sooooooo long that you really could not see a thing in the middle - it was out on the way to Dudley/Tipton way somewhere I had gone from spaghetti junction all the way towards the black country museam I think. I was genuinely really scared right in the middle of it!!!! I had to go through it again on the way back too!

There's a heron that lives near the Edgbaston tunnel - did you see it? I used to see it on my lunchtime jaunts!

 

[bonj2]

A section of the lights are out again. The towpath is worse than ever.

So I've just spent several minutes unjamming myself from being squashed horizontally between the wall and the railings, right foot jammed under the bike.

I'm just glad it was only the ducks watching.

How the hell can that happen

You could only possibly have got stuck between the wall and the railings if the space between them is too small for you to fit through. The wall and the railings are fixed objects, and the condition of the lights, and who is responseible for maintenance have nothing to do with it.

The only possibility that could have led to you getting stuck is that you have simply become too fat to fit between wall and railing. You should probably simply just lose a bit of weight and then you might fit through.

 

[bonj2]

Bikes are taller than they are wide. Hence, when one goes over, it becomes wider than tall.

Oh so you fell off?
Why?

 

[the reluctant cyclist]

I think he hit a pothole that he couldn't see in the dark because the lights were out!!

I've seen Mr Paul and he's defo not too fat to fit through!

 

[bonj2]

I think he hit a pothole that he couldn't see in the dark because the lights were out!!

I've seen Mr Paul and he's defo not too fat to fit through!

Well he should have had lights on his bike.
If it's going to be dark, such as at night or in a tunnel, you need lights - I would have thought that was obvious.
If I go out in the middle of the night without lights and crash into a hedge, can I whinge that the council should have put a light there?
I thought you had ayups anyway Mr P? they should be more than bright enough to see the gorund in a tunnel.

 

[the reluctant cyclist]

Blimey is there something in the water today!

I didn't think he was whinging - didn't he even say that he was glad only the ducks were watching!!!

Surely it's okay to go out in the middle of the day and ride along the canal without lights - what about the people walking or jogging through that tunnel - are they supposed to wear miner's helmets or something?

 

[bonj2]

Bonjy, love, read the OP again.

The tunnel is lit. There were a couple of lights out. It's been reported soon and they're usually fixed pretty quickly.

Well it obviously isn't lit *enough*, is it.
The night sky is lit, by the moon. But it isn't lit enough to cycle without lights. That isn't the council's fault!

The fact is you went careering down a blind duck path little more than 2 feet wide at breakneck speed into the pitch blackness without lights, heard a quacking noise ahead and instead of braking to spare the duck, you decided to accelerate and mow it down, but unfortunately it wasn't a duck but a large goose and in running it over it caused you to fall off. Due to fatness, you then became wedged in the railing.

You then decided to concoct a cock and bull story about it being a pothole that caused you to fall off, in order to blame the council.
You are hoping you are going to be believed because conveniently no-one else was in the tunnel to witness this incident.

I for one however can see through this little ruse, because the fact is that you have ridden through this tunnel countless times before so if there was a pothole, you would have known where it was.

If you'd cycled on the road this wouldn't have happened!

 

[bonj2]

I'm not blaming anyone but myself bonjyboy. BW advises dismounting through tunnels and bridges.

If you read the op properly you'll see that a couple of lights are out. Bulbs blow, you know.

only in the second post you started going on about how you were trying to decide whether it was the council or british waterways to blame.

 

[bonj2]

I'm not blaming anyone but myself bonjyboy. BW advises dismounting through tunnels and bridges.

If you read the op properly you'll see that a couple of lights are out. Bulbs blow, you know.

you shouldn't rely on there being lights in a tunnel!

In fact council-run tunnels are probably best steered clear of. did you not read magnatom's recent thread about how he got stuck in a tunnel because the council locked him in there - after he'd gone in one end and they locked it behind him, but then wouldn't let him out the other?

Tartar sauce is quite nice with goose pie by the way.