Walks you can reach from Duddeston by train

Towpath along canal with suburban and greenbelt sections. Nearly 1000 years ago Kings Norton was valued five times higher than Birmingham for taxation; canal junction constructed 1796; area incorporated into Birmingham in 1911.

Waterway: three quarters along the Worcester & Birmingham Canal.

Woodland: a fifth under tree cover.

Time: 4h (2h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Narrow road with fast traffic; dark tunnel to avoid (2.5km Wast Hill Tunnel).

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Ridge walk over North Worcestershire Hills, open hilltops, scrubland, gorse, woods, pastures, motorway bridge crossing, country parks and heathland with bilberry and heather.

Time: 6h30 (5h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Steep descents.

Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).

Reverse direction: Railwalks (inc. GPX).

A gentle climb through open country on the Monarch’s Way and canal towpath.

Waterway: three fifths along the Worcester & Birmingham Canal.

Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Walk details: Worcestershire Community Rail Partnership (PDF).

Reverse direction: Railwalks (inc. GPX).

Golf club, heath, woodland and Heart of England Way.

Woodland: a quarter under tree cover.

Time: 7h (5h walking, 1h30 lunch, 30m break)

2 lunch spots: the Tame Otter (2h15 in), or the Red Lion (2h15 in)

2 end-of-walk rewards: the Horse and Jockey, or the Turnpike

Warnings: MOD firing range — check access.

Adapted from: the Leicester Ramblers.

Canal towpath (Worcester and Birmingham Canal). Kings Norton was site of a 1642 English Civil War battle.

Waterway: nine tenths along the Worcester & Birmingham Canal.

Birmingham Back to Backs (National Trust)

Time: 4h (2h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Canal towpath, urban paths and suburban streets. Walk along the Worcester-Birmingham Canal from city centre to Cadbury's model village.

Waterway: four fifths along the Worcester & Birmingham Canal.

Birmingham Back to Backs (National Trust)

Time: 3h30 (2h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Varied suburban and exurban and rural terrain. Connects Sutton Coldfield to historic cathedral city of Lichfield via Anglo-Saxon Shenstone and Roman remains at Wall where Watling Street and Icknield Street met.

Time: 6h30 (5h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Camp Road has high traffic, tight bends and heavy lorries; M6 Toll, A5, A5148 crossings; low-hanging power lines.

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Remarkable survivals (Pelsall and Pelsall North Common). Greenway paths, common land, woodland and field edges. Former mining country with industrial heritage; route follows McClean Way greenway on former South Staffordshire Railway.

Time: 5h30 (4h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Follows a busy road for a sixth of the walk. Barbed wire fencing; complicated road sections with M6 Toll crossing.

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Spectacular views to Birmingham and Worcestershire. Ridge lip with fields, woodlands and lanes. Traces the Midlands Watershed Ridge along the Birmingham Plateau lip; route parallels Roman Icknield Street.

Time: 5h30 (4h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: A441 Redditch Road busy; M42 motorway crossing.

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Mostly towpath along the Birmingham branch of the Grand Union Canal. Canal authorized in 1793 connecting Digbeth to Warwick; modernized in 1930s; freight traffic ceased by 1970s.

Waterway: four fifths along the Grand Union Canal.

Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Some low bridges requiring ducking; steep ramp at end.

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Towpaths and river banks. Urban walk tracing Birmingham's waterpower heritage from suburbs to city center.

Time: 4h30 (3h walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: Busy roads to cross; low bridges on canal sections.

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).

Canal towpaths throughout — rough track, grassy banks, tarmac sections — passing under multiple road and rail and motorway bridges. Follows the Ridgacre Branch Canal, joins the Walsall Canal, and finishes at the canal basin beside the New Art Gallery in Walsall town centre.

Waterway: almost all along the Walsall Canal.

Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)

Warnings: One dismantled footbridge requires a small detour via lockgate or road-bridge gap.

Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).