It may have become the punchline of a Stewart Lee joke, but the old ‘Birmingham has more miles of canals than Venice’ remains as true as it ever was. The network came into being in the 18th-century and was instrumental in Birmingham’s industrial development, and while its industrial practicality has dwindled the canals remain an integral part of life in the second city. Just ask the masses of bars, pubs and restaurants that make the most of the glistening water, or the folk that stroll and cycle along the water’s edge during the summer months.