Parts of Birmingham to avoid?

[sjs]

We spent the bank holiday week narrowboating the Stourport Ring (Worcester-Birmingham-Stourport-Worcester). The nights we spent moored outside the Sealife centre and at Merry Hill in Dudley were entirely trouble-free, as well as providing multiple pub and restaurant opportunities.

It did strike me that some of the towpath cycling, in areas quite busy with pedestrians and people fishing, was done at stupid speeds. And that the urban herons of Brum are a lot bolder than the ones round here.