Birmingham to Black Country route help needed

[upsidedown]

Anyone have a tried and tested route from Birmingham City Centre to Dudley / Stourbridge way ?

Want to avoid the hills around Netherton/Quarry Bank/Cradley, main roads if possible, especially the Hagley and Birmingham New Road.

Tried a few routes but always ended up with a nasty part, just wondered if anybody had managed to findd a reasonable route?

cheers

 

[Downward]

You can't avoid the hills unless you go down the A456 past the Audi garage @ halesowen and then up through woodgate.

 

[BADGER.BRAD]

How about using the canal network? You won't get flatter or more traffic free! I have travelled to Bham city centre from Dudley and Wolves and have also used the Canals to get from Dudley to Stourbridge, the place is littered with canals all with a good surface. A hybrid will cope well. If you have a road bike then maybe not! You just need to find some canal maps to work out your route. You might find better but here is one.

http://www.canal-navigations.fsnet.co.uk/B,HAM.html

 

[upsidedown]

Cheers guys, i know the canals pretty well but wouldn't want to use them daily as they're too slow and too much stop start for walkers.
Tried it a couple of weeks ago and ended up coming up Quarry Bank, suffice to say i don't fancy that every day.

 

[Downward]

Cheers guys, i know the canals pretty well but wouldn't want to use them daily as they're too slow and too much stop start for walkers.
Tried it a couple of weeks ago and ended up coming up Quarry Bank, suffice to say i don't fancy that every day.

It's not too bad - I was shocked to see it is a 9%. It's better than up the Thorns which is a long long uphill.
Which part of the Black Country are you going from/to ??