Grand Union Canal - Market Harborough to South Wigston (★★★★☆)

Today we are back walking another stretch of canal - and these canals will be the main focus between now and April, after which I will head back into the hills for the summer half of the year.

The canal of interest today is a new but important one - the Grand Union Canal - which provided a faster route between London and the Midlands (it was the HS2 of it's day).

More specifically, the Grand Union Canal was a union of a number of separate canals (which between them provided this faster route to the Midlands) - and whilst we are not planning on walking along the main route of this canal today, we will be exploring it's most notable side branch.

The side branch is the Leicester Line - which is itself the union of two separate canals - the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Union Canal, and the original Grand Union Canal (these days known as the Old Grand Union Canal).

Of these two canals, the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Union Canal was the first to be built - and was intended to run between Leicester (where it could connect up with the Trent & Mersey Canal at Derby - via the Soar Navigation) and Northampton (where it could connect up with a branch of the Great Junction Canal - via the River Nene).

This connection with the Great Junction Canal was important - as the Great Junction Canal was built to provide a very direct route between Brentford (on the River Thames) and a junction with the Oxford Canal at Braunston (connecting London and the Midlands).

That Great Junction Canal was later unified into the Grand Union Canal (along with the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Union Canal, and the original Grand Union Canal - plus a number of other canals) - but by 1809 these canals were yet to have even been connected up.

Instead in 1979 construction of the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Union Canal had come to a halt (as it had insufficient funds to make the trip all the way to Northampton) - and although construction later restarted, the limited funds left were used to get to Market Harborough, and no further.

And that connection only came in 1814, after the completion of another new canal, that would run between Foxton (on the Leicestershire and Not-Quite-Northamptonshire Union Canal) and Long Buckby (on the Great Junction Canal).

This canal was known as the Grand Union Canal - with that name transferring over to the wider set of canals, when these canals were all unified in 1928.

On our walk today we are not going to be exploring either the main route of the canal (up the old Great Junction Canal), or the later connection between that canal and Foxton - but will instead be heading up what was once the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Union Canal - walking from Market Harborough round to South Wigston.

This will leave us shy of the furthest end of the Leicester Line branch of the Grand Union Canal - but do not fear, because we will come back, and not only complete the journey to Leicester - but will eventually also make our way up the Soar Navigation, to the junction with the Trent & Mersey Canal at Long Eaton (near Derby).

But for now we must step off the train - and start making our way through the rather posh-looking town of Market Harborough - where I can buy some very expensive bread (and a fairly reasonable meal deal) from the local Waitrose.

Whilst this pomposity does have a degree of justification (as the town does look rather fancy), the town did have fairly humble origins prior to medieval times - and Harborough effectively means Oat Hill (which doesn't sound all that posh to me).

But around the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries, a market grew up.

This market eventually made the town rich and propserous - but these days it seems to primarily be a place for old people to go enjoy themselves (either with a stroll by the canal, or a trip to the shops). 

And it also has the feel of a town that parents are keen to move their kids to - but which kids are resentful of moving to ("it's boring, there's nothing to do!").

The church and Grammar School in Market Harborough

But once beyond the main town, what I can confirm is that this stretch of the canal is very lovely to walk along - and whilst it is fairly busy in the initial stretch heading out of town, it quietens down fairly quickly.

The canal wharf

Taken in a lull in the foot traffic heading out from Market Harborough

Once we have made our way round the first meanders of the canal, we head under the main road heading north out of Market Harborough - and set off into empty countryside.

Initially the route of the canal isn't very straight - and here we are seeing the impact of those very limited funds by the time the canal had come this far - and this end of the canal was built as a contour canal, without any locks or tunnels.

This does extend the length of our walk - but that is no real issue, as it is a nice stretch of canal - with an excellent towpaths.

Now going beyond the area around Market Harborough

And spotting a heron

Here we are making our way towards Foxton - but whilst Foxton sits around three miles from Market Harborough train station as the crow flies, our meandering route has forced us to walk double that distance by the time we get there.

But as we come up to Foxton we do see a lot more people about once again - and here we pass by the village, and start to make our way towards the even busier Foxton Locks.

Coming up to Foxton

Coming up to Foxton Locks

Foxton Locks is a series of ten canal locks, split into two sets of five - and the join between this stretch of canal and the main path of the Grand Union Canal only has locks here and at the Watford Lock Flight (just prior to the junction with that main canal route).

Beside Foxton Locks sits the Foxton Inclined Plan - which was built in 1900 to try and improve capacity along this stretch of the canal.

This used a steam engine to lift boats up and down - and reduced the journey time for two boats heading up and down the flight from 75 minutes to just 12 - whilst also reducing the amount of water flowing down the lock flight from the main canal.

The Inclined Plane was however expensive - and was mothballed in 1911 as reduced tranffic offset the benefits of the Plane - and in 1926 the Plane was dismanted, and sold for scrap.

But on this walk we pass all this by without going over to take a closer look - and instead will pick up that lock flight in more detail when we return to walk that connecting stretch of canal.

This leaves us making our way towards Debdale Wharf (which was the furthest point of the canal when construction initially came to halt on this canal in 1979 - as money started to run out).

Honk!

For a time Debdale Wharf became a busy wharf, where goods would be taken off boats and loaded into a warehouse - before then being moved via the turnpike road to Market Harborough.

But once the canal had been extended, this wharf became far less important - and harder to transport goods such as coal and timber could from that point on more easily reach Market Harborough.

And as we continue on from here it is easy to see why this canal might have hit some financial issues - because we are now cutting more directly through the hills - with Smeeton Hill in particular rising up above the canal.

Looking towards Smeeton Hill (looking back)

Now the canal starts to straighten up

Through this section we haven't seen the same crazy meanders we saw heading out from Market Harborough, but even so it is noticable how the canal now straightens - and here the canal is getting ready to head through Saddington Tunnel.

The tunnel entrance

Saddington Tunnel runs for half a mile - and is apparently wide enough to fit boats in both directions (although I'm sure there is a bit of breathing in required in both directions) - but it is not wide enough to accomodate us as well, and so we must go over the top of the tunnel.

Whilst these tunnel routes can involve some complicated navigation, in this instance we simply keep heading in a straight line (just to the right of the tunnel - and up those steps) - and a track runs directly over the top of the tunnel all the way to it's far end.

This makes this one of the easiest tunnel navigations I have ever done - and having made it beyond the tunnel we head round a curve in the river, and then we do finally start to encounter some locks.

We now have locks to look at

In the run up to Kibworth Bridge we have three locks in succession - and then on the far side we have another two (which are further apart) - as we start to drop down onto lower ground.

A fairly hefty lock on the far side of Kibworth Bridge (looking back)

And with these locks cleared, we now head out across a particularly pretty stretch of countryside.

Out across the fields

Now closing in on Newton Harcourt

At Newton Harcourt we reach another set of locks - and here as we run close by the railway we pass three locks, with four more coming around the corner.

Once again these are fairly deep locks - but here we can also see evidence of the Great Drought of Summer 2026 - with some sections of the canal having particularly low water levels.

And this section of the canal has been closed since the 21st July - with Foxton Locks having also been closed or operating under restrictions throughout the second half the summer - with no reopening date yet on the horizon for this part of the canal.

Locks at Newton Harcourt

The next set of locks round the corner

Slightly further round

Another lock

A very empty canal

A slightly unnecessary lock given the water levels

But by this point we have made it round to Wigston (which sits to the north of us) - and having passed under Kilby Bridge, we pass what was obviously a fairly busy wharf in it's day.

Just beyond Kilby Bridge

From here we have another run of locks up ahead (three in total), and we get to enjoy a quiet walk, across some peaceful countryside (despite now being very close to the edge of Leicester), in this final stretch along the canal.

And so for this final bit of our walk we can just sit back, and enjoy a few more pictures - as we make our way round to our turn off point.

Some more water at this lock

A bit less at this one

Going for an arty shot under a bridge

And reaching our second to last lock of the day

The water levels have been quite changeable between locks - and the water levels are very low once again as we make our way past the houses on the final stretch through South Wigston.

But here the canal is also full of dumped rubbish - including quite a few traffic cones - and that makes for a slightly disappointing end to the day - but in any case we are soon turning off the canal, and completing a fairly short walk up to the train station at South Wigston.

The trains from here to Leicester are quick but fairly infrequent - and so it is worth bearing in mind that the 48 bus provides an alternative route from here to Leicester. But as it is, I'm arriving at a good time to catch the next train - and so am able to head off home in good time.

This has been an excellent walk along this stretch of canal - and whilst you always get some boring bits along these canals, there is plenty to keep you entertained along the way.

At some point we will come back not only to continue on up the River Soar, but also to connect up with the main route of the Grand Union Canal. And we will of course come back to walk the main route of the Grand Union Canal between London and Birmingham.

But for now we can head home, after a nice day out in the autumn sunshine.

Total Distance: 18.5 miles (16.8 miles on the canal)

Total Ascent: 436 feet (325 feet on the canal)

Enjoyment Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ★ / 5

Disclaimer: This writeup provides a narrative of what to expect rather than a route guide to follow. The route is covered by the 140 and 141 OS Landranger maps (links redirect to Amazon). The route is very easy to follow (even the bit over the tunnel)