Canal Walks

OVERVIEW

It was never really my plan to do much canal walking, but what started as peaked interest whilst walking the Pennine Way, has slowly turned into a way of continuing to get some good walking in through the winter months.

But it would be unfair to characterise the canals as a mere refuge during the more difficult parts of the year for walking, for they are full of interest and history - as you head along what were at one point the main transport routes across the country.

In general the canals sit in a block that lies north of London and south of Leeds, but many also go through pretty dramatic countryside, as they cut through the Pennines or across the Welsh countryside.

In their own right these are good walks, and each time I walk one, I find myself increasingly excited to walk another one.

PRACTICALITIES

Canal walks are generally very easy walks - partly because they are fairly flat (for obvious reasons), and partly because they tend to have train lines running parallel to their course. 

The diversions around tunnels can be substantial - and can involve quite heft sections of hill walking - but otherwise you just have to stick to the correct side of the canal and keep going.

A further bonus is that there are almost always towns dotted along the canal at nice intervals, which makes accommodation and onward transport very straight-forward - and this removes the need to do heroically long days of walking, just to make travel and accommodation work.

You do, however, have to be careful about weather conditions - and canals are not a place to go walking during times of flood - or after periods of heavy rains (when the banks can be less stable). 

Otherwise though, these are underrated places to go walking.

USEFUL LINKS

Canal & River Trust : Canal & River Trust | Making life better by water

CANALS WALKED

Huddersfield Narrow Canal (★★★★★)

The Huddersfield Narrow Canal is arguably the most impressive canal in the UK. It heads out from Huddersfield along the Colne Valley - before a 3 mile tunnel cuts through the Pennine Hills.

Walkers along the canal must at this point head up over the top of the hills, and get the chance to enjoy some pretty incredible countryside, before rejoining the canal at Diggle.

From Diggle the canal towpath can be rejoined, and then there is a a wonderful walk alongside the River Tame. Towards the end of this canal, the canal gets a bit more ragged, before it eventually meets up with the Peak Forest and Ashton Canals at Ashton-under Lyne.

Liverpool & Leeds Canal (★★★★☆) 

The Liverpool & Leeds Canal is a 126 miles long, and I have completed the eastern end of this canal between Gargrave and Leeds. Being such a long canal it has it's own page on this site with each of the stages of the canal detailed individually.

The canal features very briefly on the Pennine Way and is very accessible along it's expanse.

In conjunction with the Aire and Calder Navigation this provides a coast-to-coast trail, and my plan is ultimately to join up this canal route with a route across to Hull, and then up to the eastern coast of England at Hornsea.

In general the canal takes a fairly flat, but often meandering route, with wing bridges rather than locks being the dominant feature along the canal.

Macclesfield Canal (★★★★★)

The Macclesfield Canal is a shorter 26 mile canal, but can be walked as part of the Cheshire Canal Ring (which is just shy of a hundred miles long). It is a very pretty canal that has a particular highlight at the Bosley Locks flight, which contains all twelve of the canal's locks in a one mile stretch of walking.

I walked the canal over two days, with the first day, branching off from the Peak Forest Canal at Marple - and then running down through High Lane, and parallel to the Middlewood Way (an old disused railway line) through Bollington (where the canal runs along a raised embankment), to Macclesfield.

From Macclesfield the canal initially meanders more than is usual across the rest of the canal, brushing the edge of the Peak District, before dropping around a hundred feet at the Bosley flight of locks (one of the nicest stretches of canal I've walked so far). From here the canal cuts west to Congleton, and then south to join the Trent & Mersey Canal near Kidsgrove. 

Peak Forest Canal (★★★★☆) 

The Peak Forest Canal is short enough to be walked in one go - and splits off from the Ashton Canal at Ashton-under-Lyne - before heading out along a small slither of countryside that passes between Manchester suburbs.

Following it's passage past Hyde, the walk along the canal gets less urban, with a particular highlight as you pass through Woodley Tunnel (with this being one of the longer tunnels you can walk through) - and after passing Romiley the best section of the canal starts, as it heads over Marple Aqueduct, and then up a flight of 16 locks (as it heads through Marple).

At the end of this lock flight, the canal turns left (whilst the Macclesfield Canal and Cheshire Canal Ring turn right) - and the route then heads up the Goyt Valley into the Peak District. From here you can finish in either Whaley Bridge or Buxworth.

Rochdale Canal (★★★★☆) 

The Rochdale Canal is 32 miles long, and runs from Manchester to Sowerby Bridge. This follows a similar route to the Liverpool & Leeds Canal, but takes a more aggressive route through the hills (which can lead to some lovely scenery). This aggressive route reduces the distance of the canal, but results in 91 locks (or three per mile of navigation).

The northern (and rural) end of this canal is a fabulous walk, along a route that runs from Littleborough, past Todmorden, to Hebden Bridge (with the Pennine Way running on the ridge above the canal on this stretch) - after which it continues on through Mytholmroyd to Sowerby Bridge (where it connects to the Calder Navigation).

The southern (and urban) end, but is in general less enjoyable - and this section heads out from Manchester - through Rochdale, and on to Littleborough (where the rural phase of the canal properly begins).

Stratford-Upon-Avon Canal (★★★☆☆) 

This canal starts at Kings Norton at the southern end of Birmingham, and then has an urban section that generally heads east along that southern end of Birmingham, before then heading south east to Hockley Heath. This is the less interesting part of the canal.

From Hockley Heath the canal has a lot more charm, and takes a more rural route - starting off by heading down the Lapworth Lock Flight, which includes 26 locks over a distance of 2.5 miles - with there also being a join to the Grand Union Canal along this stretch.

From here the locks keep coming along the canal - and it is worth noting that this a canal with a particularly muddy towpath that is probably best walked in summer. Eventually you head over the Edstone Aqueduct (the longest cast iron aqueduct in England), before finishing up with the Wilmcote Lock Flight into Stratford-Upon-Avon.

The section from Wilmcote to Stratford-Upon-Avon can be walked year around (it is a solid towpath), and the canal ends at Bancroft Basin (connecting up with the River Avon).

Worcester & Birmingham Canal (★★★☆☆) 

From Birmingham this is a pretty urban - and pretty flat canal. But from the southern end of the Wasthill Tunnel, this is a canal that predominantly heads across quiet countryside, and whilst the first lock is around halfway down the canal, the second half of the canal features multiple lock flights.

The Tardebigge lock flight is the longest in the UK, with 30 locks over a distance of over two miles - and is quickly followed by a second flight of six locks (with the two consecutive flights running over three miles). 

The total length of the canal is 29 miles - and it naturally splits into two sections, with the first being the generally flat route from Birmingham to Bromsgrove (though with a number of diversions over ridges that the canal itself tunnels through).

The second section is from Bromsgrove to Worcester, which is dominated by numerous locks as the canal drops down to meet up with the River Severn at Worcester. It is an enjoyable canal to walk along, with numerous points of interest, but generally heads across fairly flat countryside.