Canal path "spills" - what do you do?

[thistler]

On the canal path between Todmorden and Hebden Bridge, there are several cobbled areas across the path where water from the canal flows into the river. There are some very narrow boards put up to use as a bridge for walking, but they are too narrow to ride across. I don't know if the spills are ok to ride through, they look a bit slippery and dangerous. So far I have carried my bike across the boards but it's quite awkward and I worry about falling.

Are these spills found on many canal paths? I'm planning a tour and was hoping to use canal paths along my route, but I don't think I could carry a fully loaded bike across any spills safely! Should I be packing wellies so I can wade through? 😊

 

[Mazz]

Hang on, is this a permanent thing? Anyone, even on foot , could fall on these boards right?. If so, get on to the council!

 

[ColinJ]

I have ridden those on a mountain bike with big tyres but they are really not designed to be cycled over!

And, yes, those board bridges are very unfriendly too. Impossible for wheelchairs, parents with kids in buggies etc. Apparently, discussions are underway on how to solve the issue... (d'uh - build wider wooden bridges like one at the Todmorden end of that stretch of towpath!)

Read this (long!) post... (and other relevant posts in that thread)...

Okay, I have taken some of FrothNinja's photos and played around with them a little...

I set off along the Rochdale canal towpath from Todmorden yesterday morning in dry conditions but encountered drizzle before even getting to Hebden Bridge to meet Dadam and FrothNinja. It was windy. The wind stayed with us all day, but the precipitation came and went. And came back again. And went again! And... The sun made some welcome appearances. Overall, the conditions weren't too bad. They could have been a lot better, but they could also have been a LOT worse!

My offroad bike handling was never brilliant, but I haven't ridden my MTB since before the pandemic so even those pathetic handling skills have suffered. I came to the first of several cobbled spillways from the canal to the river below... Here is an example spillway, snapped on a road bike ride a few years ago...

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There was much more water gushing over the cobbles yesterday so I couldn't really see what I would be riding over.

I hesitated... Ride the spillway, or walk over the plank foot bridge at the side of the towpath? The bike is quite heavy and I didn't fancy carrying it. At times like this I ask myself "What would @I like Skol do?" Skolly's answer to that would no doubt be either (1) "Just ride over the planks - loads of room", or (2) "Just ride over the cobbles at warp speed"

Well, I could see what would happen if I tried riding the plank bridge: Either I would fall onto the cobbles and break myself, OR I would fall the other way over the wall and break myself. I chose the warp speed over cobbles option!

What I hadn't realised was that the cobbles were covered in a winter's worth of slimy moss! I quickly started sliding to one side, then my front wheel got half-wedged in a cavernous gap between 2 cobble stones! The bike kicked like a bucking bronco and almost had me off, but somehow I rolled through and back up the other side. Holy crap, I won't do that again. But then of course at the the second spillway, I DID, and guess what? I hadn't realised that those cobbles were ALSO covered in a winter's worth of slimy moss! Once again I quickly started sliding to one side, then my front wheel got half-wedged in a cavernous gap between 2 cobble stones! The bike kicked like a bucking bronco and almost had me off, but somehow I rolled through and back up the other side. Holy crap squared, I DEFINITELY won't do that again. And didn't! All subsequent cobbled spillways of death were handled in wimpish carrying of heavy bike mode!

I got to the meeting place at the appointed time, and met up with Dadam and FrothNinja and off we set...

We got to Hardcastle Crags and immediately started our climb up to Shackleton. D and FN rode away from me and waited higher up. This was the pattern on nearly all of the climbs. I was trying to reassure myself that this was due to their motor-assistance but I suspect that my relative lack of fitness was the main problem...

I pointed out where a ruined farm building at Alcomden Water had been renovated and turned into a lovely family home.

We did a quick descent to Widdop Rd which we crossed to a gate to the permissive bridleway up to Heptonstall Moor. We had a bit of a problem there... A sign told us that there are breeding birds and dogs must be kept on a lead at all times. Well, this was definitely a time, but we didn't have a dog or a lead with us... We decided to risk it anyway!

We crossed the dam, and turned right to the gate leading to the bridleway to Heptonstall Moor. I remember that climb being rocky; I don't remember it being muddy, but yesterday, muddy it was! I spotted a couple of fellow offroad cyclists bombing down to us so I kept the gate open to let them whiz through without stopping.

We climbed up in the drizzle. When we got to the top, our path was almost completely blocked by parked vehicles. I have never seen that up there before. FN reckoned that there were cages in the backs of some of he vehicles and suggested that perhaps the owners were up there doing some dodgy hunting with dogs? We squeezed past and took a couple of photos. Here are Dadam (left), FrothNinja (centre), FN's Focus ebike (ahead), my bike tossed to one side (right)!

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We dropped down onto Edge Lane and bombed along that. I stopped to show them the wonderful little May's Farm Shop. We had snacks there. D and I felt a silly moment coming on, kindly snapped by FN, for fear that we might actually be able to live it down one day!

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Oh, and the sun had by then made a fleeting appearance!

I offered the lads a choice at the end of Edge Lane. We could stick to the original totally pointless plan which was to descend to the A646 in the valley and then almost immediately climb back up again, or just stay high and take a shortcut to the same point? We were men of action, revelling in the challenge, spitting in the face of relentless Pennine weather. Down, then straight back up it was then!

I was descending the bridleway at Lumb Bank when FN went hurtling past me. It had become obvious that he likes fast downhills - he did it to me several times on the ride! Dadam was having to be much more careful on his relatively skinny 35C tyres so he generally descended behind me.

FN took this snap at Colden Clough showing how much water was cascading down off the waterlogged moors...

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Down to the valley road, along a bit, then back up to Blackshaw Head. We cycled round to just below Great Rock then descended to Eastwood on the bridleway that I had climbed on Wednesday on my MTB test ride. I'll post Wednesday's picture again here...

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That is Stoodley Pike on the hillside in the distance. The bridleway goes straight down the hill from the sign behind me.

We crossed the A646 then climbed to Middle Stoodley. FN took a photo to preserve another minute of sunshine for posterity. I named it 'Distant Pike, Nearby Folly, Unexpected Sunny Spell'...

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We climbed up to London Road, more sensibly named (since it isn't a road and doesn't go to London!) The Pennine Bridleway!

I was getting light-headed, having not eaten enough, and having drunk nowhere near enough, so we stopped on the bridleway for me to refuel. FN then tried to sort out my annoyingly loose rear Crudguard. He managed to tighten it a bit but to do it properly we would have had to take the seatpost out and improvise a shim.

Onwards and upwards... here is a little section the of the PB up there which is a bit rocky and muddy and I was struggling on it. After nearly falling off a couple of time I decided that it would be easier and quicker to walk my bike up that bit. I only had to walk about 150 metres of it, then remounted and cycled up to join FN at the gate at the southern end of Kilnshaw Lane. Dadam joined us and we took a rough track up the hillside to our right. While FN was waiting for this old ruin, he took a snap of another one... Ladies and Gentleman, I present Focus Ebike, Ruined Cottage, Dry Stone Walls!

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A short stretch of level bridleway, then a rapid descent down a narrow tarmac lane to Cragg Vale. I went down at nearly 50 km/hr to prevent that pesky FN overtaking me. He overtook me anyway!

We got onto Cragg Road and made the obligatory toilet stop. Sorry, the obligatory public toilet turned into a tiny cottage stop!

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And as we ascended at 15:45 towards our cafe stop at Craggies, an important question suddenly struck me... "Is Craggies actually open at this time on a Saturday?" The answer soon turned out to be "NO!" The cafe closed at 15:30. I will check opening times for future rides! Time for Plan B...

We plunged down the lanes to Mytholmroyd, then skipped the last little climb that I had planned and rode straight back to Hebden Bridge along the Calder Valley Cycleway. We found a cafe in town and Dadam and I had coffee and flapjack while FN squirted a gel all over himself** and took a snap to prove (a) that he actually had been pedalling most of the time and (b) that having a 600+ Wh battery on your ebike is very handy on hilly rides!

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33 lumpy miles covered and a LOT of battery power left!

We finished our fuel, then said our goodbyes.

I rode home on the towpath but carried the bike over those silly plank bridges. The authorities spent a lot of money resurfacing the towpath recently. Why on earth didn't they widen the bridges while they were at it! Not only are the planks cyclist-hostile, they are also totally useless to the disabled and parents with children in buggies.

Thanks for a fun day out, lads. I'll try to organise another offroad ride in a few months time.

My total for the day 64 km, or around 40 miles for you diehard imperialists.

** Not really! A gel sachet had sprung a leak so FN decided he might as well use it up.

 

[thistler]

Thank you, @ColinJ!

If anyone is wondering what I'm talking about, the first photo in ColinJ's post is one of the more dangerous-looking ones. After reading your account, I don't fancy trying to ride through it but don't think me carrying a loaded bike is any safer. @Mazz I assumed it was the CRT who dealt with it but will check. I'll also be looking for more news about this being improved. I suppose if I'm including that area in a tour anytime soon I'd be slightly safer just taking the road instead, which is a shame as that path is so beautiful.

As far as other canal paths go - is this sort of plank bridge thing typical or is it only on this one path?

 

[mjr]

I've not seen such plank bridges on other paths. If not festooned with warning signs, it might be unofficial help from a frustrated walker.

There is "Two Plank Bridge" between Spalding and Pinchbeck, but it's long been widened and made suitable for riding. I think it's currently blocked out of use while Spalding try to cure congestion by building more roads. Again.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

If anyone is wondering what I'm talking about, the first photo in ColinJ's post is one of the more dangerous-looking ones.

To be honest, a lot of how we deal with this kind of thing comes down to our approach.
It depends on how detailed our planning is, our gear and our own attitudes.
I probably wouldn't ride through that but I'd have no problem walking through it having checked how slippy it was. But, I normally wear sandals on flat pedals so getting my feet wet would actually be a pleasure on a hot day and I'd have wool socks if it was cold.
The bike pictured could be pushed along the wooden part or even carried - not an option with my 4 pannier set-up.

The only time I'm wary is when I can't see the bottom. And I always go very, very slowly, sliding my feet along. A fall will not be good.

I suppose if I'm including that area in a tour anytime soon I'd be slightly safer just taking the road instead, which is a shame as that path is so beautiful.

Again, it comes back to our idea of a tour. More than once I've come across unexpected obstacles but I try to avoid being in a rush so these things don't have a big negative impact. I also tend to have enough food and water for a wildcamp if really necessary. A tightly planned day in terms of distance or time leaves little room for whatever the road can throw at us (and it's not all bad!).
Personally, the idea of planning and researching a route in such detail as to be able to avoid something like this is not appealing to me. And there's no guarantee that even on a very well researched route that something like a sudden rainstorm won't make a path impassable for a few hours.

As far as other canal paths go - is this sort of plank bridge thing typical or is it only on this one path?

I have little experience in the UK but what freaked me out were low bridges that forced me to walk bang on the canal edge, my bike on my right so we could both fit under. One slip, one loose stone and I was gone swimming with a possibility that the bike would be coming in on top of me! I never thought a canal ride could be so exciting!

 

[thistler]

Thank you, @HobbesOnTour - you make some good points! I've not ridden on many canal paths and wondered if this type of thing was very common or not.

@mjr I used to live outside of Boston so know the Spalding area roadworks well! 😊

I've cycled the Tod/Hebden path several times and carried my unladen bike with some difficulty. I'll try walking through in sandals or similar next time and see how I get on before attempting it with packed panniers. I have no problem walking when needed for safety - I certainly don't expect a risk-free tour but the older I get, the more careful I am at trying to prevent falls wherever possible 👵

 

[fossyant]

There are none on the Peak, Ashton or Bridgewater like that, but safer to walk them, unless on a MTB.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Thank you, @HobbesOnTour - you make some good points! I've not ridden on many canal paths and wondered if this type of thing was very common or not.

You may also want to consider carrying a map, paper or electronic, that can help you out if trying to make a call on whether to proceed or detour.
I do know that Cycle Travel has recently bumped up its highlighting of fords so that they are highlighted in Turn by turn directions and flagged at the start. Of course, that depends on the underlying data. Perhaps you could check to see how CT reacts to the route you came across the water on?

 

[Jameshow]

I'd just put the bike onto back wheel and wheel across.
Not seen any like that on Leeds Liverpool canal.

 

[thistler]

I'd just put the bike onto back wheel and wheel across.
Not seen any like that on Leeds Liverpool canal.

I'm not sure how steady I'd be with that as was I trying to hang on to the railings/sides of some of them as I carried the bike across, but putting it on the back wheel hadn't even occurred to me. I will have to see how I get on the next time I'm there!

 

[thistler]

You may also want to consider carrying a map, paper or electronic, that can help you out if trying to make a call on whether to proceed or detour.
I do know that Cycle Travel has recently bumped up its highlighting of fords so that they are highlighted in Turn by turn directions and flagged at the start. Of course, that depends on the underlying data. Perhaps you could check to see how CT reacts to the route you came across the water on?

Thanks @HobbesOnTour ! I can see that being very useful. In this instance, the ford is marked but it just says to "continue on unpaved trail".

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Thanks @HobbesOnTour ! I can see that being very useful. In this instance, the ford is marked but it just says to "continue on unpaved trail".

What you may be able to do is to
1. Click on the point of the ford on the map to bring up a dialogue box and select "streetview". (Chances are that this won't often work on a car free route)
2. Click on the point of the ford on the map to bring up a dialogue box and select "Find Photos". Chances are Google will have some photos.
At least these will help you to figure out in advance what you may be facing (different times of the year though can be interesting )

Like I say, my approach is not to prepare but to take my time. If I was uneasy, I'd have no problem stripping the gear off the bike and crossing in stages.

This was one of my more interesting crossings

 

[cougie uk]

None on the canals round here or the Shropshire Union and I ran 30 miles along the canals from Stratford to Bournville and I've never seen anything like that.

 

[a.twiddler]

Not come across anything like that over the years. Hopefully that's just a temporary feature.