Canal Touring

[keithb]

Hi all,

I was just wnodering if anyone out there has based a tour on the canal network, or sections thereof?

I commute to work daily along the River Trent and that links to various canals, including the grand union to London, which is what gave me the idea.

It just seems like a nice, traffic free way to see the world...

Any experiences or recomendations?

 

[Alex11]

It's a great idea. I was thinking of doing the same for the summer maybe I think, a short canal tour, maybe.

It sounds good. I just think you'd have to plan to route really carefully so that you know exactly what canal routes you're doing.

Let me know how you get on.

 

[TheDoctor]

Canals have their pros and cons. They can go through delightful countryside, but also through some grim industrial wastelands. They also don't tend to be overly hilly. Canalside pubs are good though

 

[Alex11]

The lack of hills is a huge attraction I think!

 

[wiggydiggy]

Do your research!

Ive done a lot of miles on various canals, and they can vary from as good as road tarmac to literally pushing your bike through thick mud. I'd start with looking to see if they have been designated, either locally or nationally, as cycle routes > Sustrans online mapping can help with that.

Apart from making sure its suitable the other change from normal touring would be a slower pace, but if you already commute alongside one you'll be used to the 'ting-ting' approach of considerate cycling.

Just to add from my own experiences of those I've done more than 50% of:

Lancaster Canal (preston > kendal) - Not suitable, some sections are designated locally as cycle route and surfaced as such but the majority is grassy and rough.
Leeds/Liverpool - Suitable, with prep. Mostly ok but some sections can be boggy, wait for warmer weather and use a suitable bike.
Rochdale (Manchester>Halifax) - Suitable. Most of it is designated an NCN, some sections rough but the best I've been on so far.

Others I've been on include Hebble/Calder, Aire/Calder, Grand Trunk, Burnley (infilled) and Chesterfield - all of various degrees of suitability.

Really if it was me, I'd utilise a hardtail MTB and expect to occasionally leave the canalside for the road, could make for an interesting tour if you do it!

 

[Bodhbh]

I've never toured on them but when I lived Watford used to follow the Grand Union as a traffic free route into London, or out into the sticks as part of other rides...so my opinion might be skewed towards that part of the world. The obvious pros are no traffic, no hills, some people watching. On the otherhand, like following old railtrack routes, long miles by a canal side can get monotonous (both in terms of the view and riding). Also some sections can get frustratingly busy, particularly in good weather, with walkers, other cyclists, fisherman, etc. Like others have said, surface conditions can vary from swamp to nice gravel path, there may also be sections with gates and what not.

 

[Sara_H]

I tried to set off cycling along the tow path from Sheffield canal basin once, only got a few hundred yards and has to turn back!

 

[Alex11]

I tried to set off cycling along the tow path from Sheffield canal basin once, only got a few hundred yards and has to turn back!

How come?!

 

[keithb]

These tales of horrendous conditions are somewhat suprising to me, as all the tow-paths I've ever used have been in good condition...

I was thinking about trying to combine tow-paths and sus-trans routes to build a short weekend tour into the peaks from Nottingham.

From Nottingham along the Trent > Erewash Canal > Road from Heanor to Ambergate > Cromford Canal to base of High Peak Trail > into the peak district.....

I've been somwhat inspired by this, but it doesnt include non-navigable waterways, many of which are now kept as walking and cycling routes...
http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/mwp.php?wpage=Inland-Waterways-of-England.htm

 

[GrumpyGregry]

NCN4 contains a huge amount of traffic free towpath riding. I've ridden it from Brizzle/Bath to that there Reading. The pubs are great.

The unsurfaced parts are very bumpy.

 

[Sara_H]

How come?!

Path ran out!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I tried cycling to my mother's and back via the canal network. The idea being that I was fed up of the roads and thought I would do it on my mountian bike instead. I won't be doing again, I'm afraid. Where the canals have sustrans routes along them, they are fine (on the whole but still be prepared for flights of steps and pushing bikes even on sustrans routes and not all of the steps are small or easy to negiotate). Along side the numerous locks around here, there are many many cobbled sections on the drops immediately after the locks. these are dangerous and very slippery in many many places and I had to get off and walk, and even that was exceptionally difficult. the bike tyre (a fully mtb nobbly tyre) had no grip and was sliding away from me, at the same time as I was losing my footing - no chance of cycling up or down these sections because of small, low and narrow bridges at the exit of the lock.
Then I was faced with a number of obstacles that left me tearing my hair out and conceding defeat for the journey home. these included a gate that appeared to be welded shut and the only way through was to take my panniers off, get my bike onto its rear wheel and weave it through the pedestrain barrier, followed by various cycle 'gates' that just became madness. This was the ride report http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/your-ride-today.8938/post-2404500 and this one was of the frequent barriers I came across.

I went home another way.

 

[vernon]

This was the ride report http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/your-ride-today.8938/post-2404500 and this one was of the frequent barriers I came across.

I went home another way.

Theres a run of barriers similar to the above on the Leeds Liverpool canal near Wigan I think. I was not impressed with the faffage required to get my bike through them. I had to unship my panniers, do lots of bike contortions to get the bike through. Return to collect the panniers and reattach them then go through the same procedure a couple of hundred meteres further along.

I have followed canals and rivers on cycle paths extensively and I've found the canal routes to be a tad tedious and the presence of pubs on the UK canals do little to improve the attractiveness of using their tow paths for a tour. In France there's only so many times that a lock keepers house is attractive and canals do tend to miss towns and villages as the routes are ties to contour lines.
Rivers, however, attract the building of towns and villages and you come across facilities more frequently.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

View attachment 22500

The local yoof have a penchant for mopeds and motorcycles I fear.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

The local yoof have a penchant for mopeds and motorcycles I fear.

they may have had in the past but that is a rural location and the houses in the background are on the very edge of a quiet village. If they were, they are long gone. further around the corner along the canal it is totally grass with no path visible. just seems overkill and there is no way I will do it again even on an mtb, let alone consider it for a tour. it would have been hell on our expedition bikes with front & rear panniers