Leeds to Liverpool canal towpath?

[mistyoptic]

Anyone have any recent experience of this? I can find a couple of blogs but nothing more recent than 2015. Is it a decent ride?

 

[KnittyNorah]

It depends which section you are talking about, its not anything like 'the same' all the way along it. I almost had to start folding my bike to get it off the L&L towpath at Burscough a couple of weeks ago, so odd and such a puzzle were the 'bike gates' or whatever they call them. But the surface of the towpath itself was just fine for my 20" wheel folder - in that area.

 

[Mark Grant]

Some vids on the Tube

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peIBQ17XhcE&t=1533s

 

[PaulSB]

Anyone have any recent experience of this? I can find a couple of blogs but nothing more recent than 2015. Is it a decent ride?

I haven't watched the whole of the video above. Over the years I've ridden it between Liverpool and Blackburn but never in one go. I've walked a few sections beyond Blackburn to the Skipton area.

Overall I would say it's a good ride. Provided the weather has been dry the surface is decent but variable between well surfaced with setts, cobbles, compressed stone, hard packed soil etc. to grass with a strip perhaps 9-12" wide worn down by walkers and cyclists.

There are areas which are being upgraded and for example four weeks ago I would have warned you of deep rutting and mud around Red Rock, Standish. This has now been properly scraped and backfilled with stone.

The section between Standish and outskirts of Blackburn, the part I know best, is largely hard packed soil. It can get very wet and muddy in places.

I'm planning to ride the full length this summer over one or two days. I'll start in Leeds for two reasons; the locks, especially the Wigan flight, will be descents and from Liverpool I can get a direct train to five miles from home.

Whether I ride one or two days will depend on progress. Our village is roughly at the midway point and my house two minutes ride from the towpath. When I get to the village I'll decide whether to continue to Liverpool in one day or stop overnight at home.

I'll use my gravel bike with 35mm tyres. It's coped very well all year round riding on my local sections.

 

[Blue Hills]

As @KnittyNorah says OP you will have to be more specific.
There's a nice surfaced bit between Gargrave and Skipton, and Silsden to Leeds is generally good.
A cyclist I got nattering to near Gargrave very recently said that Skipton straight through to Leeds was fine in dry weather.
Last time I rode out of Blackburn towards Leeds the first bit (only bit I rode) was earth - fine in good weather, imagine would be muddy otherwise.

Look forward to hearing about your summer trip @PaulSB - surface reports etc - as they do seem to be slowly improving it in bits.

 

[PaulSB]

As @KnittyNorah says OP you will have to be more specific.
There's a nice surfaced bit between Gargrave and Skipton, and Silsden to Leeds is generally good.
A cyclist I got nattering to near Gargrave very recently said that Skipton straight through to Leeds was fine in dry weather.
Last time I rode out of Blackburn towards Leeds the first bit (only bit I rode) was earth - fine in good weather, imagine would be muddy otherwise.

Look forward to hearing about your summer trip @PaulSB - surface reports etc - as they do seem to be slowly improving it in bits.

The surface is very, very variable. Some areas are excellent such as those you mention above. I've walked a lot of this but can't recall exactly where. Certainly Gargrave, Skipton and around Saltaire.

On the other hand beyond Blackburn towards Burnley there are grass sections and heading to Chorley out of Blackburn is grass in places.

It's variable and fun. Looking forward to my trip. I don't know when it will be. I'll check the weather and off I go. Currently the first Blackburn >Leeds train is 06.03 arriving at 07.30. My plan is 12-13 hours riding with 2 hours for stops so it would probably be better to stay overnight in Leeds for a nice early start.

 

[mistyoptic]

As @KnittyNorah says OP you will have to be more specific.

sorry, wasnt specific. Should have said “all of it”. Thinking of a loop and using the full length to join up. Total plan Staffordshire to the Wirral then to Leeds and down via Newark to Nottingham and Derby back to Staffordshire

 

[fossyant]

Wait for the weather to dry the tow paths up a bit - they are very wet and boggy at the moment - loads better two years ago as it had been quite dry, but we've had a wet winter. We need a few weeks of dry-ish weather and some breeze to dry them out.

Some going doing Leeds Liverpool in a day - saw the guy took nearly 14 hours. That's a fair old battering to the body.

 

[mistyoptic]

Wait for the weather to dry the tow paths up a bit - they are very wet and boggy at the moment - loads better two years ago as it had been quite dry, but we've had a wet winter. We need a few weeks of dry-ish weather and some breeze to dry them out.

Some going doing Leeds Liverpool in a day - saw the gut took nearly 14 hours. That's a fair old battering to the body.

That’s not a problem. We’re definitely fair weather cyclists, so this is a summer project, out of school holidays

 

[KnittyNorah]

From the 'New Lane' swing bridge (between Scarisbrick and Burscough) to Wigan, it's marked as Pier to Pier Cycle Route (Southport Pier to Wigan Pier I believe) so should be at least rideable.
I rode from the New Lane swing bridge into Burscough about 10 days ago and the surface was fine for 20" wheels with a hybrid sort of tyre, mainly a sort of hard-packed fine gravel/grit. Whether this surface extends all the way through to Wigan I have no idea. Have a look on the Canals and Rivers Trust website for details of towpath works, closures and conditions. I use their site a lot when I'm planning my little jaunts.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I might try a section of this when the weather warms up and the paths dry out
My wife's son and his family live near there so I could go for a visit in the car and leave the car there - canal isn;t too far away

Should get up to 60 miles from the battery if I am careful in the summer and it would make a change from my normal rides on the bridgewater canal

 

[Blue Hills]

I might try a section of this when the weather warms up and the paths dry out
My wife's son and his family live near there so I could go for a visit in the car and leave the car there - canal isn;t too far away

Should get up to 60 miles from the battery if I am careful in the summer and it would make a change from my normal rides on the bridgewater canal

more interesting than the Bridgewater for sure I'd say.

 

[NorthernDave]

I rode Bingley to Leeds just before lockdown - it's a nice ride, decent but variable surface when dry. But some of the signposting is dire, especially if the cycle route diverts off the towpath, and there are sections where it gets quite busy if the weather is good so progress might be leisurely at times.

 

[KnittyNorah]

All towpath riding should be leisurely, at all times. Whether it's a swan defending its nest, a party of moorhens going for a stroll or just a mum, a toddler and a pushchair feeding the ducks, they have every right to not have someone speeding behind, in front of or between them. Still less splashing them from the inevitable puddles.

IF it's a sufficiently wide towpath that there's plenty of space for everyone to keep out of everyone else's way, AND if it's well-enough surfaced to make full use of that width a practical proposition - either, separately, being a rare occurrence and I've never seen both together for more than what might thought of as a fortunate interval! - then a cyclist might be able to make steady progress at a quiet time of day - but never speedy progress, given the propensity for water voles and herons to be round the corner, fishermen to be sorting out their nets and rods on the other side of the bridge and a working party of volunteer litter-pickers to be dragging sacks of rubbish on hand-trolleys to the next road access/pick-up point.

Bear in mind also that the 'national speed limit' for the primary users of the waterway - the boat - is 4mph and you might begin to understand why speedsters of any form be they on foot or by wheel, are frankly loathed and roundly condemned.

 

[PaulSB]

A bell is a fantastic investment. Since I got one I can't believe the number of walkers who have said "thank you" to me.