Liverpool to Leeds on canal!

[Blue Hills]

Why do you think the canal has tunnels 🤔🤔🤔

there aren't many long ones round there are there? The only one I know is Foulridge. I thought canals usually achieved their flatness by extreme roundabout routeing. I remember reading one canal trip book recently where the author said it was pretty common to see boats ahead of you appearing to be heading for you.

 

[Darius_Jedburgh]

There are three or four short tunnels. Then there's the big embankment at Burnley, but the engineers were very good at using contours and locks. Wigan and Bingley are the main obstacles which were locked.

 

[jinxed jools]

Just an update I rode from leeds to skipton and back yesterday, tow path is easy to ride and a made path all the way with the exception of 2 mile section from silsden boat yard towards skipton. Also theres a mile section between buck lane and saltaire brewery.....other than that its an easy surface to ride!

 

[Blue Hills]

Just an update I rode from leeds to skipton and back yesterday, tow path is easy to ride and a made path all the way with the exception of 2 mile section from silsden boat yard towards skipton. Also theres a mile section between buck lane and saltaire brewery.....other than that its an easy surface to ride!

Many thanks for that - sounds like quite a ride - how far (as the canal winds) and how long did it take you?

 

[Blue Hills]

Maybe answering my own question, but came across this, which may be handy for folks.

https://canalplan.org.uk/index.html

as I can't seem to force cycletravel to a canal route and tell me what the mileage is - canals of course notoriously take the long way round.

It appears to give you the canal distances between points - journey times not relevant of course as those are for a canal boat and I seem to remember that they are limited to 4mph.

Also shows facilities along the route - water taps etc.

Would be interested in folks' views on how accurate it is.

 

[jinxed jools]

Many thanks for that - sounds like quite a ride - how far (as the canal winds) and how long did it take you?

48 mile and just over 4hr

 

[jinxed jools]

Maybe answering my own question, but came across this, which may be handy for folks.

https://canalplan.org.uk/index.html

as I can't seem to force cycletravel to a canal route and tell me what the mileage is - canals of course notoriously take the long way round.

It appears to give you the canal distances between points - journey times not relevant of course as those are for a canal boat and I seem to remember that they are limited to 4mph.

Also shows facilities along the route - water taps etc.

Would be interested in folks' views on how accurate it is.

http://www.towpathtreks.co.uk/LLC/milematrix.html this should give you a good idea

 

[Richard Fairhurst]

there aren't many long ones round there are there? The only one I know is Foulridge. I thought canals usually achieved their flatness by extreme roundabout routeing.

Depends on the canal. The earlier ones are like that - they're known as "contour canals" because they follow the contours of the land. The Leeds & Liverpool is a bit like this, but the most notorious examples are in the Midlands - the Oxford Canal (which actually got straightened out in the mid-19th century) and the Wyrley & Essington in the Black Country, universally known as the "Curly Wyrley".

But by the time of the later ones, the engineers had got better at building embankments and cuttings, so the canals got straighter. The Shropshire Union Canal from Wolverhampton to Nantwich is the best example of this. It's rubbish for cycling though - all the rain in the cuttings drains onto the towpath and makes it a quagmire.

 

[Darius_Jedburgh]

See if you can spot this sign on your journey

 

[clid61]

I got a key from canal and river trust 8 years ago when I did liverpool leeds very useful

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=i+got+the+key