Our Route


In July/August 2018 we walked from Liversedge in Yorkshire to Oxford, where possible, on canal towpaths.

The walk started on greenways in the Spen Valley until Ravensthorpe where we joined our first canal, the Calder and Hebble Navigation to Mirfield. In Mirfield we took a greenway to pick up the Huddersfield Broad Canal, after first getting slightly lost in the Colne Valley. We followed the Huddersfield Broad Canal into Huddersfield.

The next day we joined the Huddersfield Narrow Canal to the Standedge tunnel. As there is no footpath in the tunnel we walked over the Pennines, via the Wessenden Valley, to Diggle and the southern end of the tunnel. We followed the Huddersfield Narrow Canal to Ashton where we joined the Peak Forest Canal.

We followed the Peak Forest Canal to Marple where we turned off onto the Macclesfield Canal. We followed the Macclesfield Canal to Kidsgrove where we joined the Trent and Mersey Canal. Almost immediately we had to leave the Canal, as it entered the Harecastle Tunnel, and follow a modified version of the route taken by draught horses in the early days. We rejoined the towpath at the southern end of the tunnel.

We followed the Trent and Mersey Canal to Fradley where we joined the Coventry Canal which we followed to Fazeley Junction, where we joined the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal.

We should have left the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal where it passes under the M6 and joined the Birmingham and Warwick Junction Canal, as we were going through Warwick. However we missed the junction. Even so I thought we could go into central Birmingham and then head East towards Solihull and our accommodation.

We could have corrected our first mistake at Aston Top Lock and turned East on the Digbeth Branch Canal but missed our turn and headed into Birmingham. We almost reached the centre before we realized this second mistake. However from a canal and engineering aspect, the walk into central Birmingham was really interesting. It was a rewarding, if somewhat tiring mistake.

We walked back to the Aston Top Lock and followed the Digbeth branch for a short way to the Grand Union Canal, which was soon joined by the Birmingham and Warwick Canal, which we should have taken in the first place.

We followed the Grand Union Canal all the way to Napton Junction. At Napton Junction we turned south on our final canal, the Oxford Canal, which we followed to its end in Oxford.

We started on Monday, July 16 and finished on Monday, August 13. We walked 248 miles. We travelled for 29 days, with 5 rest days, thus averaging about 10 miles per day on our walking days.


Thursday 19 July 2018

Diggle to Dunkinfeld 3

This is the lock photo from post 2


A little further south we reached Mossley and walked up to the town to buy
Lunch. On the way up the hill I got this view back to Saddleworth Moor. Note the black areas due to the recent fires.


A bit further south we saw this yellow warning sign. We were about to enter the SCOUT tunnel. It was 188 metres long. At first it was OK with the light behind you, but eventually you couldn't see your feet. You just had to hold the hand rail and press on. After the middle, when the main source of light was from the front it felt as if one were walking up hill! Really weird. Both Shiel and I had exactly the same experience.



A little further on we reached Stalybridge, but sadly had no time to investgate it. There were  few locks in Stalybridge as the canal gradually descended, and the lower sides of the locks seemed to contain much more rubbish than the upper.  The canal also passed in an aqueduct over another river, possibly the Tame? The canal was very, very narrow at this point.




The region around the canal became more industrial, and a less pleasant area to walk in, as we approached our turn off in Dunkinfield. There was even a small boat that had sunk at its mooring. The final couple of 100 metres consisted of 3 short tunnels. As the light came in from both ends one didn't get the wierd 'up hill effect.' We arrived at our B&B, Barton Villa  at about 4pm having walked 18.3km.





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