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.


Friday 20 July 2018

Dunkinfield to Marple 2.

The Peak Forest Canal starts in an urban area and seems to collect quite a lot of rubbish. To date it holds our record for largest object dumped in the canal. See below.

The early part of our walk to a refreshment stop in Hyde was quite industrialised, first with factories and then housing but it gradually improved as we moved south. The weather was again warm and sunny. Even in the urban areas the towpath was well wooded a lot of the time.

There was a lot of algal bloom on the early part to Hyde but it reduced later in the day as we moved south. Just before Hyde we met our first narrowboat of the day but we met plenty of walkers, dogs and cyclists throughout the day.



We had a refreshment break in Hyde then continued on our way. The surroundings  became much more rural. For a lot of the time was high above the land to the west which fell off very steeply. As it was heavily wooded however it was difficult to show in a photograph. We passed a number of spots where trees had fallen in the canal and not been cleared. Always on the non-towpath side.




We entered another long tunnel near Woodley but not quite as long as yesterday. As a result the weird 'uphill' effect was not as noticeable.
Just before we stopped for lunch in Romiley we passed a very cute little dog. I asked the woman what it was. It was a Jack Russell/Shih Tzu cross. I will not repeat what she told me they are commonly called.

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