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.


Tuesday 7 August 2018

Cropredy. Brasenose Arms.

What we didn't know when we decided to stay in Cropredy was that there is a major music festival there every year. It runs Thursday thru' Saturday but activities at Brasenose Arms start early, like the day of our arrival!!!
The wifi in the pub was useless and to blog I had to go outside to get a signal from EE.  After a lot of searching, walking the streets I found a place where I could blog. The church bells were ringing and it was a pleasnt warm English summer evening. Suddenly all hell broke loose, acoustically speaking. The pubs musical event had started. I was a few hundred yards away and it was very, very loud. For a short time the bell ringers and the musical event were competing.

A little later EM propagation conditions deteriorated and I joined Shiel in our room. As it was a hot evening, we had to have the windows open. The music was very loud, but below the pain threshold.

There seemed to be one lead male singer with a couple of women harmonising in the background. It was not unpleasant and you could follow the lyrics. The male lead had quite a sense of humour and some of the act was really stand up comedy. It was not something I would have chosen to attend but I enjoyed it. Shiel says it was TOO LOUD.

We met the lead singer and his partner at breakfast the next morning. We had not seen him but I recognised his voice.


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