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.


Monday, 30 July 2018

Fazeley Junction to Erdington. 1

Yesterday we had the day off in Fazeley and Tamworth to go to the laundrette and to visit Tamworth Castle. It rained! It's the first significant rain we've had in almost 6 weeks. It's good we were not walking.

We left the Fazeley Inn at 9:20am today and were at the start of the canal within 5 minutes. The  photograph below shows the first bridge on the Bimingham and Fazeley Canal south of Fazely Junction and the second shows the view through it. Initially there was a small amount of housing and a marina but the views soon became more rural.




We passed a barge (blue one in photo) which had been lifted out of the canal and was spported on blocks to allow its bottom to be scraped and painted. Apparently one needs to get this done every few years.


After 15 minutes we passed The Drayton Turret Bridge. It is one of the most ornate bridges on the  British Canal System we have been told. No room for horses and even a human finds it a bit of a squeeze on the stairs.




We made another discovery on the canal today. We passed anothrr bridge with a gate built in the side. The whole behind the gate was about 2 to 3 metres deep, but not the full width of the bridge. Shiel suggested it was used to store the boards used for blocking off bits of the canal, to allow sections to be drained to allow repairs. There were a few people today out working for The Canal and River Trust. I mentioned the bridge to him and he confimed Shiel's suggestion.

After about an hour's walking we came across our first lock today but it was the first of many, rising as we made our way south to Bimingham. After a couple of hours we stopped for liquid refreshment at the 'Dog and 'Doublet' situated beside the canal.


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