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, 10 August 2018

Banbury to Lower Heyford.

We set off early today as we supplied our own breakfast. We were walking downhill to the canal by 8:30am and reached the canal in 15 minutes. It was cooler than yesterday, almost perfect walking weather.
A feature of the Oxford Canal are the tilt bridges, we reached the first one of the day after about half an hour on the canal.

By which time we were starting to hear the acoustic pollution fom the M40 which we passed under about 10 minutes later.
A feature of today's walk were the patches of  what we call  giant rhubarb. Some patches lined the towpath.
It took us an hour to reach Grant's Lock by which time it was starting to rain. Shiel donned full wet weather gear but I only put on my jacket, hoping it would pass over. It didn't, it got worse. It had been forecast. Ihad eventually to don full wet weather get as well.

We stopped for lunch at a pub in Aynho, the only one on our route. They didn't really welcome wet walkers.
It continued to rain after lunch and at times the path was quite overgrown, as well as wet but there were signs that people had been through clearing the towpath in some areas.
By 2pm it was starting to clear up. We were walking a section where cows were grazing right down to the canal. The towpath changed to being a path at the edged of a field for a while and the true towpath was impassable.

As we approached Lower Heyford, the weather improved so much we removed all our wet weather gear.we were back to bright sunshine again.


Today was further than I expected, at 22.1km, and the last km was uphill! The forecast says we shold be OK tomorrow, but our last day, into Oxford on Sunday, may be very wet.
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