Richard and Shiel's canal walk. : Kidlington to Oxford.

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, 13 August 2018

Kidlington to Oxford.

The forecast was for rain until lunchtime, easing toward midday so we decided to start later than normal today, at 10am. The breakfast at the B&B was pathetic so we walked north about 1km to a Costa coffee for breakfast.
Surprisngly it was open at 8am on a Sunday morning and quite busy.

We took the same alleyway from the hotel back to the canal as we arrived by yesterday. However there was no football match on and access to the ground was much easier.

Shiel dressed for wet weather but we didn't get any appreciable rain until we were arriving in Oxford.

After the Kidlington Locks we passed bicycles dragged up from the canal, probably by 'magnet fishermen' just before we entered an area of "giant rhubarb.'

We passed the first tiltbridge of the day just before the entrance to Dukes Cut, a right turn, under the footbridge in the second photograph below.

Dukes Cut leads to the river Thames and below is a photograph taken along the cut and looking back towards Shiel on the bridge we took towards Oxford.

The traffic noise started to increase as we headed under the A34 toward Oxford.

Entering Oxford the towpath route was one of contrasts. We passed moored boats, some at permanent moorings. Some boats and moorings were smart and tidy, others just the reverse. There was quite a bit of activity on the towpath, mainly joggers and dog walkers but also the odd cyclist.

Nearer the centre an anti-graffiti project was underway. An artist had been employed to decorate under some of the bridges and the results, as well as being attractive, seemed to be deterring the less gifted amateur artists from applying their decoration.

There was plenty of greenery, even well into central Oxford and even the urban development (hospital?) had a clean, elegant feel about it.

After 10km and two and a half hours of walking we reached the last bridge over the canal in central Oxford. The path over the bridge leads to the end of the canal, the canal under it joins the river Thames by a lock system.

It had just started to drizzle enough that I had to put on my waterproof jacket.