Leeds to Liverpool Canal

sonypc100

Hi

Thinking of doing this route then getting the train back.

Anyone done it? Starting in Leeds then maybe doing half the journey on day 1 then a night stop somewhere before day 2?

Always wanted to try it but not sure of the logisitics?

Thanks


Rich

rockmonkeysc

There was a dude on here called Cody who kept going on about it. Don't think he ever actually did it.

mattyfez

I did Leeds to Shipley last weekend as part of another loop, only a tiny part of the route, but if it's any help, that section is an easy ride, pretty flat, hardpack gravel surface for the most, and theres a bike shop righton the canal as you come into shipley.

sonypc100

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19688470#p19688470]mattyfez[/url] wrote:

I did Leeds to Shipley last weekend as part of another loop, only a tiny part of the route, but if it's any help, that section is an easy ride, pretty flat, hardpack gravel surface for the most, and theres a bike shop righton the canal as you come into shipley.

Thanks yes, I will be joining the canal around Horsforth so quite a way past Leeds, might go from there to Shipley and back as a taster of the route.

mattyfez

I imagine the tougher bit will be further on, I imagine there's a long succession of locks to clime up as you go over the Pennines.

sonypc100

Yeah, I'll probably set a distance and go X amount of miles and then turn around and come back just to get a feel.

Maybe it would take a long weekend to go the whole way with a couple of nights away.

DoomDaniel

Sorry for bumping up an old thread but I did the Colne to Liverpool section of this yesterday (80 miles) and I found the forums pretty useful in finding out more about the route so I thought I'd add a bit of my own for anyone who's planning to do it themselves

Colne to Burnley

Easy going, path largely very compact. It was about 6 am, so I had the path completely to myself.

Burnley to Accrington

A lot of the time there isn't really a path as such, just very muddy grass from rain 2-3 days earlier and general rough ground. I was a bit worried about punctures since I didn't have particularly heavy duty tyres (did it on a Dawes touring bike), but I still got through OK.

Accrington to Blackburn

Path generally in good condition, there's an ASDA cafe (plus a Halfords) straight off the path just past the centre of Blackburn which might be useful as a rest stop.

Blackburn to Wigan

Path good or very good, probably my quickest average speed on the whole trip for the first 15 miles or so. There's a sequence of 10-15 locks in quick succession going down into Wigan which was a pleasant surprise, but there are a fair few awkward gates on that part of the course so you can't freewheel the whole way without stopping. An odd thing about this stretch is that there are no mileposts for about 18 miles as far as I could tell, so unless you've got Garmin or whatever it's hard to judge how many miles you've done.

Wigan to Burscough

Again the path in good condition apart from cobbles going through Wigan itself, a few muddy patches under the trees but there shouldn't be much to slow you down.

Burscough to Liverpool

Because the path (and the ride in general) had been much easier than I thought I thought this would be a gentle cruise to the finish line, but the first 10 miles out of Burscough were the hardest of the whole ride - either just grass with no actual path to speak of (though thankfully dry) or a very narrow loose gravel path sunk fairly deep into the grass at either side, so this section was a real slog.

I guessed that as we got closer to Liverpool the path would get better and from about 14 miles in it is a good, smooth, hard-packed surface to be fair, so it was relatively easy to knock the miles off until the traffic got heavier for the last four or five miles.

All in all a good ride, if I did it again the only thing I'd do differently was wear wrist guards because of all the shockwaves that get sent through you going through the rough ground. It took about 7.5 hours of actual riding (I had a couple of breaks on route), so presumably with another 5 hours for the rest of the course it should easily be possible to do the whole thing on a long summer's day. My main pieces of advice would be set off as early as possible, do it on a weekday (to keep traffic down to a minimum) and if possible do it after it hasn't rained for a few days because mud does build up quite easily in some sections.

sonypc100

Thanks for this.

Its probably a bit far West for me to go to but I am sure others will find it useful.