Just wondering if it is possible to cycle the whole way fron Leeds to london on the canal side?

Fancy a nice easy trip away on the bikes with my good lady

It probably is and it would be a very scenic journey, both rural and urban. But... my experience of following canals over longer distances is bum-numbing They're mostly level with the occasional gradient at locks, tunnels, etc., and that means you are sat pedalling almost continuously; no shifting around in the saddle or coasting or free-wheeling, just sat down pedalling. That said, it amazes me that I can join the Monmouth & Brecon Canal near Pontypool and ride to Brecon with nary a hill to mention

Off topic: I was chatting to a guy a couple of years ago who was planning to circumnavigate Wales by kayak and he had plotted the inland part by canal joining the Mersey to the Severn with only a 200m section lost to construction of the M6.

Canal paths are great for bits and pieces but not fun for longer rides. I rode the Grand Union Canal from London to Birmingham and back a few years ago. I thought it would be a nice pootle but it was grindingly awful. As above, it's flat by its nature so dull to start, then add in very long sections of filthy standing water, miles of dreadful bumpy surfaces, loads of dog sub standard, walkers who refuse to hear you coming up behind them and anglers who won't move their rods off the path.

you are going to have to get to Manchester as the other way its a river section , if there is a tow path you cannot see it from the boat only way I have done it ]

Also worth noting there are tunnels and those sections are often very very poorly signposted

In essence yes you can do it but honestly the only reason is becaus eyu want ti to be flat an dyouhave massive threshold to boredom - loads of pubs by the side you will like that bit

I've precisely zero input re: the routing element of this thread BUT I would like to chime in re: long, flat rides being supposedly boring - no way dudes!!!

I returned last week from my 6th time riding the exact same, almost perfectly flat ~400km gravel/road/cycle lane route and I enjoyed it immensely once again.

It's a totally different experience to mountain biking or hilly road riding etc... but I don't see what could be boring about it - it's riding your bike for hours/days on end and allows for infinitely more thinking and contemplation as your mind isn't occupied with the technical elements of the ride.

Personally, I blimmin' loves it*!

[*other opinions are available]

Gents, I know all bout canal and Riverside cycling.
We have toured in France Germany and Holland following them. Also we like to stop in towns and cities rather than being out in the sticks.

I shall have a good scour over the os maps

I wish there was a good and user friendly online waterway map. The canal and river trust one is crap. This gives a general overview

Here you go:
https://canalplan.uk/cgi-bin/canal.cgi

297 miles, 5 furlongs and 277 locks…

Proper geektastic with all the maps, taps and pubs enroute

gairym wrote: ↑Mon Jul 19, 2021 5:04 pm I've precisely zero input re: the routing element of this thread BUT I would like to chime in re: long, flat rides being supposedly boring - no way dudes!!!

I returned last week from my 6th time riding the exact same, almost perfectly flat ~400km gravel/road/cycle lane route and I enjoyed it immensely once again.

It's a totally different experience to mountain biking or hilly road riding etc... but I don't see what could be boring about it - it's riding your bike for hours/days on end and allows for infinitely more thinking and contemplation as your mind isn't occupied with the technical elements of the ride.

Personally, I blimmin' loves it*!

[*other opinions are available]

I'm intrigued by where this might be...

Post by Chew » Mon Jul 19, 2021 7:35 pm

Here you go:
https://canalplan.uk/cgi-bin/canal.cgi

297 miles, 5 furlongs and 277 locks…

Proper geektastic with all the maps, taps and pubs enroute

Matt, that is bloody perfect. cheers mate.

I’ve ridden from congleton (north of Stoke-on-trent) to Stratford. Some sections are great with compact gravel and fast as the road others much slower, grass with some deep pot holes where the bank has eroded. One of the frustrating things is the amount of gates on some sections, I ended up having to try some hairy things to get a loaded Bigdummy through.
Don’t even think about riding anything that’s not tubeless, many sections are strewn with hawthorns, I managed 14! Punctures on one ride.
The more industrial sections are probably the most interesting, lots of interesting buildings and canal engineering to see, although not at Reg’s level I like that sort of thing, Birmingham is interesting as are the London parts of the union I’ve ridden.

I did the Union Canal between Edinburgh and Glasgow and whilst it passed through some lovely countryside I was more than glad when I turned off to head towards Milnganvie to start the West Highland Way.

Not all towpaths are equal. Some are really good, others are difficult. I've ridden from London as far as Leamington Spa, the section north of MK was awful. Even on a bike with a suspension fork and 2.8" tyres it was extremely tiring. Very bumpy, not maintained and lots of nettles and brambles to further enhance the experience. Not something that I want to repeal.

One thing I did actually enjoy about my GUC trip was the ease of finding bivvy spots. They are everywhere once you get away from the towns and all you need to do as you approach dusk is keep an eye out for open space along the canal. I was out for four nights, there and back, and the third night was great as I'd found a nice patch and as I was setting up a boatman wandered in to check me out, decided I was mostly harmless, smelly/grimy enough and invited me to join his camp up the way a bit. It was very, very zen.

Having just rode >100km on 3 different canals over the course of a 600km trip my advice would be to choose carefully.
I’ve had a mix of wide, smooth towpaths, hugely overgrown towpaths and really awful surfaces.
On some sections of the Kennet & Avon it was so overgrown that I was soaked wet through even when it wasn’t raining. My legs are a mess of stings and scratches, so are my fingers and arms. I did pass through some great scenery though and I didn’t feel out of place kipping down on the canal when I found a quiet spot. After all the barge folk are boatpacking and stopping the night at random.
I particularly liked this bivi:
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0YGzdKd ... _Allington