Me and a mate had real”fun” on the Macclesfield canal last spring. Serious stretch of hawthorn cuttings. 7 punctures and a new tyre later we got to Congleton. I have never been so knackered from pumping tyres up!

budgierider67 – cheers for the info. Will definitely give that a go at some point.

@oldgit – That pic looks suspiciously like Horton Lock?
Spot on. I cycled it a lot when training for the 3 Peaks, I used it to get me to the foot of Ivinghoe Beacon instead of roads.

Thorns I had to get rescued from one cross ride after eight punctures.

Thought so, I grew up in Slapton! The fields and canal was our playground.

I’ve not ventured south of LB on the towpath for a while but North, past the Globe pub to Bletchley/MK is really nice and quick on the dedicated cycle path – need more like that.

You can end up running the thorn gauntlet at times but it’s better than hitting the roads.

I live just by the Leeds Liverpool and used to work near it. So I often commuted along it, which turned a 30minute direct route into an 1hour long route right the way around Wigan. My job has since moved to Salford Quays, so in theory I can still probably commute along the canal, but I’ve not tried it yet.

But yes, canals are a great way of getting a huge amount of distance without having to resort to the roads.

I do love L/L canal towpath for commuting ……. with the exception of this morning when I skidded on my A$$ for 5 yards with the bike only slightly ahead of me, and heading for the water … I had been riding it at moderate pace only a fraction of a second earlier! 😥

Black ice observation powers ….. 1 out of 10! 😳 Just starting to stiffen up now. Didn’t notice it while doing the rest of the 13 miles there or the 13 miles back …. but some Irish 40% medicine will shortly work miracles! 😀

“A naughty well known person from here, cycled onto our very frozen local canal last January, I knew it was him, ‘cos I recognised the tyre prints”

Two guys tried that round here last year but in a Peugeot – they didn’t get very far.

I don’t like em much, being that close to water makes me feel a bit uneasy.

I will never forget the time on a local blast when I bunny-hopped the back end a guy’s fishing rod as it trailed across the path. He was not best pleased. I did regret it afterwards…. That spoils tow-paths for me during their season but its fair enough…

jonah tonto – Member
i think canals are brilliant. i always thought they seemed like a lot of effort to build but apparently 1 horse can pull 50 tons on a canal compared to 1/2 a ton in a cart. we should use canals for transporting non perishable goods around again.

I didn’t know horses could swim 😯

2 words:

“f*cking thorns”

Went for a spin yesterday with the daughter on the cut. Did about 14 miles all together. Put the bike away after a hose down in the garden and come to take it for a spin today and the front tyre was flat.

Eight thorns.!!!

Just put eight patches on the inner tube. How the hell I got home without a flat is beyond me.

Just a note for anyone around the Grand Union (Milton Keynes to Tring area). There is a right crazy dude with a mahoosive dog that likes to pick fights with cyclist.

Myself and two other fellow cyclists have, on separate occasions in the past month, had the pleasure to run into him. His reason as far as I can tell is that we are cyclists.

Although, I did nearly fall off my bike laughing when he feebly tried to run after me. Even his dog looked unimpressed!

You have been warned 😉

my half drive/half ride commute includes 18 miles of the Trans Pennine Trail and Bridge Water Canal. Ace

I just wonder how many of those people sat on the M62 between manchester and liverpool are aware of the TPT running virtually parallel through great countryside. IMHO sustrans need there arse kicking. It’s virtually impossible to find any useful information without buying a number of crap maps from them.

I use the Leeds Liverpool most days on my commute, takes me effortlessly into the heart of Liverpool while all the other roads are snarled up. Best avoided at weekends in the fishing season, I’ve encountered miles of pole fishermen. Once a year, I take the train to Leeds and cycle all the way back to Liverpool, its 127 miles and a lot harder than you’d think. Tried it late in October after a lot of rain and it turned into a survival epic, nearly 15 hours in the saddle, 7 of which were in total darkness. Great ride after a prolonged dry spell and some excellent pubs to replace lost fluids at.

Blimey. This threads back!

Papa Laz – The cycling map you can get off Manchester City Council is excellent. Details all the canals etc plus all the cycle paths on the roads, no matter how short,pointless and rubbish. Its very detailed and covers a fair old distance out of the city centre too.

Isn’t it just, binners.

I’ve now moved from flip-flop and latte land (south Manchester) and live in west Lancashire twixt Ormskirk and Wigan (though I have managed to avoid both so far).

Not yet been on the canal (not yet been on a sodding bike), but I’ve just got a trailer for Baby North so we’re going onto the Southport spur of the Leeds-Liverpool this weekend.

Fishermen with expensive rods lying about better be aware – I’ll be on a canti braked bike with gert big trailer – those rods are going to get splintered lads…

My flat 8 mile commute on canal/riverbank has had a few hazards over the last 18 months.
Worst was a group of pikeys burning insulation off some probably stolen railway signalling wire. Their Alsatian ran out in front of me. Unfortunately for the dog I was doing maximum speed to try and avoid getting mugged by said pikeys.
The dog yelped as I hit it amidships and bounced it off my front tyre into the hedge. I got out of there as fast as possible!

Good timing this, I did my first canal-bank ride since i was about 10 yesterday, and it was completely and totally lovely. Every weekend I seem to be off looking for greater peril offroad but one day soon I’m off on the flattest least challenging surface I can find for the day, it’ll be great.

yes i love living right by the k & a canal in devizes. [video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8BDNPCm1LU&feature=channel_video_title[/video] was testing the video mode on my new camera 🙂