Always assumed it was okay to ride on canal tow paths.

British Waterways don't seem to publicise whether its legal or not.

Never seen any signs 'banning' cycles until today at Marple. Just off Station Road, there was a round 'no cycles' sign.

Call me a cynic but I didn't believe it had been placed there legally. If it is legal, who put it there and under what powers?

You used to require a (free) permit to ride on canal towpaths but British Waterways stopped that a few years ago since very few people knew about it and even fewer people cared.

I know the section of canal you mean (in fact you can see the sign clearly on Google Street View) but no-one has ever bothered to say anything to me and I often use that route for commuting in summer.

I think you need a permit
http://www.waterscape.com/things-to-do/cycling/permit

and you need to
* Ring with Two Tings
Use a bell, giving Two Tings when approaching pedestrians. Ringing with Two Tings is not an order to pedestrians to get out of your way.
Be aware that some pedestrians may have visual or hearing impairments and might not hear your Two Tings.

And even that might not be enough

Never had a problem, don't worry, just ignore it.

I applied for a permit once – it never came

Permit for British Waterways towpaths are still valid-

http://www.waterscape.com/things-to-do/cycling/permit

It's not legal to ride them all, it's private land AFAIK? Local rules and regs may dictate you can't ride there – we have a local lockkeeper who's pretty strict about enforcing the no cycling bit of his path! 😀

* ahem *

It's legal in Scotland

*cough *

funny i used top have a regualr commute down a towpath & never gave it a thought (and was working as a rights of way officer at the time!)…being ultra carfeul & considerate to other users of the path goes with out saying , especially given the water n' low / thin bridges found on most routes. Never had difficulties enroute.

Thinking about it I geuss BITD all were used by horses for towing the barges, so whilst many / ? most are not classed today as Bridleways they prehaps have similar access rights?

Here's a list of British Waterways Towpaths open to cycles.

http://www.waterscape.com/media/documents/22222.pdf

i got a pass 8)

they have no staff to enforce whatever regulations apply and it is incredibly unlikely – I live on a boat and see them three times a year- you will ever see any BW staff.
It is not private land it is a National Park the entire IW [inland waterway] netwroks – Dont worry it is yours enjoy it responsibly.
Tell em you think it is a bridleway as you can still take horses down towpath.

sparkerfix – Member
Here's a list of British Waterways Towpaths open to cycles.

http://www.waterscape.com/media/documents/22222.pdf

Dated 1992 and therefore completely missing the fact that ALL canals in Scotland are open to both bikes and boats.

i would pay good money to see you cycle the canal rather than the towpath-not when it was frozen.

mmmmm think of the what tyres thread alone

I bet TJ could do it.

I've got a pass too.

But I've never ever been asked to produce it and there's very rarely anyone of authority on the tow paths either.

I bet TJ could do it.

I knew he could walk on water, but ride on it 😯

I could have sworn Marple wasn't in Scotland…

No permit required.
The rules (not sure the actual law) changed 01 January 2009 IIRC.

you see loads more cyclists these days on tow path seriously I doubt anyone will challenge you. I have never been spoken to – well people occasionally ask why it has no gears

I can't find the pic of me riding on water. There is one somewhere.

DH bikes only on the towpath

enter details on link above, print it off, laminate and stick in pack, if your ever asked for one – bob's your aubergine have that fella – simples peeps 😉

I've just done it on the chance I may ride along a canal in the future – highly unlikely though

As above. YOu can ride on a tow path now and no permit is required as of 01/01/09 or 08

TJ doesn't ride on water, he just thinks he does!

He's got some new pals who were fishing there, even though there was a bit of a storm brewing in the Mid Atlantic, they were, Matthew, Mark, & Peter, who also walked on water at that time but not nearly as well as he started to sink. Sill old Peter!

I've ridden the Cheshire Ring a couple of times. There are quite a few sections with No Cycling signs.

reckon you blag a Pedalo on the Bike to Work Scheme (presuming your

allowed

to travel on the water in one?…

This raises an interesting thought.

Been talk of offroad LEJOGs etc – how much of it could be done in England on towpaths? ie N to S or vice versa.

not much till you reach Bristol then you can use avon canal to london then you can get to Cumbria[with a bit of gap – Johnson Hillocks to Lancaster canal- 6 miles but about 4 of that can be done off road anyway. Then 50 ish miles ot border??

That's not bad. Could avoid all the heavy traffic bits by doing that. Must check it out.

for route planning such a tour refer to Britains Waterways A unique insight by Brian Roberts, Geo Projects (1999 , 2006)

Have no idea where you can buy this book, I found a copy in the shop at the end of my street! However it is an excellent production, consisting of maps and words about waterway's in the U.K…

There's a secion of canal in chorley that has been signposted as a cycle route unfortunatly it's not the section i use for my regular route, oh well.

Junkyard are you back at Botany?

it's not the section i use for my regular route, oh well.

What does it &^%$£ matter if you can legally ride every tow path in the country?!

Thanks. Amazon is our friend – just ordered a copy.

This is really good news because all that has been putting me off doing LEJOG was the thought of getting through the heavily populated parts of England.

Now to find a large waterways map 🙂

The book i refered to is a mint production…infact it won a John Bartholemew Award for Excellence in Cartography!

Check it out…not so much for route finding propaganda but more mellow general histical geographies of canals n' super clear maps of where things are are at now (circa late c.20)

basically eh? get riding down the man-made singletrack – (tow)path n'ride (original trail centre circa C.18th calling you!)

ride it all as much as you want.

If any one questions you you can either tell them to eff off in which case you can carry on your way, argue about it in which case you'll spend twenty minutes trying to convince an arrogant cock that he's wrong (you'll fail – he's an arrogant cock), or you can just carry on riding and ignore the arseholes.

Either way just ride where you want. You will never, ever be fined or stopped by someone who actually has the power to do so.

Just ride 'em. Be courteous to people, slow down etc. Canals in London could get pretty busy. If people give you gyp, just smile in that zoned-out kinda way and carry on. No reason why you can't enjoy canals on your bike.

Or maybe there is, but **** it!

I regularly ride the Aylesbury link and then onto the Grand Union – never had a problem, often chat with the Waterways guys.

Except bells are no good, as the walkers get upset as they think they are aggressive – so usually just slow, and shout.

Been talk of offroad LEJOGs etc – how much of it could be done in England on towpaths? ie N to S or vice versa.

I think Dave 360 off here did Manchester -> London almost all on canal towpaths last summer sometime.
While they're good routes and an easy traffic free way of linking places up I'd hate to do long distances on them – if you're doing an off-road LEJOG why not at least take in some proper MTBing scenery as well?

Yeah think of all the punctures! I did two miles down my local canal last night and ended up with three punctures!!!