I wholeheartedly understand the argument that canal towpaths don’t constitute MTB proper but I actually love me a good ‘canal trail’ – I always find little banks and jumps along the more uninhabited sections which can be fun – Then there is the convenience of pub lunch stops which is all rather congenial .. They make for great bikebacking as the route logistics are so simple and it’s usually a breeze finding bivvy spots – Also you generally meet a few characters along the way! Would love to hear folks Tow Path Tales – Especially picturesque /recommended towpaths you ride – Also no grumbles about legality – Happy to hear /swap stories about falling in though!

Not much call for 6″ of travel on my nearest towpath:

😉

When I got back into cycling since being a teenager about 6 years ago, cycling on the canal was how I built up miles. I clearly remember doing 10 miles and thinking it was a lot. Nowadays I tend to avoid the 2 canals in my area if I can as they are boring and flat. Cycling downhill is for me what cycling is all about, that’s where the fun is. That said i do occasionally tag on a bit of canal at the end of a long run out to get home quicker and it can be fun to really blast them, dancing on the pedals at full tilt. I live in stoke and we are blessed with some great canals, they’re both paved for the whole length of where they pass through the city and they’re working on paving the rest of it out towards derbyshire. There are some lovely canal bits on the shropshire union canal but the path isn’t all made up and in the winter months becomes a hard going ride.

Our local canal (Brecon-Monmouthshire) is very picturesque and the towpath is generally in very good condition for cycling. Makes a great link when doing mountain rides like the Blorenge or the Gap. Quick and easy to get back to a start point which might otherwise be a road slog. I was shocked when riding the Grand Union towpath on an orienteering event just how poor the path was, sloping grassy bank would have been a better description in places. I could understand the appeal of using them as part of nice long cycle tours, and as you say they are generally quiet and easy to find a spot to bivvy, but sticking to them 100% might prove a bit mind numbing…. 😉

Of course the tow path is not as fun a proper trail but for me they’ll always beat roads ..

It’s all about the Herons

Basingstoke/wey navigation/thames path on Saturday on the tripster – only 38 miles but I was in the middle of a bad cold…

anything offroad and away from the steel death traps suits me…there’s not allot of mountains near my neck of the woods

Got to say I love them too. My father still gets out on his mtb at 77 and we do rides together. It is still offroad riding even if it isn’t ‘real’ MTBing.

I use them also to link up sections of local woods, etc.

Useful here between Derby and Nottingham. Can do a 19 mile commute to work with only the first half mile on road to get out the village and pick up a bridleway that takes me to the the paths.

I wouldn’t go out of my way to ride a towpath, but they’re fine to link up off-road sections, and certainly beat busy roads. The trail surface can vary greatly, which can help keep it interesting. Not so good when the path is busy though.

During the summer months, towpath riding is unavoidable because I live on a narrowboat!

i love the canal (kennet and avon) tbh.

i can cycle to bath (live in devizes) and not have to go on the road at all,also get to see wildlife,that is always good for depression too 🙂

I ride a lot of tow paths, being in the Midlands it’s as about as exciting as it gets. One hot summers day I was riding a new bit of path but had to divert over the top of a rather long tunnel (Fleckney tunnel) you cross a sty and a road then there is a nice gentle slope that you can pick up pace on. For some reason I had forgotten I was travelling above a canal and as the path turns a sharp left at the tunnel end I carried straight on, dropped about 12 foot into the canal!

It now has barriers where the tunnel ends but I still roll with laughter when I think about that ride.

+1 for herons. Yet to see a kingfisher though. That would really make my day.

one time riding to bath and back from devizes,i counted 11 sightings of kingfishers. i think i spotted 3 of them at the same spots twice so was more like 8 really.

beautiful birds though 🙂

Use to commute either down the canal, or along the river Don (five weirs walk) from Sheffield centre out towards Meadowhall.

Really enjoyed it, and miss going that way home now I don’t work in the centre.

Tricky things those canal banks. High speeds, slippy cobbles, ruts and beer all mean you’re probably going to go for a dip at some point, or as in my case, you’re going to the bottom of a drained canal 😳

I’m not the only one, all the lads I ride with in the Ringley Woods area have taken a dip In a canal.

i love the canal (kennet and avon) tbh.

i can cycle to bath (live in devizes) and not have to go on the road at all,also get to see wildlife,that is always good for depression too

Likewise, but I have to start at Crofton. Wootton Rivers to Devizes and back (tea at Pewsey Wharf) is a lovely way to spend the afternoon, or throw in a bit of Pewsey vale either side if feeling energetic.

The K&A – it’s almost like someone predicted the Tripster 200 odd years ago, and built a perfect environment for it 😀

is that between woodley and romiley? Herons don’t even move when I ride past them now, they’re so used to cyclists.

I see one occasionally and it really brightens up my morning

Last Summer a buddy and I did a two day bivvy trundle commencing from Leamington Spa to Oxford – one particular section – heading out of Banbury was so overgrown with reeds , summer foliage and various butterflies and dragonflies etc that we had to stop and brew up another coffee and ponder just how wonderful English countryside can be – I felt as if I was in some wonderland. Often canals intersect areas of our countryside that are less built up than the other other local trails we ride – Very chuffed I didn’t fall in on as the beer stops did mount up that weekend!

is that between woodley and romiley? Herons don’t even move when I ride past them now, they’re so used to cyclists.

It is indeed, or at least I think so not so great on the place names/geography that way but I ride along the Peak Forest Canal to Marple a fair bit, nice pleasant ride!

In fact using the Fallowfield Loop, Ashton Canal and Peak Forest Canal I can get almost from my door in Chorlton to Marple ‘off-road’. There’s only the few days so far though where I’ve had the energy to add a bridleway loop around Roman Lakes/Marple/Mellor/Rowarth onto it for a bit of an epic (always seems a good idea until it comes to riding home!).

Leeds Liverpool from Liverpool to Maghull is quite intresting, lots of great warehouses, and stuff to see.

Closest I get to TowPaths is Regents Canal in London (always busy, often with cycle commuters and joggers) and the Lee Valley Canal that I use to head North into Herts..

Don’t have any in Hampshire, can’t really call the Itchen Way a canal (even though it technically is..

I use the Rochdale canal on the Lancashire/Yorkshire boarder.
I use it to get some miles under my belt.

The Yorkshire side is rough and very muddy, some travel is need for some parts of that. Lots of lovely scenery

Basingstoke canal is in Hampshire, although I don’t know how bike friendly it is . TThose of you who’ve done the k&a, how good is the section from say Bedwyn to Devizes? The section from Devizes to Bradford on Avon is a sustrans path I think so I assume that bit is reasonably well surfaced. I’m planning a trip down that way in a couple of weeks and it would be good to get away from the traffic for a bit.

I love pottering along canals. I can do 95ish percent of my commute on towpaths. Unfortunately it takes about 3 hours due to canal’s winding nature!

Did a lovely 100 miler with lots of canal towpath last September…

[url=https://flic.kr/p/pqpeZw]Wrong bike. Oh well :)[/url] by simondbarnes, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/pq9Cfx]Parbold[/url] by simondbarnes, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/p8Wy5W]More canal[/url] by simondbarnes, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/p8W4iQ]Timothy Taylor's Boltmaker. Champion Beer 2014.[/url] by simondbarnes, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/pq9HTr]Lovely evening[/url] by simondbarnes, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/p8W85C]Mainly offroad century on a road bike :)[/url] by simondbarnes, on Flickr

That looks a grand day out simondbarnes. What canal is it?

That looks a grand day out simondbarnes. What canal is it?

It was!

Leeds – Liverpool

Basingstoke is in North Hampshire.. thats like in Outer Mongola to me 😆

Although I do intend to do that canal then onto the Thames into London this year..

Basingstoke is a lot worse than outer Mongolia bikebouy! 😀

Love canal riding! Plenty of it in the east midlands!

Given the rise of Narrowboat tourism – or more over the barge owning fraternity I’ve noticed a lot of folk have rather curious notions of what constitutes their territory – Many barge goers seem not only to deck out the tow paths adjacent to their mooring with BBQ’s and washing lines but gazebos! One couple looked really irritate that I had the audacity to pass through their gazebo … Crazy life on the tow path !

Being I live a 1/2 mile from the Kennet, it seems its the starting point for many rides. To be honest, we call it the ‘knarly canal path’ as we have more broken bones, injuries, loss of balance/ falls into the canal, then anything we ever ride, even Spain with Ciclo . On one occasion, we wheeled a mate 1 1/2 miles in a wheelbarrow off a canal boat on a night ride , after he broke his ankle badly and the ambulance people saying it was up to us to get him out or the fire brigade 🙄

I live just off the Oxford canal, between Banbury and Leamington Spa, I love wandering along it apart from the serious amount of punctures we get, we had 14 last time out as a family between 4 of us!

In fact I’ve just gone to the expense of this new fangled tubeless tyre system to see if I can stop some punctures.

Timothy Taylor’s Boltmaker. Champion

This is my favourite post on STW EVER!