Liverpool – Leeds Canal, whats it like?

I’m doing a charity ride on saturday from Liverpool to Leeds along the canal, and i’m wondering what the majority of the surface is like.
Ideally i’d like to take my SS Mango (700x23c) but if the surface is pretty bas then i’ll have to take a mtb as i don’t have any CX tyres.

It’s not a particularly gruelling ride for a regular cyclist but the three lads who’ve organised it are all newbies and haven’t done anything like this before so it could be tough for them.
I’m providing rolling tech support with tools etc in case of mechanicals/punctures etc.

Isn’t it about 130 miles ?

That a fair old ride for “newbies” isn’t it.

The surface of the Leeds-Liverpool canal is generally wet and doesn’t support the weight of a bicycle and rider well.

Oh, sorry – you meant the towpath surface???

Generally reasonable, can be muddy in places but given the recent weather I can’t see that happening. You’ll need dog-shit, condom and hypodermic needle-proof tyres for the urban sections, especially on the Blackburn – Colne run…

done it twice, one on a 29r and once on electric assist.
it is too far to do in a day…imho.
some bits are nice and smooth, some are gravel covered and some a muddy bits through fields.
good to do over 2 days with a nice pub stop.

It’s 127 miles i believe, starting at 4am in Liverpool.
It’s doable for at least one of them as he’s an ironman entrant and a bit nuts!
One other lad is 20 and should have loads of pent up energy as he’s single 🙂
It’s the organiser i’m worried about, he bought a bike at the beginning of the year and carcked on with this idea, he’s done a maximun of 60 miles in one go riding canals ets but no proper hill work. I did tell him to hit the climbs to train but he said they hurt too much 🙄

So, will a skinny tyred bike do you reckon?

a good tough touring tyre is ok, but a 2.2” 29r tyre was far comfier.

From what i can gather the others will be on skinny tyres as well, 23c to 32c i think.
Oh well, think it’s going to be a long day…

you can borrow my 29r if you want. 20” frame.

😆 😆 😆 😆

😉

I can only talk about my local section – between Bank Newton and Bingley – which is a mixture of grass and good gravel with the odd rooty bit. Not much mud around at the moment, obviously.

A skinny tyre will ‘do’, and be a positive advantage on some bits, but will be a tad uncomfortable here and there on my section.

not many hills on the canal

We’ll come and ride with you for a bit if you need some support.

We could bring cake…….

RS – Cake would be wonderful, if you can manage to ride just a ‘little’ faster than the three and drag them along whilst waving cake at them it would be helpful! 😆

Setting off from ‘pool at 4am so not really sure how long it’s going to take. The organising chappy reckons on 16 hrs which i think is being ubercritical, shouldn’t take more than 12 i think.
Certainly, i did the C2C in 10hrs 45 min rolling time and that’s got a wee bit of climbing thrown in!

Of the bits I know well

Burnley to Skipton – all ok to ride

Bingley to Leeds – all ok to ride

I wouldn’t be using a 23c road tyre though – more likely a marathon or landcruiser

It’s all i currently have i’m afraid. Do have some 28c tyres on my Boardman but i was kinda set on using the singlespeed for the fun of it.
May have to reconsider that though.

The surface is mixed, some places are well surfaced and others quite muddy. The well surfaced places are generally gravel and cobbles, so a 23 tyre is ok on these although not the most comfy and slightly puncture risky. However, the muddy bits will be a bit of a challenge.
Some mates of mine did it recently, doing the trans pennine trail one day and then back on the leeds liverpool the following day. All except one were on heavy touring tyres on cross bikes, so 28 or 32s. One had 23 tyres on and he struggled and ended up having to take the road to avoid some sections. So it’s do-able but not ideal.

If you cannot fit larger tyres then if I was you I’d probably take the mountain bike although you will then be ‘over-biked’. Just seen your post about 28 tyres on a boardman – this sounds far more suitable a bike. Just stay in one gear if that’s your thing 🙂

I would certainly take a lot of tubes, there are a lot of thorns on the country bits and a lot of glass on the town bits!

Think it’s the Boardman then, whilst i love riding my Mango on tarmac i don’t want to spend 127 miles struggling over gravel on 23c road tyres.
MTB would be my old Mount Vision so way too much bike for that!

did it twice many years ago, once over 2 days to test the route and once in 1 day for the actual charity event

left ‘pool at 5am, got to leeds about 8pm with reasonably fit riders but there were others who took much longer (18hrs for the last guy through, unfit but carrying lots of food/water/lights cos he knew it would be hard)

one lad did it on skinny tyres…said it hurt a bit but was do-able (except when he slipped and fell in). If you make it in 12 hrs on skinny wheels then thats some going if you’re even of reasonable fitness, especially between Barnoldswick and Silsden (no path to speak of whatsover – just grass and uneven muddy tracks)

there’s no path going through Burnley – you have to come off and find your way back onto the canal again (not easy if you’ve not done it before) and also at the Foulridge tunnel, but thats signposted

12 hour target will take some doing trust me.
16 hours is still tough.

I did it a few years on a fixed with 28mm tyres. No problems but body took a beating on some stretches

I’m in west Lancs and it’s all easy towpaths from Maghull to Appley Bridge,the main problem being punctures from thorns,I’d take plenty of puncture repair kit,especially if they’ve been hedge trimming..

Sounds like it will be a long day for the organiser – it can be heavy going out in the cabbages and it feels like we’ve had a lot of rain this past week in the NW. Packing some sudacrem prob a good idea.

I cant see it being that muddy at the minute, but the knock on effect of that is that it will be pretty hard.

No one has mentioned above, but you HAVE got a bell havent you ??

Seriously you need one.

The thing I find hard about the canal is that you get in to a rhythm but then have to slow for bridge/people/narrowing etc

as above, buy a bell otherwise you’ll be constantly slowing to a stance. get a comfy saddle and some of those ergo grips.
Your only other issue will be punctures

I did the canal in a day with a mate a few years back for charity , it took us from 6.30am to 9.30pm with about an hour and a halfs worth of breaks/meal stops.

The only real climb on the route is around Wigan where there’s about 25 or so locks spread over a fair distance (not really steep) and the section just before Skipton wasn’t surfaced and mainly grass although this might have changed since we did it. If you are in the Leeds area and want to borrow a pair of Specialized 700/45 I have a pair you can lend.

I ended up wearing a 2″ patch of skin off my perineum(very ouchy 😯 ) despite regular applications of petroleum jelly to my nether regions so be prepared.

Liverpool – Leeds Canal, whats it like?

The main challenge will be the boredom. Make sure you have plenty of music and/or good company to chat to.

and the section just before Skipton wasn’t surfaced and mainly grass although this might have changed since we did it.

Barnoldswick to keighley is still almost all on grass and/or rough unmade earth, exception where it’s surfaced are short bits thru skipton and Bradley (Polish Memorial). it’s all good and solid/dry at the moment (I commuted Bingley to Skipton today).

keighley to Leeds is almost all on tarmac/aggregate.

A hilly canal, earlier.

Done a fair bit of canal bashing on the Fargo recently on 2″ Big Apples and Marathon Extreme DD 42s. The Big Apples only really suffer in wintry slime, the big contact patch usually finds something to hold on to in most other conditions. The Marathons are less comfy on smooth tarmac stuff by not being slick, but you don’t get the occasional awkward skid on wet grass.

Silly thing is, my rear tyre is completely slick!
Oh well, will be ‘interesting’ at least.
I’m having to stuff a large bar bag with tools etc because I’m pretty sure no one else will have any. That’s my job for the day then..

Do have a bell on the Boardman so no worries there, but its going to be a long day. The girls are driving support for us (i wanted to stop at pubs etc) and will be rattling collecting buckets at the arranged stops.

We tried to ride it late November last year.

Was a bog fest 10 miles in. We only made it to Wigan before we were pissed off. Took 6hrs to ride 30 miles.

You’re welcome to borrow the Marathons if you’re passing Doncaster on the way to the start, and they fit in your frame. Bit too late to post, shame.

Cheers for the offer, i’m in Rochdale though.

I did Maghull to apply bridge today. Its all ok no problems at all

Muddy, I’ve got some cross tyres, some panaracer mach ss things that I’ve done the 3 Peaks on.

Shout if you want them. 700c by 35mm wide

What do you reckon? currently running a siped 28c on the front and a slick 28c on the rear.

Meh, You’ll be fine.

Tour of Flanders is all cobbled stuff and it was ok on slick 23s.

Done the liverpool to ormskirk bit a few times, bumpy, flat and watch out for the slippy bridge at Bootle, where the path crosses from one side to the other side of the canal, its metal checker plate and slippy there are also gaps in the plates, Bootle is just outside liverpool, next to the high rise flats.

I’m going to be grumpy all ride you know, my new road bike will (hopefully) turn up tomorrow but instead of a nice ‘get to know you’ spin out on carbon loveliness i’ll be plodding along a bloody canal 😆

#firstworldproblems

Project that’s impressive considering it doesn’t go through ormskirk 🙂