The UK Canal SystemThe UK Canal SystemThe UK is riddled with canals and navigable rivers like the blue veins in a piece of cheese. These date mostly from the 18th Century, but some are as old as Roman times (Fossdyke, for example). The canals grew from the need for a cheap means of bulk transport but their commercial use was eventually supplanted by the railways, with which they could not complete. Most of these canals are interlinked into a vast water network and that is the key to their latter day success as a leisure facility. You can board a narrowboat in London's docklands and head off to Bristol, Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester or Liverpool. They are also linked in with most of the navigable rivers, such as the Thames, Severn, Upper Avon, Trent and Ouse, and provide a vast leisure resource for both local communities and boat-owners alike.
The canals have their own architectural style with beautiful arched bridges and aqueducts. The Locks are masterpieces of 17th & 18th century engineering, although much of the original infrastructure has now been lost and some former wonders of the system have effectively vanished, such as the Inclined Plane at Foxton. Some whole canals have vanished for the most part (The Great Western, for example). Even now, though, much restoration work is being done. The Anderton Lift near Northwich in Cheshire is being restored to working condition and there are plans to recreate the Foxton inclined plane. There are even plans to build wholly new sections of canal to link in hitherto isolated stretches, such as the lonely Lancaster Canal.
Although usually linking industrial centres
with ports, many of the canals pass through some of the most interesting and/or
wonderful scenery in the UK. Many previously disused canals are in the process
of being revived, the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, the Rochdale Canal, and the
Montgomery Canal to name but three. The canals have their own culture, their
own language and their own pace of life. There is no expression as hasty as
mañana on the cut.
In 1971 my parents had a 50' narrowboat built for them by Barney at Braunston Boats near Rugby. Barney has moved on, but Braunston Boats are still there and Barney Boats are still being made. Our boat has a steel hull and wooden superstructure, and the more modern versions are all-steel, but they're instantly recognisable. She has a Lister SR3 air-cooled diesel engine and a massive top speed of walking pace.
Rambling Rose, or RR as she's affectionately known, has travelled the length & breadth of the canal system many times over in the past 25 years. Now an old lady, she still provides an escape from the hectic pace of city life and is still enjoyed by all our family, including my mother at the age of seventy-something. We do most of the maintenance ourselves including painting & blacking the hull & superstructure.
Recently, Rambling Rose has been moored at
Newbury on the Kennet & Avon Canal, and our trips have mainly been
restricted to runs down to Bristol or Reading. Sadly, my mother has recently
decided that it is no longer worthwhile for us to keep her. She is now 79 and
finds it increasingly difficult to handle the boat without a younger, more
vigorous crew. Naomi & I are much further away from Newbury and
consequently don't use her as much. Rambling Rose is now moored (under
different ownership) in London's Docklands. She was last seen heading down the
Thames at Hammersmith, cruising past my mother's house - not a dry eye in the
house!
The Leeds-Liverpool runs from the Mersey
Estuary across the Pennines to the Aire & Calder Navigation in Leeds. The
canal's course take it through Lancashire Mill Towns such as Wigan, Blackburn
& Burnley, down the beautiful Airedale valley, and contains some of the
more dramatic features of the UK's Canals, such as the spectacular Bingley
Five-Rise lock staircase and the gruelling 21-lock flight at Wigan.
The Llangollen Canal passes through some of
the most wonderful scenery in its course from the Shropshire Union Canal near
Nantwich through Whitchurch and Ellesmere to the town of Langollen in Wales.
The River Dee provides the Canal with its water and much of the outward journey
is done against an appreciable current. Some of it is so narrow that only one
boat may pass at once, which causes considerable delays in the summer season.
Those was worth enduring, though, because the last stretches of the canal cling
to the side of a steep valley and are very beautiful. The Langollen is home to
one of the best-known features of the UK's Canals, Telford's spectacular
iron-trough aqueduct hundreds of feet over the River Dee at
Pontcysyllte.
This beautiful navigable cul-de-sac runs
from the peacefully wooded flight at Marple and the junction with the
Macclesfield Canal up the Goyt Valley to its terminus at Whaley Bridge. The
Canal clings to the side of the Goyt Valley and provides some wonderful views
of the whole valley. The canal also provides one of the most wonderful smells
of any, as well, as it passes by the Maltoes Swizzells factory...
The Caldon Canal is really a branch of the Trent & Mersey Canal at Stoke-on-Trent, but is little-known & much underrated for its beauty and dramatic views at it winds its way into the countryside above the Potteries and through to the Derbyshire hills. At one point the canal splits into two arms, one of which crosses over the other shortly afterwards on a massive aqueduct. The lower of those arms is joined by the River Churnet and drops down to the Canal's terminus at Frogall, not all that far from Alton Towers, through a beautifully peaceful wooded valley. The other takes the high road to Leek, where it ends beside the now disused aquaduct short of the town.
The Caldon has much of interest, including a
well-preserved flint mill and pair of working water wheels at
Cheddleton, a pub completely isolated from the roads at
Consall Forge, and a very small tunnel at Frogall navigable only by the
narrowest and lowest of narrowboats. Since we used to have RR moored at
Stoke-on-Trent we got to know the Caldon very well.
This is one of the longest waterways in the country stretching from the River Thames at Reading through Newbury and Devises to the River Severn at Bristol. Restored to its former glory within the last 2 decades, it suffers from a perennial shortage of water (the reason for its original demise) which necessitated the pumping of water back to its summit using steam beam engines at Crofton. It boasts one of the most dramatic and monumental lock flights in the country, the massive Caen Hill flight at Devises. The view from the top of the hill of the locks marching straight down the steep hill with the massive side-pounds off to the side is one of the best sights on the canal system. My grandfather was, amongst other things, one-time president of the IWA, and one of the locks is named after him. Further down the canal, near Bathhampton, is one of our favourite bathing spots, in the River Avon underneath the Dundas Aqueduct - very cold, but extremely refreshing!
It also boats one of the most tricky section of the system for helmsmen. the River Kennett section through Reading. This section is narrow and winding with a strong river current heading down to the Thames that is ready to sweep the unwary out to smash against the outside of the right-angle bends. It is so treacherous that traffic lights have been installed in one place to prevent two boats from meeting. In others strong infalls of water join the navigation just at the approach to locks, making a smooth and flawless entry to the lock almost impossible. Great fun! <grin>
Rambling Rose was recently kept on the
Kennett & Avon Canal, at Newbury. She could often be seen pottering along
the stretches of the canal from there to Devises in search of a nice pub, a
kingfisher, or a just patch of sun in which to moor for lunch. The Bristol end
of the K&A is a favourite part, particularly the Old Lock & Weir pub at
Hanham Mills on the tidal River Avon. If you're passing, be sure to drop in for
a pint and a meal, as it's a really nice atmosphere with good riverside
moorings available. The Avon at Bristol itself is also a fascinating place to
visit by boat, really busy with plently to look at, but finding temporary
moorings near where you want to go can be a problem.
Manchester will soon be restored to being
one of the main nexus points of the canal system. The Bridgewater Canal,
Rochdale Canal, Leeds-Liverpool Canal, Ashton Canal, Huddersfield Narrow Canal,
Peak Forest Canal, Manchester Ship Canal all pass within its boundaries, and
one of the main junctions lies within Manchester City Centre itself, at
Castlefield Basin. Here canal festivals are frequently held and the continuing
rejuvenation of the region, especially the existing renovation of the Rochdale
Canal (getting nearer to Manchester all the time) and Huddersfield Narrow Canal
(now open for its full length), will attract even more canal enthusiasts in the
future.
The Rochdale
Canal's lower limits pass through the very heart of Manchester and is one
of the few canals which is still privately owned and passage of which is not
included in the British Waterways Licence. When the central part of the
Rochdale Canal is re-opened, it will provide a route from Manchester up into
the Pennines through dramatic and beautiful locations such as Todmorden, Hebden
Bridge and Sowerby Bridge, at a stroke cutting in half the vast Pennine Ring
which comprises the Trent & Mersey Canal, River Trent, Yorkshire Waterways,
Leeds-Liverpool Canal and Bridgewater Canal.
Another such shortcut will be provided by
the re-opening of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal which runs from the top of the
Ashton Canal in Tameside up to the Huddersfield Broad Canal. This canal boats
the longest navigable tunnel in the country at Standedge, well over 5000 yards
which was originally traversed by boatmen lying on planks stretched across
their boats walking against the side of the tunnel.
The Bridgewater Canal is one of the oldest
commercial canals in the country and is still one of the most advanced. There
is not a single lock anywhere on the canal and it stretches as a broad, deep,
fast navigation all the way from Runcorn through Altrincham to Castlefield
Basin in Manchester, and from Waters Meeting Junction in Stretford up through
Worsley (the location of the Duke of Bridgewater's mines) out to Leigh and the
junction with the Leigh arm of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal. The Bridgewater
contains one of the wonders of the whole system, the Barton Swing-Aqueduct over
the Manchester Ship Canal, next to the Barton Swing Bridge. With the decrease
in commercial traffic on the Manchester Ship Canal, this is swung
relatively rarely these days, but it is a sight not to be missed.