Canal Cycle: 4 Canals 1 River and 3 Bridges

Today I finally did a bike ride I have been planning for a while. The plan was to cycle from the river lock at the end of the St Helen's Canal (aka Sankey Brook Canal) in Widnes, over the Mersey to Runcorn, along the Bridgewater Canal, across the Manchester Ship Canal and the Mersey again and then back along the St Helens Canal back to the start point.
I started near the Catalyst Museum and set off to look for the way up to the bridge. The Runcorn - Widnes Bridge or to give its proper name the Silver Jubilee Bridge is big. Usually it is a four lane road bridge with cars going quite fast, not somewhere I wanted to cycle. Today though they were working on the pedestrian footpath so one lane was closed to traffic. This was perfect for me and as I cycled over the bridge taking photos it felt like they had coned off a lane just for me.

Silver Jubilee Bridge

Over the bridge it didn't take long to get down to the basin at the end of the Bridgewater Canal in Runcorn. The basin ends at Waterloo Bridge. Before the Runcorn Widnes Bridge and its approach roads were built there were locks here. The locks have gone now and Waterloo Bridge provides a nice end to the canal.
I set off along the canal towards Preston Brook.

Runcorn Basin

End of the line under Waterloo Bridge

The towpath was good, a mix of tarmac and compact mud/gravel. For some of the way there was a cyclepath alongside the towpath. This was tarmaced but was full of clouds of midges. I had to put my glasses on and put my head down to go through them. The towpath swaps sides a few times along the route. The bridges on this stretch are rather nice brick ones. One had some very nice red sandstone at the base of it.

In no time at all I reached Preston Brook. The Bridgewater Canal splits into two branches here. The one I had just ridden down used to go to the River Mersey at Runcorn. To my right the canal heads to Preston Brook Tunnel and joins the Trent and Mersey Canal. To my left the canal continues on to Worsely and eventually to the Leigh Branch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

A boat heading towards the Trent and Mersey Canal

I went left and followed the mainline of the canal. It hadn't taken me as long to reach Preston Brook as I had thought so I kept an eye out for the bridge I was to turn off at; I didn't want to miss it and end up in Wigan.
This bit of canal is dominated by the ominous tower of the Daresbury Laboratories. It looks like something from the Tripods or some 1960s sci-fi film. Luckily no death-rays fired out from it today, well it was the weekend.

Who is watching from the tower?

Not long after Daresbury the towpath declined in quality but remained fine for riding. The bridges had signs saying cycling was not allowed. I did my finest impression of Lord Nelson and carried on.

At Red Lane Bridge I left the Bridgewater behind and set off through the streets of  very nice houses in Walton. Heading North I found the Manchester Ship Canal, owned by the same company as the Bridgewater Canal but a bit bigger. I crossed the Ship Canal on Chester Road Swing Bridge which takes a busy road over the Big Ditch.

Manchester Ship Canal

On the other side I found myself cycling alongside what looked like a canal. I have found out this short stretch of water is all that is left of the Runcorn to Latchford Canal which was closed in the 1890s.

River Mersey

After a slight wrong turn I ended up on another bridge over the River Mersey. This one was not quite so impressive and had no traffic at all. Back on the correct side of the river I headed off in search of the St Helens Canal.

The St Helens Canal is largely disused. For long stretches of it there is just high reeds and rushes where the water should be. It does seem to be popular with cyclists though and there were a few of us along here enjoying the sunshine and midges. At Fiddlers Ferry there is some water again and a lock into the River Mersey.

River Lock at Fiddlers Ferry

There is a motley collection of boats and wrecks here. The thought of my picnic lunch kept me going, this is not the most exciting of stretches, stuck as you are between a hedge and a reed filled canal.

There is a canal in there somewhere

I was getting a bit bored so it was nice when the path opened up and I got a lovely view of the Runcorn-Widnes Bridge again. From the viewing platform by the river I could see how far I had peddled. I had by this point realised that I had got my kilometers and miles mixed up so would only be doing about 20 miles not 30. Still the sun was shining nicely now.

I reached the bridge I had walked to last time I was here (see blog). Back at the river lock I had my picnic and a sit down on the lock gates.

Bike & Lock (with picnic)

Today I rode along and over the River Mersey, the Bridgewater Canal, the Manchester Ship Canal, the Runcorn to Latchford Canal, and the St Helens Canal.

The ride was about 18 miles/30km. The towpath/track was good throughout. I dont think I would bother doing it again but I am glad I did it today.

Manchester - Oxford Road to Waters Meeting

Last weekend I went from Liverpool to York by train. On the way I saw a lot of canals, the Sankey Brook, the Bridgewater, Rochdale, Calder and Hebble, Huddersfield Narrow and Broad and the Leeds and Liverpool Canals. Passing through Manchester city centre I decided it was about time to visit our neighbour's canals. So this weekend I took the train to Manchester Oxford Road. I dont know Manchester; I only visit rarely for concerts, and last time I had a terrible time with transport that put me off returning for years.
The only time I have visited the canal was the IWA National rally in 1988 at Castlefield when I was 12.
The canal runs underneath Oxford Road so it only took a minute to get to the towpath from the station. The canal passes through the huge Victorian buildings like a river through a canyon.

Looking up to Oxford Road

This canal is the Rochdale Canal and is notable in Manchester for its locks. We passed a few as we walked towards Castlefield. The towpath was quiet, not many people and no bikes. There were a few ducks and some nice houses built for them.

Duck House

site of the hacienda

Approaching Castlefield the canal started to look more familiar. This is where we moored in 1988. The high railway bridges are particularly impressive. I really liked the use of the railway arches by lock 91, its a clever use of space and the industrial architecture works well with the modern bars and clubs.

Former Canal Tunnel

There is a short arm of the canal by one of the huge bridges, at the end of the arm is a low tunnel in the rock. This was once a canal tunnel built by Brindley. The water level was lower when it was in use.

Former Saw Mill Building with a more modern building behind

Lock 92 Dukes Lock

At Castlefield the Rochdale Canal meets the Bridgewater Canal. The area around Castlefield has changed a bit since 1988. There are lots of nice trendy bars by the canal and I can imagine the area is very popular on summers evenings.

Canal-side living

We carried on past Castlefield following the Bridgewater Canal. Manchester's large Victorian buildings are soon left behind and the area around the canal opens out. The new Metrolink tramway follows the canal heading to Salford Quays which you can see in the distance. The towpath got muddier on this stretch but wasn't too bad. The sun hadn't got to the towpath and the puddles were still frozen and the grass was covered in frost. This bit of canal is a bit boring.
We were reminded that it was match day as we got to the pleasingly named Throstles Nest bridge. Old Trafford, home of Manchester United is right next to the canal. In fact it is so close you can get a boat there from the city centre. People were inside the ground eating in the restaurants, prawn sandwiches no doubt. The streets and bridges were full of people making their way to the ground.
After Old Trafford the towpath's condition got much worse. It was very wet and muddy. I dont think I would have fancied it on a bike though the tyre tracks suggested it was a popular route. Still the danger of slipping or falling in the canal made up for the rather dull canal.
We reached Waters Meeting which is also pleasingly named. here the Bridgewater splits up and heads off to Leigh and the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, or Lymm and Preston Brook or back to Manchester. There isn't much to look at here, three black canals meet under the bridges.
We had a Mars Bar and took some uninspiring photos and then headed back to Manchester.
Its funny how the walk back always seems much quicker than the outward trip. As we passed Old Trafford the team names were being read out, we couldn't hear the announcement but could tell when Wayne Rooney's name was called as the crowd cheered twice as loud as for the rest. The trip boats were disgorging the last of their boozed up football fans.
Back at Castlefield we had a look at the two Leeds and Liverpool Canal boats. One was the Irwell, a short/wide boat the other had no name but I have since found out it is a long boat originally called A37 and later became Isis.
The high railway bridges are very impressive. The railway engineers knew what they were doing and knew how to do it with style.
We stopped off at Dukes 92, one of the trendy bars. The fish and chips was very nice and even came with a small bucket of chips.
I enjoyed Manchester and I will be back to walk the other way and see its famous Canal Street...

Pub Reviews: Leigh and Wigan

I have slightly redesigned the pub pages on www.towpathtreks.co.uk so I thought I had better do some pub reviews and add some new pubs to the guide. I have a list of about 15 pubs to visit this year. Today with the weather being less than glorious I thought we would try just 3 or 4. We left Liverpool and headed off to the lands where Rugby preferred to Football, Leigh and Wigan. 

Driving to Leigh on a grey rainy Saturday is depressing. I lost count of the number of closed down, boarded up pubs. By Leigh Bridge there was the Bridge, the Ellesmere and the Bridgewater, all potential pubs to review and all closed down. 

Luckily our first pub was still open; the Waterside Inn in Leigh. It is on the Leigh branch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal near its junction with the Bridgewater Canal. The pub building is a converted canal warehouse. The warehouse is two Grade II listed buildings. One half is a stone warehouse from 1821, the other is a brick warehouse from 1894. There is a carpark at the front so no worries about where to leave the car. There is a large ugly Aldi next door which would be handy for passing boaters. 

 former canal warehouses

It was one o'clock when we got to the pub and it was not busy. We sat near a window over looking the canal. There were some nice old photos of the canal and the warehouse before it was a pub. The bar seems more aimed at people drinking bottled beer, wine and cocktails than real ale. In fact there were only two real ale pumps and one was off. The pub was quiet and it felt like it was set up for a busy Friday/Saturday night crowd rather than lunchtime. 

There is quite a big main menu, a kids menu and Sunday roast specials. We chose the cheese burger and the scampi, together less than ten quid. The food came quickly and was nice and warm. The burger was tasty if a little unadventurous, though there were lots of other options which would have been more interesting. 

I am not sure if I would go out of my way to go to the pub again. It would be a nice place to go for drinks with friends in summer when the outside seating would be nice. 

Leaving the pub we went over to Leigh Bridge which is number 11 on the Leigh Branch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and number 66 on the Bridgewater Canal. Its a very low bridge, I couldn't stand up straight underneath it. I hope to cycle the Leigh branch sometime this year, hopefully when the weather is nicer. The rain started so we went back to the car and headed to Wigan. 

After Leigh we drove to Wigan, passing yet more closed down pubs. Things change, peoples leisure activities aren't what they were 10, 20 years ago. People stay at home watching the X factor rather than going to the pub. The smoking ban gets a lot of blame, the price of beer in pubs is high compared to the supermarket. In many places there just isn't the population density to support so many pubs like there once was. 

We arrived at the Top Lock in Aspull, Wigan. Here at the top of the Wigan flight of 21 locks the Leeds and Liverpool Canal meets the southern part of the old Lancaster canal. The area here was famous for its coal. There was a huge iron works here too. Now there is a quite housing estate and some light industry. 

The Commercial Inn (closed)

The weather was getting worse and it was getting gloomier.  We walked down to the Commercial Inn to see if the rumours were true and it had indeed closed. The lights were on but there was nobody home. It looks like it has joined the long list of closed down pubs. Hopefully it is just a temporary closure but I cant see there being enough trade to keep two large pubs going in such a quiet bit of town. The other pub was open and has had a recent refurbishment. 

Kirkless Hall Inn

The Kirkless Hall Inn stands out among the late 20th century housing estate. It is a large black and white mock Tudor building. The inside is just as unusual as the outside. The decor is best described as 1970s London underground. The seats and carpet have a definite retro appeal, bringing back memories of coach trips in the 1980s.  Either it had recently been refurbished like this or the pub is in some sort of Life on Mars time warp. But it was all clean and new and the barman was friendly. There are two rooms with a central bar serving both. We sat in the bright canal side room which has framed photos of canal boats. On the other side of the bar is the pool room which had the TV on. The pub does food, nothing too pretentious, baked potatoes, sandwiches, soup etc; only the steak was over £5.00. Even the black pepper on the tables had a 1970s air about it. In a good way. I was pleased to see a bit of Christmas decoration hanging from the ceiling. Its something I always look for in a pub. Next time you go to the pub check the ceilings in the corners of the room, there will be a bit of tinsel or shiny plastic stuck there with sticky tape or a drawing pin. We were the only people on this side of the pub, the other side seemed to be favourite with locals. I know my place, I am just a passing tourist and will sit where I should. It would be interesting to know how this pub looked in the 1890s when the canal was still busy and the area was a hive of industry. 

With the light going we decided to call it a day and head back to Liverpool. Hopefully the next time I go reviewing pubs the sun will be shining.