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Catching Trains near the Canals


Wyn2joy

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This list is by no means comprehensive but it covers a few canals that Les and I cruised. We often caught trains back south to visit family and to go to London for medical appointments. I hope this info ris helpful to others. 

https://boatlife.blogspot.com/2018/07/boat-and-trains.html

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1 hour ago, Wyn2joy said:

This list is by no means comprehensive but it covers a few canals that Les and I cruised. We often caught trains back south to visit family and to go to London for medical appointments. I hope this info ris helpful to others. 

https://boatlife.blogspot.com/2018/07/boat-and-trains.html

The 'link' isn't. At least for me it's not anyway. I often use the train to get to and from canals.

 

JP

 

ETA - it works in my quote of your post but not in your original post!

Edited by Captain Pegg
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3 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

The 'link' isn't. At least for me it's not anyway. I often use the train to get to and from canals.

 

JP

It has turned in to an active link in your quote.

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2 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

It has turned in to an active link in your quote.

I should get a greeno for activating it don't you think?

 

i will add Old Hill (Hawne Basin), Langley Green (Titford Pumphouse) and Tipton (BCLM) to that list next week. Plus I guess the rather more obvious Birmingham New St and Droitwich.

 

JP

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It's always been a doddle so far getting to and from the boat by train, and dropping visitors off so they can get back home. I suppose it helps that a large portion of the canals are closely followed by a railway. Add a bike into the equation and there's no excuses.

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There are a huge number of stations within striking distance of canals, probably hundreds if you include catching a bus into the equation as the OP has. These are all an easy walk from from the Leeds & Liverpool: -

James St

Sandhills

Bank Hall

Bootle Oriel Road

Bootel New Strand

Seaforth & Litherland

Old Road

Maghull

New Lane

Burscough Bridge

Burscough Junction

Hoscar

Parbold

Appley Bridge

Gathurst

Wigan North Western

Wigan Wallgate

Adlington

Chorley

Pleasington

Cherry Tree

Mill Hill

Blackburn

Rishton

Hapton

Rose Grove

Burnley Barracks

Burnley Manchester Road

Burnley Central

Brierfield

Skipton

Cononley

Crossflats

Bingley

Saltaire

Shipley

Kirkstall Forge

Leeds

 

Then there are some others a bit further to walk to, such as Gargrave and Steeton & Silsden. Of course for many of these you probably wouldn't want to leave your boat unattended.

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Hi Folks,

 

Sorry about the inactive link in the body of the post. Thank you JP for letting me know and I am pleased it is working in your response post.  Also thanks John, for adding info. The canals I listed were the ones my husband Les and I cruised during the three years we fought his cancer and we often  had to make trips down to London from wherever we were. We were determined to keep cruising as long as possible and refused to let the disease completely take over all aspects of our life. 

 

Rumsky, you might be surprised by the dead spots on the cut. For example Great Haywood and up the Trent  Mersey until one reaches Stone. Of course CC'rs can simply up sticks and cruise but it is helpful to know where those spots are and where one can moor up and catch a nearby bus/train link or simply walk into a town and get on a train. Another difficult spot is around Braunston and Napton. One can catch a bus in Napton and travel in to Leamington Spa but depending on where you want to go you may have to take that train to Warwick and transfer to a train heading back to London or up to Birmingham. 

 

We were moored up at Cowroast the last 6 months of Les' life. I needed to have my right knee replaced and my surgeon was in Warwick. It took us four trains on three different train company lines to go 50 miles and it was not easy. We missed one train because of delays and that threw our entire schedule off. Two of the trains had non-functional toilets and there was literally poo and urine all over the bathroom floor and no place to go to the loo. Then we had to do it all again in reverse to get back home. Our saving grace was getting into Berkhamstead and taking a taxi back to Cowroast at 8:30 pm. 

 

I still find it hard to believe there are no direct trains from anywhere in the Midlands to Heathrow. It is ridiculous to have to travel in to London, drag luggage etc. across town to Paddington station and take the train out to Heathrow. Never mind HS2--how about fixing this issue!

 

Anyway thanks for your comments and added info.

 

Kind regards, 

 

Jaqueline

Edited by Wyn2joy
Dyslexic mis-spellings
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7 minutes ago, Wyn2joy said:

Hi Folks,

 

Sorry about the inactive link in the body of the post. Thank you JP for letting me know and I am pleased it is working in your response post.  Also thanks John, for adding info. The canals I listed were the ones my husband Les and I cruised during the three years we fought his cancer and we often  had to make trips down to London from wherever we were. We were determined to keep cruising as long as possible and refused to let the disease completely take over all aspects of our life. 

 

Rumsky, you might be surprised by the dead spots on the cut. For example Great Haywood and up the Trent  Mersey until one reaches Stone. Of course CC'rs can simply up sticks and cruise but it is helpful to know where those spots are and where one can moor up and catch a nearby bus/train link or simply walk into a town and get on a train. Another difficult spot is around Braunston and Napton. One can catch a bus in Napton and travel in to Leamington Spa but depending on where you want to go you may have to take that train to Warwick and transfer to a train heading back to London or up to Birmingham. 

 

We were moored up at Cowroast the last 6 months of Les' life. I needed to have my right knee replaced and my surgeon was in Warwick. It took us four trains on three different train company lines to go 50 miles and it was not easy. We missed one train because of delays and that threw our entire schedule off. Two of the trains had non-functional toilets and there was literally poo and urine all over the bathroom floor and no place to go to the loo. Then we had to do it all again in reverse to get back home. Our saving grace was getting into Berkhamstead and taking a taxi back to Cowroast at 8:30 pm. 

 

I still find it hard to believe there are no direct trains from anywhere in the Midlands to Heathrow. It is ridiculous to have to travel in to London, drag luggage etc. across town to Paddington station and take the train out to Heathrow. Never mind HS2--how about fixing this issue!

 

Anyway thanks for your comments and added info.

 

Kind regards, 

 

Jaqueline

 

You can use public transport to get to Heathrow from the midlands without going via London train by getting a cross country train to Reading then a coach to Heathrow

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8 minutes ago, Tim Lewis said:

 

You can use public transport to get to Heathrow from the midlands without going via London train by getting a cross country train to Reading then a coach to Heathrow

 

There are rail-air bus links to Heathrow from Reading, Watford Junction, Woking and Feltham, which between them connect to train services to much of the country.

 

https://www.heathrow.com/transport-and-directions/buses-and-coaches/rail_air-bus-links

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1 hour ago, John Wareing said:

There are a huge number of stations within striking distance of canals, probably hundreds if you include catching a bus into the equation as the OP has. These are all an easy walk from from the Leeds & Liverpool: -

James St

Sandhills

Bank Hall

Bootle Oriel Road

Bootel New Strand

Seaforth & Litherland

Old Road

Maghull

New Lane

Burscough Bridge

Burscough Junction

Hoscar

Parbold

Appley Bridge

Gathurst

Wigan North Western

Wigan Wallgate

Adlington

Chorley

Pleasington

Cherry Tree

Mill Hill

Blackburn

Rishton

Hapton

Rose Grove

Burnley Barracks

Burnley Manchester Road

Burnley Central

Brierfield

Skipton

Cononley

Crossflats

Bingley

Saltaire

Shipley

Kirkstall Forge

Leeds

 

Then there are some others a bit further to walk to, such as Gargrave and Steeton & Silsden. Of course for many of these you probably wouldn't want to leave your boat unattended.

You missed out Apperley Bridge, about a 10 min walk from the Marina (up hill tho)

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2 hours ago, Tim Lewis said:

 

You can use public transport to get to Heathrow from the midlands without going via London train by getting a cross country train to Reading then a coach to Heathrow

You used to be able to fly from Birmingham to Heathrow used it a lot in the '80's, but the building of the M40 stopped that as everyone just drove there. You can get a coach from Birmingham airport to Heathrow still though.

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When I said there is no way to take a train from the Midlands to Heathrow, I meant directly without having to take a bus at one end or the other.  I find trying to figure out the train timetables a nightmare. Les used to spend hours on the computer doing it.  When we flew back to Washington State in 2012 we had to get a 20 minute taxi to Rugby station (we were moored up at Napton), the train (an hour and 15 minutes) to Watford and then a bus (40 minutes) to Heathrow and then another mini train from outside Heathrow to inside. I was exhausted and we hadn't even boarded the plane for the 9 and  half hour flight 7000 miles to the States.  Doing all of that after getting off the plane at Heathrow was nearly my undoing.  Of course we had four large cases because we were bringing stuff back from the States which I couldn't get here, in addition to our clothes and gifts from friends. I should think a direct train from Milton Keynes would be practical.  Where do you think a direct train link to Heathrow from the Midlands should start from?

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8 minutes ago, Wyn2joy said:

When I said there is no way to take a train from the Midlands to Heathrow, I meant directly without having to take a bus at one end or the other.  I find trying to figure out the train timetables a nightmare. Les used to spend hours on the computer doing it. 

But now only spends minutes because Google maps does it all for you?

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Robbo, 

 

My husband Les Biggs died 17 months ago today. He did it for us because he was British and he understood the system far better than I do. I am an American. I've lived on board for seven years but there are some things that will never make any sense to me at all about this country and the train timetables are one of them; but then I've had Brits tell me they struggle with them as well so perhaps it isn't just me. 

Thank you for the link James. I  will check it out. 

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27 minutes ago, Wyn2joy said:

Robbo, 

 

My husband Les Biggs died 17 months ago today. He did it for us because he was British and he understood the system far better than I do. I am an American. I've lived on board for seven years but there are some things that will never make any sense to me at all about this country and the train timetables are one of them; but then I've had Brits tell me they struggle with them as well so perhaps it isn't just me. 

Thank you for the link James. I  will check it out. 

Google maps can work out directions and times for bus/train/walk/bicycle/plane and even car.  You just put two destinations in (and times depart/arrival time if ya want) and tell it to go.   I don't think UK timetables are any more difficult than any other country.

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2 hours ago, Wyn2joy said:

When I said there is no way to take a train from the Midlands to Heathrow, I meant directly without having to take a bus at one end or the other.  I find trying to figure out the train timetables a nightmare. Les used to spend hours on the computer doing it.  When we flew back to Washington State in 2012 we had to get a 20 minute taxi to Rugby station (we were moored up at Napton), the train (an hour and 15 minutes) to Watford and then a bus (40 minutes) to Heathrow and then another mini train from outside Heathrow to inside. I was exhausted and we hadn't even boarded the plane for the 9 and  half hour flight 7000 miles to the States.  Doing all of that after getting off the plane at Heathrow was nearly my undoing.  Of course we had four large cases because we were bringing stuff back from the States which I couldn't get here, in addition to our clothes and gifts from friends. I should think a direct train from Milton Keynes would be practical.  Where do you think a direct train link to Heathrow from the Midlands should start from?

To be honest if I was doing that trip with luggage and two people I would get a taxi all the way, Just looked up one site and the fare was £110, about £20 more than the taxi/train/bus but well worth it

Edited by Tim Lewis
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  • 1 month later...

We've used Atherstone station a few times, it's only a few yards from the Coventry Canal visitor moorings. Direct hourly trains to Crewe, Stafford, Tamworth, Nuneaton, Rugby, Milton Keynes & London with connections from these to numerous other places.

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Usually we plan our locations to leave the boat whilst we go home on the basis of investigating the car shuffle itinerary. However we are currently faced with doing it between Weltonfield and Gayton marinas - as thew crow flies about 12 miles, one of the shortest we have ever done. However, it turns out to be about the most tortuous - Google gives something like  25 min walk, 4 buses and a 22 minute walk! We may have to find an alternative - walking all the way might even be quicker , , ,  if only I had the stamina.

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