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Leeds & Liverpool Canal questions


Rata

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For two week hire, would that easily cover the whole canal?

Is there a 'better' section, ie more interesting, nicer scenery, villages,places to see etc?  I am thinking the Leeds end?

Some hire places seem to be 'in the middle'.  For our time, would that mean out one way and back, then the same in the other direction?

Is this canal too ambitious for just a couple (I know there are some flights of locks, but thought if we had plenty of time ….)?

Any info, advice, suggestions of points to start and finish, all welcome.

Cheers AllBlack

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One thing to be aware of if choosing Northern canals like the L&L or the Rochdale, if you are not used to them is that many (most?) of all the locks are typically a great deal deeper than on a Southern canal.  Also on the L&L lots of the paddle gear is poorly maintained, and often disconnected and not working - certainly when we were there a lot of the ground paddles were disconnected.

 

None of this is a problem if you are expecting it, but it does mean the typical time to work a lock is often considerably longer than on a Southern canal.

 

However, if you use a planning tool like CanalPlanAC it assumes any double lock anywhere in the country takes the same time to operate, whether 6 feet deep or 10 feet deep, and whether all the paddles work, or several are disabled.  So it is worh increasing "the default time per lock setting" in such planning tools to give more relaxed timings, if you don't like rushing.

 

At least one part of the L&L can also result in (from memory) having to stop for some 20 different swing bridges.  We tackle this at many of them by having someone going ahead on a push bike, but assuming you don't it can be quite a hold up stopping for so many.

 

At the big staircases, Bingley 5 and 3 rises, for example, you are dependent in when the lock keepers decide to allow uphill and downhill traffic, which again may cause some delay.

The 21 locks at Wigan are fairly notorious for being hard work, and unless you like hard work, probably best to tackle sharing with another boat,  Certainly a lot harder than say similar number of locks at Hatton or Wolverhampton in the Midlands, and could easily take wice as long due to defects and low pounds.

 

All that said the L&&L is spectacular, and well worth the visit.  Any boat you hire will need to be not much over 60 feet long.

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49 minutes ago, Rata said:

For two week hire, would that easily cover the whole canal?

Is there a 'better' section, ie more interesting, nicer scenery, villages,places to see etc?  I am thinking the Leeds end?

Some hire places seem to be 'in the middle'.  For our time, would that mean out one way and back, then the same in the other direction?

Is this canal too ambitious for just a couple (I know there are some flights of locks, but thought if we had plenty of time ….)?

Any info, advice, suggestions of points to start and finish, all welcome.

Cheers AllBlack

Note, Bearboating (http://www.bearboating.co.uk/), located at Apperley Bridge and Barnoldswick do one way cruising.   (Basically for a little extra you can just go between the two bases).

Edited by Robbo
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Whilst th Leeds end of the canal has its own charms for me the section from Skipton heading West has the best scenery and places of interest. Yes, the locks can be hard work but with two weeks you have plenty of time to take it steady. Probably enough time to go to Bingley and Saltaire as well. The railway line runs alongside the canal from Skipton to Leeds so you could always use the train to visit some places if you don’t fancy taking the boat. Some of the swing bridges are mechanised so it’s just a case of putting in your key and pressing a button but others can be tough to move. Have the strongest member of the crew do the non mechanised bridges. Make sure both of you can steer the boat. One thing to bear in mind is that it a dry summer the canal can suffer from water shortages leading to closure of the locks. There is a handy hire base at Silsden which is good for this area.

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1 hour ago, Rata said:

For two week hire, would that easily cover the whole canal?

Is there a 'better' section, ie more interesting, nicer scenery, villages,places to see etc?  I am thinking the Leeds end?

Some hire places seem to be 'in the middle'.  For our time, would that mean out one way and back, then the same in the other direction?

Is this canal too ambitious for just a couple (I know there are some flights of locks, but thought if we had plenty of time ….)?

Any info, advice, suggestions of points to start and finish, all welcome.

Cheers AllBlack

The first time we ever hired was on the L&L but we had a small crew of family members so it was easier for us than it would be as a couple. I would suggest to do the whole thing in 2 weeks as a couple would be a bit ambitious.

 

Its horses for courses but the general consensus is the the 'best' bit is the section between Nelson and just past Shipley. Plenty of beautiful scenery, village/town stops and lots of canal historical stuff to see such as the Bingley Five and Three rises.

 

On our first hire we started at Skipton and headed west, turned at Nelson and headed back through Skipton turned near Esholt just past Shipley and headed back. That took a week and allowed lots of time to explore local towns, visit pubs etc etc.

 

2 weeks would allow you to get to Leeds rather than turn at Esholt like we did and then head back. If the summer you could cruise long days and get onto the Aire and Calder too. Or go further past on the western end,

Edited by MJG
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we've hired a couple of times from Silsden and the furthest we managed in a week was to go west first as far as the other side of the Foulridge tunnel, then back east to do the 5 & 3 rise, passing Saltaire then winding and coming back to Silsden.

However, this was 5 of us at the back-end of Summer so long days were possible and there were no restrictions in place.

As @rgreg has said, out past Skipton is a beautiful stretch and the canal following the contours and winding round hills affords some stunning views.

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36 minutes ago, Hudds Lad said:

we've hired a couple of times from Silsden and the furthest we managed in a week was to go west first as far as the other side of the Foulridge tunnel, then back east to do the 5 & 3 rise, passing Saltaire then winding and coming back to Silsden.

However, this was 5 of us at the back-end of Summer so long days were possible and there were no restrictions in place.

As @rgreg has said, out past Skipton is a beautiful stretch and the canal following the contours and winding round hills affords some stunning views.

Agree with all the above.  Don't be concerned about re-tracing your footsteps (metaphorically) it's a beautiful and fascinating canal so you won't be bored.  In fact you could eat up the miles outwards and then plan where you want to slow down on the return. Try to find time to spend a long day at Saltaire (used to be completely teetotal but I think there is at least one ale house now) and time to go round Skipton - if you can link in a train trip that will be a bonus.  The Bingley locks are  a must see, and of course there is Wigan Pier.  All the pubs will serve Black Pudding in some guise.

Edited by Tanglewood
to add a rider about Saltaire
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I was solo on my Leeds / Liverpool trip in 2016, it took me 9 days to get from Wigan bottom lock to Castleford. Although solo, Peter Bullfinch tethered his boat to mine for the trip up the Wigan flight, then took 5 days to get to Skipton. I asked a friend to help me get from Skipton to Leeds because I knew about all the bridges, many of which are difficult to do solo. We had a long wait at Bingley 5 rise, but other than that the journey went without a hitch. I've no idea what it's like towards Parbold and Liverpool, but with 2 of you, you should be able to cover a good distance.

P1010387.jpg

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3 hours ago, Robbo said:

Note, Bearboating (http://www.bearboating.co.uk/), located at Apperley Bridge and Barnoldswick do one way cruising.   (Basically for a little extra you can just go between the two bases).

Or with Shire Cruisers you can do on way between Barnoldswick and Sowerby Bridge - not all on the L&L, and if you took two weeks over it, you could explore a little west of Barnoldswick too.

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I've just checked the log of our latest journey over the L&L and two of us travelled Leeds to Wigan in 9 days (55 hours). For your 14 day trip I would recommend staying within the boundary of Leeds to the east and probably Burnley to the west if you want a bit of exploration time off the boat and enjoy the best scenery.

Edited to add that I've just seen David Mack's one-way suggestion, which took us 9 days (54 hrs) so quite doable plus a bit more.

Edited by rgreg
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31 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Or with Shire Cruisers you can do on way between Barnoldswick and Sowerby Bridge - not all on the L&L, and if you took two weeks over it, you could explore a little west of Barnoldswick too.

That’s probably more of a 2 week journey as well and you’ll get to see the other nice canals around Yorkshire.

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3 hours ago, rgreg said:

I've just checked the log of our latest journey over the L&L and two of us travelled Leeds to Wigan in 9 days (55 hours).

You've rompted me to look at our blog.

We took 6 days to join at the foot of the Wigan flight, and go into Leeds, (about 60 engine hours).

That said we weren't exactly hanging about, and most people would probably choose to do it slower than that, (even myself now, I think!).

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I've been over the L&L several times, most recently this summer.   The first time was a hire boat from Barnoldswick and we made it to Castleford and back in 10 days, but we were much younger then!  I took 2 months singlehanded from Burscough Bridge to Leeds this summer, and would have liked to take rather longer, but the canal was closing as I went through.  Made time for several days in Skipton, though.

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From just outside Burnley to the outskirts of Leeds is the continuously pretty part although there is stunning scenery between some of the western towns. The locks whilst having heavy gates are generally well maintained and I wouldn't say excessively deep compared with the south. Heading east after Gargrave, the most northerly point, there are many swing bridges to operate, mostly manual which can slow you a little although a few are electrically operated. Some can be challenging solo but perfectly feasible. As suggested, Skipton is the jewel in the crown. 

 

Not rushing excessively I've cruised single handed from the bottom of the Wigan flight to Skipton in six days. With two or more, hiring in the middle and avoiding the Wigan flight you should be able to cover most the the remaining canal there and back in two weeks. 

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5 hours ago, David Mack said:

Or with Shire Cruisers you can do on way between Barnoldswick and Sowerby Bridge - not all on the L&L, and if you took two weeks over it, you could explore a little west of Barnoldswick too.

I'd second this choice one way Cruise. You get experience of both rivers and canals, some interesting sections and also pass through Leeds.  Would be a comfortable two week cruise for two.

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We did the entire length from Liverpool to Leeds in 2017 and from Skipton to Leeds this year. We didn't as I recall find the locks in poor condition, after the Wigan flight the locks are fairly spread out until you eventually reach Bingley. Skipton to Bingley is all about swing bridges eighteen in all, Bingley on is a good mix of locks and swing bridges until you reach Leeds. Mooring did seem sometimes to be a problem, we would find a well mown stretch of grass with straight sections of pilings but the depth of water was rarely enough to get into the bank. It is an interesting canal the views through the Pennines are spectacular. We did a trip on the Settle to Carlisle railway, really good day out and Saltaire  is definitely worth a visit. I do think when hiring the temptation is to do too much boating at the expense of taking the time to explore, do your research and enjoy.

 

Ken

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1 hour ago, alan_fincher said:

You've rompted me to look at our blog.

We took 6 days to join at the foot of the Wigan flight, and go into Leeds, (about 60 engine hours).

That said we weren't exactly hanging about, and most people would probably choose to do it slower than that, (even myself now, I think!).

Only 5 hours difference then, but you did longer days. Conversely, this year I single-handed Cropredy to Tarleton in 9 days ( 95 hrs) but never rush along. Generally I do prefer shorter days though. 

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Wow!  What amazing information overnight, for me to pore over and consider.

I will have to find a decent map of the canal and look at all your suggestions.

We are slow travellers and would not want to spend long days boating, but a mix of sightseeing, walking etc as well, which is why we thought we'd take a fortnight.

Have a little experience (4 day hire and 7 day hire), have mastered 'easy' locks, can both handle the boat and can both get through a 'crooked' tunnel without touching the sides, so can't be too bad!!

Thank you all for taking the time to include your days, distances, hours and start/end points which is really useful.

Have no doubt I will be back with more questions.

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