leeds liverpool canal tips

[christom5574]

hi guys, ive just joined this site to hopefully get some much needed advice re a charity bike ride for the leeds Liverpool canal in oneday. I know this topic has been done to death online as I have researched lots of posts and blogs so far to get to this point. However I have just a few concerns that I could do with some assistance with.
Firstly are there any shops , snack vans, pubs etc on route. Am pretty familiar with the gargrave to leeds end but apart from that I don't have a clue.
Saddle sore will be a main issue , ive just ordered some chamois cream but I guess its just something to put up with really??? Cramp has been a issue on various rides ive done recently , is there anything I can do to ease this ??? Was planning on setting off very steadily but hammering the flatter sections. Finally where is the official start point?? some say albert dock others say eldonian village ??? does anyone have a postcode for either>??

I know it would be preferable to do this in summer but for reasons that will take too long to explain I have to do this soon.
I'm pretty fit although not a seasoned cyclist but I don't want it to be too easy as its not really a challenge then is is??

Thanks in advance for any helpful responses.

[Richard Fairhurst]

Plenty of pubs on pretty much any canal and the L&L is no exception!

Please please please don't "hammer" any sections, flat or otherwise. Towpaths are shared spaces for walkers, cyclists, anglers and boaters. If you want to hammer along, use the road.

The Leeds & Liverpool Canal started at Eldonian Village for many years, but there's been a recent extension (the Liverpool Canal Link) that extends it to Albert Dock. It takes a bit of an involved route past the Three Graces and through some of the old docks, so you may not have a continuous towpath, but I'd certainly choose to start there rather than Eldonian - much more interesting.

[christom5574]

Oh well when I say hammer I just meant not dilly-dallying!!! I always watch out and take appropriate care around other canal users though I think I should be safe from barges !!!

Ok so looks like I'll be begging water supplies from various pubs on route as it would be pretty impossible to carry enough water for 14-16 hours cycling !

Any more tips would be welcome

[thirdcrank]

I'd be cautious about falling out with other users. As an example from Richard Fairhurst's list, anglers, especially a lot of anglers in an organised event with pegs every few yards will move their tackle out of your way, sometimes begrudgingly, but it's an inevitably slow process. If you have flexibility over your dates, I'd try to check online for competitions and then avoid them. On one occasion I arrived after a gang of mountain bikers had ruffled a lot of feathers which required diplomacy; that's what brought this home to me. No need to fall out with anybody.

[nirakaro]

I rode from Leeds to Silsden the other day. The towpath was fine as far as Keighley – if a bit muddy here and there – but after that it degenerated into a grassy, lumpy and very muddy footpath. Might have been alright with knobbly tyres and suspension, but on semi-slicks I had to get off and walk quite a lot.
Be aware, especially at weekends, that some stretches – around Saltaire for example – will be busy with dog walkers, small children, old folks, and smartphone addicts all ambling along with varying degrees of inattention. You'll be using your bell a lot!

[millimole]

Oh well when I say hammer I just meant not dilly-dallying!!! I always watch out and take appropriate care around other canal users though I think I should be safe from barges !!!

Ok so looks like I'll be begging water supplies from various pubs on route as it would be pretty impossible to carry enough water for 14-16 hours cycling !

Any more tips would be welcome

Whatever you do don't call them 'barges' - they are narrowboats! Some boaters get very upset
Beware of mooring ropes and mooring pins around boats (narrowboats of course) and always let people mooring are casting off do their thing.

If you are going to be cycling for 14-16 hours in a day before summer then you may be cycling in very poor light - not something I would recommend at all, at all.

Pubs (like all businesses) rely on people spending money - so go easy on the begging!


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[nirakaro]

Whatever you do don't call them 'barges' - they are narrowboats! Some boaters get very upset

Dangerous area this. Not necessarily narrowboats on the L&L - the locks are 60'x14', so too short for a full length narrowboat, and twice the width. You'll see the traditional 'short boat', fourteen feet wide, and a variety of other vessels that aren't narrowboats. I've never heard any of them called barges, but the canalside pub at Rodley is called the Rodley Barge, so it may be safe to use the term.

[millimole]

Like my patch too then - the Leicester Line and the River Soar can take wide beam boats - we get the very occasional one trying to get to Market Harbourough. I've never heard an owner / operator call them a barge either.


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[pete75]

The Leeds & Liverpool Canal started at Eldonian Village for many years

That's where it finished It starts at Lock no. 1 in Leeds where it joins the Aire.


There's an extremely comprehensive set of good pictures of all sections of the canal here - must be getting on for 200 of them. A virtual tour as they say and they give a good indication of what the towpath is like along the route.

http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/ll/ll3.htm

[Richard Fairhurst]

The insistence on "narrowboat" is a bit of a modern affectation to be honest - historically, they were called barges in some places, longboats in others (the Severn), and so on. I've just written an article for Waterways World based on an account of a trip along the Kennet & Avon and Wilts & Berks canals in the 1890s, and they were called "monkey boats" in that.

On the other hand, the word "Tupperware" is of course 100% correct for fibreglass cruisers.

[Roadster]

I rode from Leeds to Silsden the other day. The towpath was fine as far as Keighley – if a bit muddy here and there – but after that it degenerated into a grassy, lumpy and very muddy footpath. Might have been alright with knobbly tyres and suspension, but on semi-slicks I had to get off and walk quite a lot.

The section between Greenberfield and Gargrave is very similar, as can be seen in Pete75's link. These lengthy rural sections (and others like them) are not ideal for "hammering", I can assure you, especially in the wet! On the contrary, they will slow your progress considerably and you'd be unwise to underestimate by how much...

[christom5574]

Thanks for the replies. Yea I rode out from Leeds to gargrave and the canal side was very muddy and rutted past keighley. Not really a path or track as such but it's only a few miles or so.

Would love to ride it in summer but for various reasons I need to get it done sooner rather than later..going for next Wednesday as that seems to be the driest day..

Just got my new tyres fitted as my old Ines did seem quite prone to punctures!!!

I do have decent lights but I'll be setting off at 5am from Liverpool , hopefully getting to Leeds around half 7 so that's only 2 and abit hours of darkness roughly !!!

I've done plenty of cycling on canals and haven't managed to fall out with anyone so far!!! It's there for all to use so a bit of consideration from everyone makes life easier surely !!!

[christom5574]

Oh and thanks Pete 75.
Very helpful link to the pics . Glad to see there are plenty of pubs en route and a mention of z cafe or 3!!! Should solve my water carrying situation !!!

[pete75]

Oh and thanks Pete 75.
Very helpful link to the pics . Glad to see there are plenty of pubs en route and a mention of z cafe or 3!!! Should solve my water carrying situation !!!

Yep and quite a few of em will stock Timothy Taylor beers.....

[Roadster]

going for next Wednesday as that seems to be the driest day..

Driest? That's the only dry day in the forecast and that could easily have changed by then. It's been very wet round here for several weeks now and further heavy rain is predicted over the weekend and into next week. Today has been dry but everywhere's really muddy and looks set to get even muddier...
Rather you than me, but good luck anyway - you're going to need it!