To clarify the last thing I do on canals is go fast, far from it. For one thing you'd end up the wrong side of a lock!millimole wrote: ↑26 Jul 2021, 2:30pm Although this has drifted into the usual towpath discussion I'll put my pennyworth in.
I'm a volunteer for The Canal and River Trust (CRT) so what I say is slightly coloured by that.
CRT are damned whatever they do with the towpaths. If they improve them (and they get grants to do so) to enable disabled access - which also helps cyclists - they are accused (by boaters and walkers) of creating 'bicycle motorways' for cyclists to speed along. Leave the towpath as a muddy / neglected track and the disabled lobby are on their backs and other lobby groups want to know where 'all the money is being spent'.
In my volunteering I often feel its a circle of every group hating every other group (boaters, walkers, cyclists, anglers, dog walkers, joggers, photographers, etc etc).
Towpaths are fine for cyclists, generally, but they are not suitable for fast progress, and anyone not seeing this needs to take a dog and a couple of toddlers for a stroll along their local towpath.
We (the English) seem to have lost the sense of give-and-take and replaced it with an attitude of 'I'm the only one who matters' (generalisation accepted)
This particular part of the canal seems a pinch point now. It's simply not worth the hassle riding on it now. Back to the busy main road then ..