Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the modern Grand Union Canal in 1926 and extending it to the River Trent in 1932. It is a
contour canal and forms part of the Leicester Ring. It includes three of the dozen longest tun-
nels still in use and three of the longest half dozen lock staircases.
Thoroughly agreeable scenery at the foot of the Laughton Hills
.
Four transport arteries from different eras squeeze together through the Watford Gap. The
canal meets them in chronological order starting with the A5 Watling Street, first built by the
Romans and improved as the London to Holyhead mail coach road. Next over is the West
Coast Main Line on what is nearer to being a tunnel of concrete beams but that retains the
facades of the original bridge with their decorative work picked out in colour, a welcome
piece of preservation that is only really seen from the canal. Immediately on the right is the
M1's Watford Gap Services of 1959, surprisingly unobtrusive but accessible for provisions
or meals even without a vehicle. Britain's first service station, it had been intended originally
for lorries only.
After a second marina and a field of caravans, seven locks (four in a staircase) raise the
canal 16m to the summit level of 126m above sea level, the 20-Mile summit pound being one
