Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
For those with suitable boats there are 65,000km of navigable river in England and Wales
alone; scope for a whole library of books, but in this one I have concentrated on Britain's
50 best canals. Not all of them are linked to the rest of the system and not all are physically
passable for many boats or have useable towpaths. You may need a spirit of adventure, like
the earlier recreational boaters.
Who uses the canals? If you look at canal magazines you will see smiling couples or famil-
ies busy in the summer sunshine. In practice, you may find the picture rather different. Often
the canals are deserted, except for wildlife that finds them an ideal environment, without
needing all humans and boats to be banned.
The intention is that this topic should be engaging to all who travel the canals. I do not usu-
ally give navigation instructions, depths and headrooms, portage routes or what to do when
the towpath runs out. If the present state of a canal is such that it is limited to one kind of user,
usually someone able to undertake portages, I may refer to that category of user, otherwise
I talk more generally. I draw attention to features near the canal, especially in heritage cities
such as Bath and Chester, because most canal travellers will not want to pass through these
without stopping.
Much in the future will depend on volunteers. As walkers and cyclists are often the major
users of canal routes the Canal & River Trust (CRT) will need to have a more positive
approach towards them, including signposting routes at tunnels and other places where
towpaths do not follow the canal, removing barriers from towpaths and ensuring routes con-
nect rather than making just token sections available.
Along the canals there are some consistent trends. Heavy industry is evaporating. Public
houses across the country are closing at a rapid rate, canalside pubs included, although a num-
ber have been converted to restaurants. Virtually anything which can be converted to housing,
including warehouses and other former industrial premises, is now packed with residential
occupants.
The canals may be ever-changing but there's a sign that more and more people are redis-
covering them and taking them to their hearts - in recent years canal holiday bookings have
shot up.
