As well as old railway lines, we also like bike paths that go alongside canals. They don’t go up and down very much, and when they do, there is always an interesting lock to investigate (and sometime a whole flight of locks). It’s fun to watch the narrowboats going through the locks and see the people opening and closing the lock gates. Inevitably if there are two couples on a boat, one of the men will be at the helm (because it’s man’s work to drive a boat that can pretty much only go in one direction). The second man will be first officer, there to manage the helm if the captain falls overboard or is kidnapped by aliens. Which leaves the two women to operate the lock gates, each having to shift 10 tons of oak from open to closed, or vice versa, in the hot sun. Do that through a flight of 6 locks and see whether there’s still matrimonial bliss onboard.
Today we followed the Liverpool to Leeds canal down to Burnley and the Rochdale canal to just outside Rochdale. The middle part of the day was a tough slog over some Yorkshire dale, but with great views.
Major uphills lead to major downhills. We replaced the brake pads on Margaret’s bike this evening as stopping was becoming way more interesting than it should be.
Loving your blog. The views are amazing, have you seen any traffic yet or have you just photographed the pretty bits?
Can’t wait to join you in Worcester on Friday.
Take care,
Margaret x
Hi Margaret, We have seen some traffic but staying on the national cycle routes helps minimize the number of busy roads we have to deal with. Looking forward to seeing you in Worcester. Tony