What's happening ? 

In September 2002, the annual gathering of boats on the Whitchurch Arm of the Llangollen Canal coincided with the opening of a new footpath over the hill between Danson's Farm Bridge on the main line and Whitchurch itself. With the footpath along the infilled section of canal now completely surfaced all the way through to Sherrymill Hill and Jubilee Park, this offers excellent circular walk opportunities on one of the lesser-known waterway restoration schemes, though there is unfortunately still a 'level' crossing of the busy Whitchurch bypass required.

The Whitchurch Waterway Trust now have a project officer in place to take forward key elements of the restoration scheme, including the proposed incline plane east from Chemistry Bridge.

On Kyme Eau (the eastern end of the Sleaford Navigation), there was recent concern at attempts by landowners in South Kyme to thwart a footpath creation order which was expected to through 'on the nod'. Part of the navigation towpath in South Kyme village had been omitted from the definitive map on what can only have been some spurious technicality and there has been talk of putting an order through for the offending section to be added form over ten years. There had hitherto been no indication that anyone would raise an eyebrow, but sure enough, one was ! Thankfully, the objection was thrown out, and entire length of towpath through the village is now indisputably a right of way.

In September, the Friends of the Cromford Canal held their first sponsored walk along the full 15 miles of the canal from Langley Mill to Cromford.  

Blessed with wonderful weather and plenty of bonhomie, the 100-plus throng of Friends made their way northwards,  passing the abandoned Ironville lock flight, Butterley tunnel (conveniently paralleled by a steam railway) and the site of the Bullbridge Aqueduct before the final stretch above Ambergate which is in water and well used by walkers and naturalists. The walkers are shown "signing on" at  Langley Mill Top Lock.

Two recent bits of good news from the Droitwich Canals. Work was completed on the Junction Canal locks which had been restored courtesy of a legacy from IWA member, Neil Pitts. More recently, the Droitwich Canals Trust have managed to win Stage 1 approval of a major grant from Heritage Lottery Fund for complete restoration of the Barge and Junction Canals, once again making the link between the Severn and the Worcester & Birmingham Canal. The improvement of the towpath along the entire route is a major part of the scheme, with Sustrans heavily involved on its incorporation into the National Cycle Network. The section through Vines Park (pictured) in Droitwich is the likely to be the focal point of attention.

A similar story on the Chesterfield Canal, where an old loop of the canal, severed by a railway which is now a cycleway, has been rediscovered following a permissive access agreement secured from Sir Reresby and Lady Sitwell. The length of canal is between Renishaw and Killamarsh, and easily accessed from behind the Sitwell Arms, where the canal towpath and railway cyclepath coincide by a small car park.

Up in Scotland, a Heritage Lottery Fund grant will improve the state of the Greenock Cut, which is a popular walking route in the Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park. The Cut was built in the 1820s as an aqueduct to bring drinking water down to the town of Greenock, and although it has long since lost that use, the structure still remains, clinging to the hillside with extensive views out over the Clyde to Dunoon and Lock Lomond. Like the levadas of Madeira, the cut has a continuous path along it and there is a splendid circular walk starting from the Cornalees Visitor Centre and taking in Loch Thom and most of the five miles of the Cut itself.

TAG have decided to undertake a mini-survey of towpath-less canal tunnels to assess the quality or otherwise of the overland routes. Many tunnels were built without towpaths of course, and horses were led over the top on designated routes that are often on the definitive map, and therefore available to the pedestrian. However there are instances of such paths having being lost, and there are also tunnels that have either lost their towpaths (Berwick on the Shrewsbury and Strood on the Thames & Medway, for example) or where the tunnel has been filled in altogether albeit that the rest of the canal towpath is a well-used walking route, such as Hardham on the Arun Navigation. The current state of the list can be found here.

The recently formed Manchester & Stockport Canal Society held a walk along the route of the long-disused Stockport branch of the Ashton Canal at the beginning of March, ending up in the splendid Navigation Inn in Heaton Norris which is close to the former terminus on Wharf Street. As expected, that part of the canal in Manchester City Council's jurisdiction is a rather promising restoration prospect, particularly since structures like Gorton Aqueduct (pictured) are still intact, than the Stockport half, which has variously been built upon and taken into gardens along much of its course. 

A similar jaunt is planned by the Hollinwood Canal Society, another fledgling group interested in an old branch of the Ashton, who have a walk in June starting at the Daisy Nook Country Park.

If anyone has any other snippets that may be of interest either for the Newsletter, or for this site, please get in touch with me at andyscreen @ towpath.org.uk

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