For the past few years, we’ve been working with fellow charity, Sustrans, to revive our towpaths, link up communities, and help people walk, wheel and cycle their way to happier, healthier lives.
Cyclists enjoy some fresh air on the Peak Forest Canal near Marple
We have more than 2,000 miles of towpath across our network, hugging our canals as they wind through rolling hills, industrial heartlands, and lively urban hubs. But maintaining these vital green corridors can be a costly, time-consuming enterprise. To help us keep our towpaths safe, open and accessible to all, we teamed up with sustainable transport charity, Sustrans.
Among other things, Sustrans are custodians of the National Cycle Network, an interconnected web of over 12,000 miles of signed paths and routes for walking, wheeling, cycling and exploring. It provides safe travel for millions of people, knitting together villages, towns, cities and communities. As you’d expect, it overlaps with many of our canals and rivers.
Our towpaths are great places to cycle, walk and wheel
“About a quarter of our canal network aligns with Sustrans’ National Cycle Network,” our enterprise manager, Simon Papprill explains. “We also share many of the same ideas around health, wellbeing and bringing people and communities together, so it made sense for us to team up. For the last three years, we’ve been working with Sustrans to deliver various towpath improvement projects throughout the country.”
So far, the £8 million initiative, funded by the Department of Transport, has helped to pay for 15 different projects across our network, revitalising unkempt, disused, or otherwise neglected parts of our towpath.
“It makes such a big difference,” says Simon. “We’ve got eight million people living within a 15-minute walk of one of our waterways, but it’s no good if the canal or river those people are visiting is inaccessible, unsafe, or unattractive. It’s a bit like the Kevin Costner film, Field of Dreams – if you build them, they will come. Once you get these really high-quality routes in place, people start using them.”
Cyclists and walkers enjoy the sights on the Kennet & Avon Canal, near Devizes in Wiltshire
Sustrans’ goal is to provide peaceful, traffic-free trails for walkers, cyclists and wheelchair users, so they tend to favour quiet off-road routes, like former railway lines, public byways, and of course, canals.
“It’s the perfect match,” says Simon. “A lot of the on-road cycling provision is really only suitable for experienced cyclists or for the brave and hardy; it’s not going to encourage new cyclists or families with young children to give it a go, whereas cycling on the towpath is a much more attractive proposition; there’s less noise and pollution, and you’re not cycling alongside a busy dual carriageway.”
To date, our partnership with Sustrans has been a big success, helping us improve large sections of our network and making our canals and towpaths more welcoming than ever. “In the last few years, we’ve redeveloped about a quarter of our towpath,” says Simon, “upgrading them from muddy, grassy trails to nice, solid tarmac routes, making them far more accessible for individuals with mobility issues, or the elderly or infirm, and ensuring people can enjoy their time by the canal whatever the weather.”
With more projects in the pipeline, including the second phase of a million-pound initiative to revamp a stretch of towpath on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, which kicks off in the autumn, the future is looking bright.
“Our infrastructure is so important to so many people,” says Simon, “we get about 90 million cycling visits on our waterways every year, and around 400 million walking visits, so it’s imperative our towpaths are up to scratch. Thanks to our ongoing partnership with Sustrans, we’ve been able to upgrade large parts of our towpath network, helping millions of people across the country enjoy the wellbeing benefits of being by water, and live happier, healthier lives.”
