21 The Leeds-Liverpool Canal Towpath ( 2023 )

Length  : 127 miles

Started :   30 August 1992

Finished :  January 2023

Companions :   ( in  part )  Dave Morris, Andy Roughley, Phil Burton, Simon Farrell, Julie Farrell, Theo Lindley, Molly Williams, other  members  of  Hike  On  Lancashire  that  I've  forgotten  or  whose surnames  I  don't  know 

This  one  was  done  in  three distinct  stages. The  first we've  already  covered  as  the  section  from Leeds to  Gargrave is  also  the  route  of  the  Settle-Carlisle Way. 

Twenty  years  later,  I decided  to  do  the  rest  as  a  project for  Hike  On Lancashire ( then known as Lancashire Young Persons Walking Group). The  first  section was from Liverpool to Maghull.in  April 2012 We  parked at Maghull and  caught  the  train  into  Liverpool. The  turnout  was OK , a  dozen  or  so  but  there  had been  a  big  social event on  the  Friday  where  someone  said  they  didn't  fancy  it  and  a  negative  vibe towards the  event  had  snowballed from  there . The  walk  was  a  lot  longer  than I had  anticipated so perhaps  it  was  just  as  well. For  the  second  walk, from  Maghull to  Burscough, only  Phil   turned  up. Fortunately  the  weather  was  good. After  that  I  abandoned  the  idea  as a  Group  project.

The  third  and  final  stage  was  with  my  son  Simon  when  we  revived  the  Littleborough  Travelling Society in 2020. We  started  doing  it on  weekends  when  the  weather  looked  doubtful  so  we  could  shelter  under  bridges. Our  first  stage  was  to  start  from Wigan and  walk  in  the  direction of  Burscough  in  August  2020. We  got  caught  in  two  cloudbursts and  eventually  stopped  in  Gathurst and took  the  train back to Wigan. We  then  did  Gathurst to Parbold  and  Parbold  to  Burscough closing  the  western gap.

We  then  went  back  to Wigan and  walked in  the  opposite  direction  as  far  as  Wigan Top Lock  on  another  appalling  day before  taking  the  bus  back. The  next  stage  took  us from  there  to  Red  Rock  with  a  long  diversion  into  Haigh Park. We  walked  Red Rock  to  Adlington   over  the  Christmas period, 

We  resumed  in   February 2021  with a  walk from   Adlington to Chorley. Our  next  two  stages ended in Higher  Wheelton and  Feniscowles. We  walked  the  Feniscowles to  Blackburn section with  Julie  over  Easter. She  then  joined us for  the  next  section on  the  May  Day bank  holiday. We  had  intended  to  walk  to  Oswaldtwistle  but  the  weather  was  so  bad  we  abandoned  the  walk  at  Rishton. We picked  it  up  again in June with  a  walk from from Rishton  to  Clayton-le- Moors , a  walk  marred  by  Simon  losing  his  rucksack at  a  rest  stop. Our  next  section  took  us  to  Hapton  where  we  were  accompanied  by  Simon's  friend  Theo.  Next  stage  was  Hapton  to  Burnley  then  Burnley  to  Brierfield. On  the  next  stage,  Brierfield  to  Barrowford in  October . we  were  accompanied  by  Simon's  girlfriend Molly.

After  a  long  interval, we walked Barrowford  to  Barnoldswick in  June  2022 then  after  another  six  months  we  walked  Barnoldswick  to  Gargrave in  January  2023  which  completed the  whole towpath walk  for  me.