Wednesday 16 December 2009

Pipe Dreaming

A good friend of mine lives in Marsden, at one end of the Standedge tunnel on the Huddersfield Narrow. Ever since I started to get excited about boating and canals, it has been a dream of mine to visit her there by boat. So I decided to do a little search on Canalplan AC, just to see what the time scales are like.

First, I just let it choose the route, which would take us up to the BCN, along the Trent and Mersey, the Macclesfield, the Peak Forest and then the Hudderfield Narrow. It would take us about two weeks. But when I selected 'quickest route' it suggested that we cross the Wash, follow the Witham, cross the Fossdyke to the Trent, then go along the Aire and Calder Navigation, the Huddersfield Broad, and then the Huddersfield Narrow. Canalplan reckons that would take 9 days. Wouldn't that make a fantastically varied and exciting ring? Maybe one day...




7 comments:

  1. I suspect that you might have to go the Peak Forest route - the Duck might be a tight fit in the tunnel! Shame you can't get it measured before you set off. Of course, you could go that way, and if it does fit, come back the other way.

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  2. Hang on, I've got that the wrong way round haven't I. Damn my inadequate sense of direction!

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  3. If we found we couldn't get through, it would be a great excuse to take the Rochdale-Ashton route and skip the tunnel :D

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  4. I'd probably suggest the north Oxford & Coventry route up to the T&M myself, but otherwise amusing to see someone else nicking the same map I did... ;-)

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  5. Hmm. Looks like I need to add a "produce a little summary map for sticking into blogs" feature.

    Nick (CanalPlanAC author)

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  6. Yes, that would be fantastic, Nick!

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  7. Nick - I'll take this easy way of saying thank you loads for an excellent resource. I'm currently using it to persuade an 84 year old american he can't get from Oxford to Stratford by hire boat in a day... ;-)

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