Posted on March 08, 2010 by Dave W

The starting point for most of my off-road rides is on a canal towpath.

We meet below a set of steps which lead to the car park of a local pub. On our night trips the smell of freshly cooked food wafts down and tries to drag us back with it, tempting us with a cool pint and a bite to eat. We are too focused to give in to such whims, well not right at the start of our ride. We may stop on the way back at another canal side pub a few miles further up.

Your challenge if you choose to accept it, is to tell me the name of the canal and the name of the pub we start our journey at. If it proves too easy you can also tell me the name of the pub that ultimately drags us through its doors to sample its cool refreshing wares.

I will provide a few clues along the way.

By the way, the map in the picture is not this cycle route.

The canal was restored and was once again made navigable along its length in 2002 almost 200 years after it opened.

The pub we meet at is around seven miles from one end of the canal. It had some good moorings directly below the pub car park but recently the banking collapsed, probably through the weight of the barges mooring there.

So the journey begins up through a series of locks which give a good little interval in a high gear. At one of the locks the path has an almost 2 foot step which my riding partner manoeuvres with ease but I tend to get off and lift my bike over. Having tried this little feat alone one day I almost went for an early bath.

We now come to a narrow path of cobble stones which runs under a bridge. As we ascend the path into daylight a quick push and we pass the pub which may be too tempting on the way back.

Continuing through what seems to be open countryside, you can hear the traffic on the busy road just over the trees.

We are stopped in our tracks because where there once was a floating pontoon for a path under a road bridge there now is nothing.  

We have to backtrack about 100 yards and do a slight detour and pick up the towpath further up.

We then have to do a similar routine and leave the canal and rejoin it after we have passed a large retail park. This detour takes us past a BMW dealership where my riding partner likes to visit.

Where we once rode on a muddy towpath we now have a nice tarmac surface which leads onto a well looked after gravel surface.

Nine miles after our start we leave the canal and follow a route of some roads and some paths which take us the back way into the visitor centre of a large lake.

Have you got it yet?

More to follow…..

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