The Leeds/Liverpool canal, easily the longest waterway in England, runs approximately 127 and a quarter miles from the NW seaport of Liverpool to link up at a bend at the Aires and Calder Navigational route at Leeds, which was first opened in 1700.
The Leeds waterway passes through the famous 21 Locks and bends around many old fashioned water driven mills, running through Blackburn and Burnley. At its summit it flows through some of the finest moorland scenery through what is referred to as the “old fashioned backbone of England”.
Then the Leeds/Liverpool Canal begins to descend amidst remote and beautiful countryside, through the market town of Skipton, into the Yorkshire Dales and on towards the bustling city of Leeds and the heart of the West Riding of Yorkshire. The Leeds & Liverpool is a barge canal, built with locks 60 feet long and 14 feet wide, reaching a height of 487.5 feet above sea level on the summit at Foulridge. The locks between Liverpool and Wigan are longer at 72 feet, as are the 2 on the branch to Leigh, where the junction with the Bridgewater Canal allows boats to reach the narrow canals of central and southern England
Today the Leeds & Liverpool Canal is maintained by British Waterways whose local office is in Wigan. They are responsible for around 3,600km of such inland waterways, which range from Ripon in the north to Basingstoke in the south, together with several canals in Scotland. The Leeds & Liverpool Canal is linked to the rest of the system in two places. At Leigh it joins the Bridgewater Canal which runs to Manchester and Runcorn. At Leeds it joins the Aire & Calder Navigation which leads to the Rivers Trent, Don and Ouse.
The water feeding into the highest level comes from four reservoirs around Foulridge and another at Winterburn, up one of the valleys behind Gargrave. The Lancashire side of the canal is also supplied from reservoirs at Barrowford and Rishton. Several streams also feed the canal, and land drainage provides extra waters for the canal. The level of water in the canal needs to be kept maintained quite carefully, so there are several dams which allow excess water to drain away around the locks. Other dams on the canal also allow the excess water to flow into streams and rivers flowing under the canal into culverts, a sort of tunnel made from wood, brick, stone or, today, concrete designed to divert water under structures.
On the Leeds & Liverpool Canal boats up to 14.25 feet wide by 62 feet long can sail between Wigan and Leeds, with 72 feet long boats able to sail between Leigh, Wigan and Liverpool. The depth of the water was originally about five feet, but because of silting and people throwing rubbish into the canal, today the shallowest parts are about three feet deep.
There are several cruises that run the entire length of the canal, but it’s best to allow a week for the entire journey.