The  Leeds & Liverpool Canal

With a main line of 127¼ miles, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal is easily the longest canal in Britain. It links the north west seaport of Liverpool with the Aire and Calder Navigation at Leeds, forming a through route between the Irish Sea and the North Sea.

The Millennium Ribble Link now provides a link via the River Ribble to the Lancaster Canal.

The western end has now been extended passing Liverpool Pier Head to join up with the main Dock system.
 

The Leeds & Liverpool canal climbs away from the Lancashire plain into the Pennine hills from Wigan, up the famous 21 locks, through the once proud cotton towns of Blackburn and Burnley where Victorian mills can still be seen. The summit level goes through some fine moorland scenery over the 'backbone of England' , plunging through the mile long Foulridge tunnel. It then 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. Allow at least a week to get from Liverpool to Leeds.

After Leeds, the Aire & Calder Navigation opens up a fascinating range of Yorkshire waterways, some once industrial, some very rural. The Yorkshire Ouse takes you to the ancient cities of York and Ripon. The South Yorkshire Navigation leads to the restored basin at the heart of the city of Sheffield. The recently restored Rochdale Canal and Huddersfield Narrow Canal now open up two fantastic 'Pennine Rings' for boaters with more time to spare.

The Leeds & Liverpool is a barge canal, built with locks 60 feet long and 14 feet wide, reaching a height of 487½ 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.

A second branch links the canal at Burscough with the River Ribble and, since 2002, with the Lancaster Canal via the small port of Tarleton and the River Douglas. The tricky crossing of the tidal River Ribble can only be made on certain tides so the number of passages available is limited, and there is great demand. Passages have to be booked through British Waterways on 01942 405700. Boats normally travel in convoy for safety, being swept out into the Irish sea because of engine failure is not a pleasant prospect!

The Liverpool end of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal has been extended past the Pier Head in Liverpool. The new 1½-mile Liverpool Link canal was officially opened on Wednesday 25 March 2009 when the first private boats passed through. It re-establishes an historic connection between the Leeds & Liverpool Canal and the national waterway network and the city’s currently underused South Docks; including the tourist and museum area around Albert Dock. £22 million has been spent on the Link’s construction and the canal’s course passes through the Pier Head World Heritage Site in front of the famous Three Graces – the Liver, Cunard and Port of Liverpool buildings. It is expected to generate 200,000 extra visitors annually to Liverpool’s docks and an additional yearly tourism spend of £1.9 million. The previous connection from the Leeds & Liverpool Canal to the South Docks was abandoned in the early 20th century when the Three Graces were built over a dock. Boaters must book passages through the Link.

Paragraph above and image right showing boat passing the Liver Building
on opening day courtesy of Harry Arnold and Waterway Images.