Day 44 of the End to End in 2019 was also on the Shroppie, or Shropshire Union Canal. It’s quite a long one and has several branches. After the main Shroppie, I passed the end of the Llangollen branch and turned onto the Middelwich branch. The Lllangollen branch is famous for that long vertiginous viaduct you see in all those canal programmes. We walked across that in 2013 and actually visited it again early in March 2020. However, there’s a long section in between Chirk and this junction that we’ve still to join up.
The Middlewich branch did add about a mile and a half to my route but it’s easy walking and you can’t get lost so it get’s my vote every time. We’ve walked on several canal paths both during LEJOG and since and its very congenial. We had a plan to walk to London via some different canals this month but we’ve postponed that for the time being.
From being a major method of hauling industrial goods across the country to more or less derelict, the canal system has been regenerated in many places and lots of other projects are underway. Before Coronavirus, leisure was big business in Britain, hence the large number of people not now working with so much closed for the time being. And of course folks do still live on canal boats, some of whom I met on my journey. It’s not all Sid James humour as we carry on up the canals of Britain, travelling further north. Tow paths can be a good way of traversing a town or even a city and once you’ve begun there’s plenty of future projects in joining up the ends of routes you’ve already started.
From the remembered bible
Jesus said to them ‘Finish what I have started and remember I’m still with you’.
For those who’s jobs have come to an end,
for those who’s jobs are hanging by a thread,
for those who face uncertainty in where to live,
for those who face emptiness in home and family,
for the daily bread they need and the comfort to mourn,
for the prospect of inheriting you kindom,
for these and all your people,
we pray for new beginnings each day.
JAL: 19.05.2020 in Longdendale.