With a main line of 127¼ miles, the Leeds and Liverpool is easily the longest canal in Britain.

It links the north west seaport of Liverpool with the Aire and Calder Navigation at Leeds, crossing through some beautiful scenery over the Pennine Hills and forming a through route between the Irish Sea and the North Sea.

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 Rochdale and Huddersfield Narrow Canals have recently been restored and reopened to navigation.