Explore the Leeds-Liverpool Canal the new Super Slow Way

Walk, cycle or take the barge through Lancashire’s industrial heritage, a cultural landscape dating back 200 years

Pick the odd one out: Route 66; Biarritz to Santiago de Compostela; Burnley to Blackburn. Yes, it’s a trick question, because all of these routes have played seminal roles in history, especially the last one. Overlooked since the last millworker hung up her clogs, the cultural riches of a 23-mile stretch of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal are now being revived by a project called the Super Slow Way – named after a poem set to a libretto by Ian McMillan.

The project was launched in 2016, the bicentennial of the canal, and while stymied by the pandemic, this year it revs up to full speed – about four miles an hour – with the launch of a government-funded Lancashire Linear Park and a host of community-focused events and spaces along the towpath.