The route passed the 2 tunnels

When reading other blogs and reports on areas of the ride that can cause problems navigating the route passed the Ganow and Foulridge tunnel always seems to get a mention. The reason is that the tow path ends at the start of each tunnel and does not start again until your reach the other side. Unless you hitch a ride on a passing barge your only option is to find the route passed to the other side Ganow is approx 1/2 mile and Foulridge about 1 mile underground. For this reason and to save stress on the big day a good recky was needed of both routes and we decided to do this on Sunday 26th July. Kim met me just before 7am and we loaded the bikes onto the car before heading of towards the Accrinton side of Burnley. We unloaded just off Accrinton road and the heavens opened but this is all about preparation so we can't let a bit of rain stop us. We started riding just passed 8am towards Burnley and met the start of the Ganow tunel this turned out to be far more straight forward than we expected, the footpath heads up towards the middle of a roundabout then once you are here it is pretty obvious were the canal starts again. The tow path here is very good and you can make good progress so we cracked onto Foulridge the next tunnel start. The path branches away from the original tow path approx 1/4 mile before the tunnel and when you reach the tunnel just head straight ahead and don't head for Colne. The signs do take you to Foulridge and when you drop down the hill take the footpath near a children's play area, turn right and then cut through the factory car park this then brings you out at the end of he tunnel. The recky could save us a good deal of time on the big day so we were pleased with the routes we had found. We then carried on along the tow path back to my house in Farsley giving us a 55 mile training run in the rain over wet grass in parts so we now feel we are almost prepared for anything the weather can throw at us.