What better way to spend a Bank Holiday Monday than with a stroll along the Leeds/Liverpool Canal in Bingley. Taking in the surrounding beauty along the way and of course the Five Rise Locks.

The Family Walk was part of Bingley Walking Festival 2017.

Walkers are definitely welcome in Bingley and there’s plenty of reasons to see why. We have the bustling canal stretching out towards Leeds or Liverpool, filled with fellow walkers, cyclists, runners. You name it they’re there.

The beautiful woods up at St Ives and for slightly more rugged terrain we have moorland stretching out over the tops of Bingley out in to Baildon, Otley, Ilkley and further afield.

If that’s still not enough we’re only a short drive from the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Basically when it comes to walking we’ve got you covered.

My friend Gayle and I have had many walking adventures together, here there and everywhere. They usually tend to be more mountainous. However after taking her 11 month old up Whernside in January we decided something slightly less stupid was a better idea. A two-hour family orientated walk right on our doorstep would do the trick.

I made the mistake of allowing my teenage son to have a friend over to stay the night before. I wondered what I would have to use to bribe them out of bed the next morning ready for our 10 am start.

To my utter amazement we managed to leave the house on time, fully clothed with breakfast in our bellies! Miracle 🙂

They couldn’t wait to get there!

Are you really THAT tired Zac?

We met at the The Coffee Lounge in Bingley’s Market Square at 10 am and were promptly briefed and handed our Quack Snacks! (Favourite part of the day for me so far)

It was a short bimble down towards the canal, passed Aldi and up onto the fly over. We went left at the fork and continued up towards Bingley Five Rise Locks.

You reach Bingley Three Rise Locks first and just over the top of them there is a footpath  to the left which leads down towards some fields. (Not really push-chair friendly if you’re on your own). We followed the footpath all the way to the end and back up the other side with the second field on our right. It’s quiet and peaceful and it’s hard to believe that the bypass is right there. It’s a great place to explore when you have the time but take care if it’s been raining because it turns in to a mud bath.

As you reach the road at the top of the footpath take a right and that leads you back up on to the canal and you will now be standing at the top of the Five Rise Locks.

This was a cute little stroll up and around the Three and Five Rise Locks, for the more advanced walker it will probably only take you 20 minutes but it was perfect for a family outing on a Bank Holiday Monday and then it’s off to the pub for a well deserved pint! In our case we opted for the Brown Cow.

I’m already looking forward to Bingley Walking Festival 2018! I would say that the teenagers are looking forward to it too but in all fairness they made it halfway and decided to go to the park instead. We managed to keep the baby interested though and that’s all that matters 😀