My name is Matthew. I am doing a fundraising walk to raise money to help with our local children’s football club Middleton lads and girls fc.

Middleton lads and girls FC are a grassroots football club based at Limefield playing fields, Middleton. Open to all kids in the community and surrounding areas they offer coaching, training and mini league football to each age group. 

The club operates on a volunteer basis and a lot of the coaching and training sessions are completed by parents. I hope to help out by raising funds as and where required to help out with running and equipment costs enabling the club to be in a healthy position for future age groups. 

Ok now what am I doing to raise money? I am going to walk to Torquay with a twist. Walking by canals and waterways as much as possible along the way! We have calculated that it will be a total of approximately 344 miles spread over a couple of weeks. 

I have had an interest in canals and the canal network for some time and have walked and completed quite a few of the canals in Lancashire and Yorkshire. This time I will be walking along new waterways and exploring as I go. 

my planned route will be as follows:

Walking from Home in Alkrington, Middleton up to the Rochdale canal on Foxdenton lane. 

Follow the Rochdale canal up to just before Failsworth. 

Walk across to Crime Lake and follow the Hollinwood branch canal. 

Cut across to Portland basin in Ashton. From Portland Basin follow the Peak Forest Canal down to Marple junction. Walk along the Macclesfield canal to near Kidsgrove. 

From Kidsgrove walk along the Trent and Mersey Canal to Great Heywood Junction. 

Walk the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal to Wolverhampton. 

Walk the Wolverhampton locks and back to Aldersley Junction (21 locks over 2 miles). 

Walk the rest of Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal to Stourport on Severn. 

From Stourport-on-Severn, walk the river Severn to Gloucester. 

Follow the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal to the Sharpness Docks. 

Walk the best possible coastal Path Through Bristol to the river Parrett. Follow the river Parrett up to the Bridgewater and Taunton Canal. 

Walk the Bridgewater and Taunton Canal to Taunton. 

Walk the pathway of the abandoned eastern section of the Grand Western Canal from Taunton to Lowdells. 

Follow the Grand Western Canal to Tiverton. Follow the river Exe from Tiverton to Exeter. 

Walk the Exeter Shipping Canal to Turf lock. Final walk along the coast from Turf lock to Torquay Harbour.

 I am looking to walk a marathon a day (26.2 miles minimum) however along the journey if I do find interesting/historic parts I may have to take abit of time out to explore!

For anyone unfamiliar with the canal network they offer an insight into the Industrial Revolution, our engineering past and the historical importance of what was for a brief time our main use of transporting heavy goods. They eventually become abandoned, derelict or lost over time as railways took over. In more Modern times they now enjoy a resurgence, used for leisure, recreational purposes and benefits for wildlife.

Thanks for taking the time to read about my challenge! The walk will be during March 2026. The pictures are from previous canal walks.