2012 Canal Festival
91 locks, 50 free events, 32 miles, 9 days: celebrate the best of canal culture
This summer, the Canal Festival celebrates the best of canal culture, and highlights a waterway that stretches 32 miles from Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire all the way to Manchester city centre. With over 50 free events on offer, the Canal Festival features everything from a 92-lock poetry trail and Olympic art to guided walks, outdoor theatre and bike rides. There’s even a nine-day relay that runs the canal’s entire length, a slow race that occurs via bike, foot and horse-drawn boat.
The canal in question is, of course, the Rochdale Canal. This 200 year-old stretch of water was once a feat of Industrial Revolution engineering and ambition, and today is a haven for wildlife; a place to walk and cycle; and a destination for canal enthusiasts from all over the world.
Now in its sixth year, the Canal Festival is an annual celebration of this remarkable waterway and is supported by The Canal & River Trust.
Supported by: Access to Nature, a scheme run by Natural England and funded by the Big Lottery Fund, Ancoats Canal Project, Arts Council England, Calderdale Council, The Canal & River Trust, CityCo, Hebden Royd Town Council, Manchester City Council, Middleton Township, Oldham Council, Piccadilly Partnership, Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council, Rochdale Township, South Pennines LEADER, Sustrans, , Todmorden Town Council.
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