Grand Western Canal cycle route overall rating:
(Colour explanation: blue = good, yellow indicates some warning, and red indicates issues to be aware of)
The Grand Western Canal was originally intended as part of a far larger canal network, to create a canal link to the English Channel. Only part of the canal survives, and it is 11.5 miles in length, but this route excludes the “dead-end” part of the canal.
In 1961, a Canberra RAF plane suffered an engine failure, and crashed in the canal. Apparently, quite recently they removed some of the remaining wreckage. Sadly, neither the pilot, nor the navigator survived.
Surface on the Grand Western Canal towpath
This is a canal towpath route, so there are variations in the surface. Most of the surface is perfectly fine to ride, even after rain. The route has an unsealed surface almost throughout.
Refreshments
There’s are two restaurants at the end of the route, with one being on a barge.
Bikes
You should be able to use any standard bicycle on the route. Trikes and most cargo bikes will not get through, but tandems should be fine.
Toilets
There are toilets at the train station, and again at the restaurant at the end.
Hilliness
This is a contour canal, so is very flat, though there are a few ramps to get up and over bridges.
Safety from traffic
Depending on your exact starting location, the route is entirely traffic-free.
Points of Interest
Do consider visiting Ayshford Chapel, right alongside the canal. It’s a former private chapel to Ayshford Court, built some time in the 1600.
Where the route shown on the map below meets the canal, the canal continues for a short distance, and there are old, large lime kilns.
Routes in Devon
- Tarka Trail – Barnstaple to Braunton
- Tarka Trail – Ilfracombe to Willingcott
- Dart Valley Cycleway
- Exmouth to Budleigh Salterton
- The Exe Estuary cycle route to Exmouth
- Nun’s Cross Trail cycle route
- Princetown Railway traffic-free cycle route
- Saltram Loop traffic-free cycle route
- DayCycle – Tarka Trail
- Family-friendly Cycling On The Granite Way
- DayCycle – A Redlake adventure
- DayCycle – Grand Western Canal
- DayCycle – Stover Trail & Wray Valley Trail
- DayCycle – Dawlish to Exeter St Davids
- Family-friendly Cycling on Drake’s Trail
Barriers
While there are none of the awful A-frame barriers along the route, with it being a canal route, the path can be quite narrow when passing underneath bridges. There are some gates along the route.
Cycle Hire
You can hire bikes from Abbotswood Cycle Hire, in Sampford Peverell.
Child friendliness
This is a canal route, and there’s water alongside for almost the entire route. Ensure at least one adult accompanying kids is a good swimmer. This route is not really suitable for very young kids, purely because of the water risk.
Social safety
In places, the route can be very isolated, though in the summer, during good weather, it tends to be popular, with a fair number of people about.
Weather forecast for the Grand Western Canal
What the Grand Western Canal looks like
Please excuse the title in the video, I wasn’t paying attention at the time.
Getting to the Grand Western Canal
The route as shown on the map below starts at Tiverton Parkway train station, so you can easily get to the start car-free, by taking your bike on the train. As ever, read my Bikes On Trains guide for useful and helpful tips for taking your bike on the train.
Parking near the Grand Western Canal
There is limited, pay and display parking available by the train station, as well as some free, on-road parking on Lower Town Road. Parking will be very limited in summer.
More Routes
To find more routes, click this link.
DayCycle
DayCycle routes are routes that can can easily be cycled by most people in a day, or part of a day. Do have a look at all the other DayCycle routes available on WillCycle.
Grand Western Canal interactive map
You can download the GPX file from the map below, simply by clicking the GPX button. Hovering over the elevation profile will show the elevation for that point along the route, in both metres and feet. It will also show the gradient.
And finally…
If this route guide was of use to you, it will be of use to others, too. Don’t keep it secret! Share it with everyone, on social media, in Facebook Groups, on chat forums, and elsewhere.
This is a nice route and I’ve done it many times. You can also turn right when you get to the canal, and ride to the other end, which is in fact just as beautiful, more secluded and has some excellent industrial archaeology. There’s no Duck’s Ditty (the very good café barge in Tiverton Basin), but you can always go to The Globe in Sampford Peverell when you get back.
Yes, that part of the canal is gorgeous, too, and there are seriously impressive lime kilns on the opposite bank.