Walk · East Riding of Yorkshire

Pocklington Canal Towpath: Canal Head to the Bielby Arm

Pocklington · YO42 1NR
N 880 YD
5.2MILES
2h 20mON FOOT
15mCLIMB
Out & backSHAPE
Off-road 95% 5% shares tarmac with cars
Field & moor path 85%Lane & track 10%Road with traffic 5%

Our drawing of the route — the shape of the walk, not a navigation aid. Carry OS Explorer on the hill.

Starts at
Canal Head, Pocklington, at the end of Canal Lane off the A1079 roundabout south-east of the town YO42 1NR
Parking
Free informal parking at Canal Head by the old wharf buildings, perhaps fifteen spaces on rough ground. It fills on summer weekends and there is no overflow, so the fallback is the pay-and-display in
Directions to the start →

Flat, sheltered and almost entirely off-road, the Pocklington Canal runs nine and a half miles from Canal Head down to the River Derwent at East Cottingwith. This out-and-back takes the top end from Canal Head past Top Lock, Silburn Lock and Coates Lock to the Bielby Arm and back, which is the tree-lined, un-restored half with humpbacked bridges and no boat traffic to speak of. Most of the canal is SSSI, so keep a dog out of the reed fringe in the nesting season. The Canal and River Trust's own towpath guidance asks for a short lead around locks and bridge holes and says plainly that dogs are not to swim in the canal, which matters here because the banks are steep-sided and hard to climb out of.

THE SMALL PRINTCanal and River Trust towpath guidance: keep your dog on a short lead around busy spots like locks and bridges, and dogs are not allowed to swim in the canals. The towpath itself is open and unrestricted, and there is no dog control order on it. Much of the canal is SSSI and the lower reaches sit inside the Lower Derwent Valley National Nature Reserve.

House rules, decoded

Water bowls
Off-lead OK
REGION · EAST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE
GRID · 53.9253, -0.7561
SOURCE · HTTPS://CANALRIVERTRUST.ORG.UK/THINGS-TO-DO/WALKING/TYPES-OF-WALKS-NEAR-ME/DOG-FRIENDLY-WALKS-NEAR-ME
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