Grand Union Canal

A quick (possibly stupid!) question for those of you familiar with the Grand Union canal...

How easy it is for self-navigation (no maps) to follow it and get out of London from, say, Little Venice or thereabouts....?    I had a look on Google maps and there seems to be several 'connections' that might cause someone to take the wrong one and get lost...

Is it easy peasy...?    Are there tow paths the whole way..?

Any info or tips will be welcomed...

I am familiar with it from Harlseden right out past the A40 to Southall and the towpath is certainly continuous the whole way on that section. 

I have run from Little Venice to the end of the Slough line about 3 or 4 times. Navigation is very easy and there are tow paths the whole way on the bits I did.

If I remember correctly the only choices I had to make were at the Bulls Bridge junction (do I turn left or right? ummm right) and the left turn over the bridge to go down the Slough line.

Its a really nice place to run on the whole. There are a couple of bits that are slightly rough after dark i.e. you get groups of teenagers standing around drinking cans of beer and trying to look tough, but no one ever gave me any trouble.

That's very helpful, thank you.  I've never run any of it before and just had an inspiration to do it..  the idea being to get a train into London, run along the canal to a suitable location outside London and get picked up and taken home.  No real idea of distance, but enough to make it interesting....

want company?

Sure... you can join me..   I want to keep it flexible in terms of date, as its only for fun and I want a nice sunny day...  probably sometime in August...   maybe 40 miles -ish..?  

well im doing NDW50 on 11th Aug, so bear that in  mind!! 40 will be ok yes

Like a lamb to the slaughter!!

me? or him?!!

??    pardon..?

nevermind,a post above

As Kryten says there are only two branches of the canal you need to worry about - Bulls Bridge and the Slough Arm. Coming out of town Bulls Bridge is a T- junction,  left will take you to Brentford, right (and over the bridge) to Birmingham. The Slough Arm junction is easier to navigate - straight on for Birmingham, to get to Slough you have to turn left and cross over the bridge. It is all signposted.

I run and cycle on various bits of the canal quite frequently and know it fairly well out to Tring (having done Tring2Town a couple of times). When I did it Tring2Town started in Tring (surprise !) and finished at Little Venice 45miles later. Other years finished in Brentford and were 40miles.

Berkhampstead is a few miles before Tring and the canal is right next to the railway station, so might make for around 40miles.

Hey Dougie, that sounds like a perfect plan...    so..   if Berkhamsted were the target (in essence doing the reverse of the run you mentioned) that sounds easy enough then..?  Turn right at Bulls Bridge and straight on at Slough Arms..?

That's very helpful, thank you.

so how far is that...........

Wheres my invite?

you have to ask the boss spen - Dark Vader...the more the merrier though