Canal towpath walks in winter: checking for stoppages and diversions

Yes, some canal towpaths close or divert in winter, though most stay open. Both the Canal & River Trust in England and Wales and Scottish Canals carry out the bulk of their lock and structure repairs between November and March, when boat traffic is lowest. The navigation is shut at the work site and, on occasion, the towpath alongside it is closed or diverted too. Each organisation publishes notices, and checking them before a towpath walk is the single most useful thing you can do.

Why winter is stoppage season

Canals are old engineering. Lock gates wear out, culverts silt up, and embankments and aqueducts need repair. Most of this work needs the water drained from a lock or a length of canal, which cannot sensibly happen in summer when hire boats and holidaymakers are moving. So the trusts plan a winter programme of repairs and publish it in advance, after consulting boaters and other users.

The Canal & River Trust's winter stoppages page describes it as essential maintenance and repair, carried out each year in a pre-Christmas window and a longer post-Christmas window. It says the 2026/27 plan has been finalised and that individual closures appear in the Trust's notices search, which can be filtered by waterway, date, notice type and the "Winter works" programme. The Trust's advice to anyone heading out is simple: check whether any closures or works affect your route before you leave home.

What a stoppage means if you are on foot

Most stoppages affect boats, not walkers. A drained lock is fenced off, but the towpath beside it usually stays open, and you get the unusual sight of the empty chamber with its brickwork and gate recesses exposed. It is one of the few times you can see how a lock is actually built.

Closures that do affect walkers tend to involve:

Bridge and aqueduct repairs, where the structure itself carries the towpath.
Culvert replacement, where the bank has to be dug out.
Embankment and wall repairs, where the edge of the towpath is unsafe.
Dredging, where machinery and spoil are moved along the bank.

Notices normally say whether the towpath is affected, and if a diversion is signed. Where it says "navigation and towpath closure", expect to leave the canal for a stretch and rejoin it further along.

Scotland: the 2026/27 list

Scottish Canals publishes its winter 2026/27 programme on one page, which makes it easy to scan before a trip. Among the works with towpath closures or diversions listed there:

Forth & Clyde, Kelvin Aqueduct: repairs from 9 February 2026 to 1 March 2027, with a towpath diversion that is extended to the Maryhill locks from 23 November 2026.
Forth & Clyde, Lock 21 (Maryhill): a bypass project from 23 November 2026 to May 2027, with a towpath diversion.
Forth & Clyde, Falkirk Flight: a lock gate programme running to 23 April 2027, with towpath diversions in place.
Union Canal, Almond Feeder Aqueduct footbridge: closed to pedestrians and cyclists from 9 November to 7 December 2026.
Caledonian Canal, Kytra Locks: towpath closure from 14 January to 24 March 2027, with dredging at Kytra, Fort Augustus and Laggan from 4 January to 26 March 2027 expected to bring diversions.
Crinan Canal, Bellanoch: embankment repairs in January 2027 with a section of towpath temporarily closed.

Some dates on that page are marked as to be confirmed, so check again nearer the day.

Before a towpath walk

Search the relevant trust's notices for the canal and the dates you plan to walk. Note any diversion route, and look at it on a map, because some take you up onto roads. If the notice is vague, ring the local office rather than guess.

Winter towpath walking in general

Even without works, towpaths change character in winter. Unsurfaced stretches turn to mud, and the edge of a towpath can be slippery with frost or wet leaves. Lock sides have hard stone edges and no railings. A few habits help:

Walk on the landward side of the path, away from the water's edge, especially in poor light.
Keep dogs on a lead near locks, where the drop is sudden and the water deep and cold.
Ring a bell or call out on narrow stretches; cyclists share most towpaths and may not hear you behind a hedge.
Check where the access points are. Towpaths can run for miles between bridges with steps up to a road, which matters if the light goes or someone gets cold.

The Countryside Code applies here too. Moored boats are people's homes, so keep voices down early and late, and do not let dogs jump onto decks.

Turning a closure into a different walk

A towpath diversion is often an invitation to see the canal's surroundings. Many canals are shadowed by old footpaths, packhorse routes and lanes that show how the waterway was cut through the landscape. Get the relevant Ordnance Survey Explorer sheet out, follow the blue line, and look for the rights of way running parallel to it. Our guide to reading an OS map covers the symbols for locks, tunnels and aqueducts, which turn into landmarks of their own on a winter walk.

The quiet months are a fine time on the water's edge: herons on the lock beams, kingfishers flashing low along the cut, and frost on the balance beams. A short check of the notices is all it takes to make sure the path is there when you arrive.