Before diesel and electric engines made sailing convenient, boats and barges had to be either rowed or pulled.
So gangs of men worked their way along the river banks as best they could.
Before long, horse-drawn barges became an efficient mode of transport carrying passengers, mail and small goods.
Many canal companies were formed and there was frenzied competition and rivalry among them.
These bridges had ramps aligned with the towpath on the same side of the bridge.
Many bridges have towpaths that passed under the bridge.
Legging was dangerous and difficult and often boatmen employed professional leggers to navigate long tunnels.
A changeline bridge where the towpath changes sides on the Macclesfield Canal.
Photo credit:Mike Serigrapher/Flickr
A bridge with an interior towpath.
Locally they are known as trekschuit.
The first trekschuit sailed in 1632 between Amsterdam and Haarlem and could carry 30 passengers.
This stopover town eventually became Halfweg, which means “halfway”.
The trekschuit became so successful that the route was extended from Haarlem to Leiden two decades later.
A horse drawn barge travelling on the Grand Western Canal in Devon, England.
Photo credit:dcurzon / Shutterstock.com
A towpath cut into the rock beside the Lot river in south-west France.
Photo credit:Sylvain Crouzillat/Wikimedia
A horse drawn narrowboat on the Kennet and Avon canal at Kintbury in Wiltshire.
Photo credit:Anguskirk/Flickr
A man and woman towing a cargo-boat through a ship-canal in the Netherlands, 1931.
An undated photograph of a woman towing a boat on a canal in the Netherlands.
Towing with horses at Finowkanal, Germany, circa 1880.
A boat is pulled by two horses on the Ohio-Erie Canal, 1902.
