The Great Central Way follows the line of the former Great Central Railway, once one of the most important main lines in Britain. Its visionary founder, Sir Edward Watkin, also founded the original Channel Tunnel company 100 years ahead of its eventual completion! He built the London to Manchester "Great Central" railway in 1899, hoping that it would eventually link to France.
The railway closed in 1969, but in the 1980s, the section to the south of the city centre found a new lease of life as a cycleway and footway. By the turn of the 21st century, this in turn became part of the UK's most widespread Millennium project - the 10,000 mile National Cycle Network.
You can download a plan of the Great Central Way and Leicester Riverside South. Go to page:
Leicester Riverside, and click the links at the bottom of that page.
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