from intrusion by other land users and will be relatively easily excavated to create a new channel. It is also being used as part of the Trans Pennine Trail. The canal is referred to as 'a vital missing link' by the Barnsley, Dearne & Dove Canals Trust. Their aim is to completely restore the canal along with the Barnsley Canal in order to complete the Yorkshire Ring. The canal is now undergoing restoration. The Elsecar branch is to be the first part of the canal to be restored. The top two pounds and top lock have been restored and a launch ramp has been added in the top pound. Funding was obtained from the Yorkshire European Community Trust, and the lock gates were fitted in May 1999. Other parts of the canal such as the top of the Worsbrough branch have remained in good condition despite years of neglect. Parts of the towpath form sections of the Trans Pennine Trail, a long distance footpath that connects Liverpool, Leeds, Hull and Chesterfield. The reservoir at the top of the Elsecar branch has been designated a local nature reserve by Barnsley Council and the area surrounding the reservoir at the top of the Worsbrough branch has become Worsbrough Country Park. Original route Main Line The canal started at a junction with the Don Navigation at Swinton. From there it passed through six locks before it passed through a 472-yard tunnel. This tunnel was bypassed in 1840 when the canal was diverted to run through the same cutting created to accommodate the railway. It then passed Manvers Main Colliery and entered Wath-upon-Dearne running parallel to Doncaster Road, before passing between rows of terraced houses past the town centre. It then looped north-west towards the middle of the valley, with a wide section on a high embankment which became known as the Bay of Biscay. After that it passed into Brampton and back onto the hillside. There were another four locks up to the junction with the Elsecar branch, which lay between Brampton and Wombwell at the junction of the Dearne Valley Parkway and the A633. The canal then passed Wombwell to the north of the town centre, and Aldham before arriving at the eight locks of the Stairfoot flight. At that point there followed the junction with the Worsbrough Branch. The canal then passed through the site of Stairfoot Roundabout and headed towards