How far you go depends
a lot on how energetic you want to be. Canal boat cruising from dawn to dusk will
certainly cover a greater distance than a plan which includes stops and
time to explore. Also a route with many locks will be much more energetic
than one with very few.
The routes suggested here are not exhaustive, but give you a sample of the
sort of canal boat holiday you might have.
Speed travelled is
approximately 3-4 miles per hour, and the same applies to number of locks
per hour, but you are not in a hurry to get anywhere - the enjoyment is in
the plodding along gently and admiring the scenery and wildlife, stopping
at canalside pubs and exploring the towns and villages along the way.
Circular routes may seem
attractive at first sight, but they entail a cruising schedule that you
may not wish to keep to later in your week. A return journey back along a
canal will look quite different from the outward trip, and gives an
opportunity to visit places, shops and pubs that you may have missed on
the way out.
We have a brochure
available with details of activities and places to visit close to the
canal. Please enquire.
We have included mileage
and locks for each route and (in brackets) approximate cruising time (one
way) from our boatyard to places mentioned. Don’t forget to allow the same
return time!
Possible Routes for your Canal Boat Cruise:- Click
each for more details
TWO WEEKS OR MORE
The choice is endless, but here are a few suggestions. Any group of
one week trips could be used, of course, but other alternatives include:
Other
Routes
For the adventurous, the
Leeds and Liverpool is built on a grand scale. Deep wide locks
carry the canal from Liverpool through Wigan, along Lancashire’s valleys
and around the edge of the Yorkshire dales. This is definitely a 2 or 3
week trip from Beeston.
The Caldon canal
branches off from the Trent and Mersey at Stoke on Trent. You travel along
over 20 miles of the Staffordshire uplands on probably the most scenically
beautiful canal to reach Froghall and Leek.
From the southern end of
the Shropshire Union, one can cruise the beautiful Staffs and Worcester
canal which continues down a rocky valley to Stourport and the River
Severn
The rivers Severn and
Avon ring may be cruised past Worcester, Tewkesbury and Stratford on
Avon.
For the enthusiast the
Birmingham Canal Navigations (BCN) are a rewarding experience.
And for the real
canalcoholic, the Huddersfield canal is now fully open, and with
the Rochdale canal was also reopened in summer 2002, there
are several combinations of hardworking long distance routes available.
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