canal holidays, boating england uk boat hire narrowboat holidays narrowboat rental canal holidays in england barge holidays luxury boating holidays canal holidays boating vacations barge charter canal boat hire narrowboat hire narrow boat uk boating vacation european vacations canal boats england cheshire middlewich

The most frequent question asked about the Four Counties Ring is "Which is the fourth county?". Even if you failed O Level Geography it's fairly simple to guess at Cheshire, Shropshire and Staffordshire being included. Well the fourth is the West Midlands, however you're only in it for a couple of miles or so on the northern fringes of Wolverhampton. Of course you may not have the time or inclination to cruise the whole circuit, but prefer instead to amble along the Shropshire Union Canal, mooring now and then to explore the likes of Nantwich, Audlem and Market Drayton or any of the other dreamy towns and villages which lie beside its flower strewn banks.

Audlem - David M Hough


Audlem Mill - Derek Pratt

To reach the Shropshire Union from Middlewich you travel west along the short length of the Shropshire Union Canal to Barbridge Junction, a four hour cruise which a fairly energetic crew can easily accomplish on their first afternoon afloat. The next morning might see you calling in at Nantwich, a lovely half-timbered old market town, for the shopping, or carrying on to Audlem for lunch and a visit to the splendid Audlem Mill Canal Shop. Fifteen locks carry the canal up out of the Cheshire Plain and into Shropshire, and there's another five at Adderley before you reach Market Drayton, another of the timeless old towns which this part of the world seems to specialise in. Here you can discover the spicey secret of gingerbread making which had its origins in the neighbourhood. This section of the Shropshire Union Canal was one of the last great inland waterway schemes in this country, and it has a boldness of atmosphere born of the confidence of its age, characterised by deep cuttings and high embankments designed by Thomas Telford to avoid as many locks as possible. Today's holidaymakers can thank him for a twenty-five mile stretch with only one lock to impede their gentle progress across this uncluttered countryside. Mile succeeds trance-like mile. The next port of call of any consequence is Brewood, a lovely village of winding lanes and handsome houses which has several good pubs. If you are retracing your steps to Middlewich this will probably be as far as you can comfortably get in a week. In any case, the Shroppie is almost at an end, for a few miles to the south lies Autherley Junction and the next leg of the Four Counties Ring along the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal. Brindley's Staffs & Worcs is the antithesis of Telford's Shropshire Union. It belongs to an earlier generation of canal building less-accomplished in civil engineering terms, but all the more enchanting for its propensity to wander about the countryside like a dog trying to remember where he's hidden a favourite bone. Its summit section ends at Gailey, overlooked by a charming roundhouse which once housed a toll-keeper but is now home to an excellent canal shop. The locks lead you down to Penkridge as the canal winds around the northern tip of Cannock Chase, missing the county town of Stafford by a mile. The countryside hereabouts is delicious. Beyond the village of Milford the canal suddenly widens into an ornamental lake known as Tixall Wide. The story goes that Izaak Walton learn't to fish here. A fanciful tale, perhaps, but it is definitely known that Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned in the neighbourhood on her way to the executioner's block at Fotheringay.

Great Haywood - Ian Meredith

At Great Hayward you join the Trent & Mersey Canal and head northwards along the picturesque Trent Valley towards The Potteries. The city of Stoke-on-Trent is made up of six individual towns, all still very much involved with the manufacture of ceramics. The canal's journey through The Potteries isn't pretty, but it is fascinating in an unexpected way. Several of the pottery works notably Wedgwood at Barlaston - are open to the public and there is much to be enjoyed and learnt. At the restored Bone Mill at Etruria, for example, you can discover the origins of the term 'bone china' , and you'll never feel the same about your best tea set in that Welsh dresser at home again. Etruria is also the location of the Festival Park whose attractions include a multi-screen cinema complex and Waterworld, one of those huge swimming pools with all manner of shutes and slides and wave machines; the perfect antidote for those in your crew who always wanted to spend their holiday at the seaside anyway. Having quelled potential mutiny, press on to Harecastle Tunnel, one of the great experiences of canal boating.

Harecastle Tunnel - Derek Pratt

Here you are faced with an hour's subterranean cruising under your own power and control; holidays don't come much more adventurous than this. Boats enter the 'single-lane' tunnel under the supervision of keepers at either end, and it is best to arrive at the tunnel mouth no later than mid afternoon to avoid being delayed overnight in less than prepossessing surroundings. Whilst you are deep in the bowels of the earth, the scene shifters are busy, and beyond the north end of the tunnel you soon exchange Staffordshire industry for Cheshire countryside. Now you begin to descend the infamous locks of 'Heartbreak Hill'; twenty-six locks in seven miles, six or seven hours hard work. Happily you aren't forced to do them all at once, and there are several little villages along the way at which to take a breather. Many of these heartbreaking locks are 'duplicated', or in other words they have two chambers, side by side, an improvement carried out to speed up traffic during the nineteenth century, and they still help to keep queues to a minimum today. Sooner or later you arrive back at Middlewich.

One week average cruising time per day:
Shropshire Union Canal - up to 7 hours,
Four Counties Ring - 9.5 hours.