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

Tourists and travellers have been descending on the little grey-slated Welsh town of Llangollen since way back in the 18th century when writers like Hazlitt and Borrow discovered the wild charm of the Vale of Llangollen. Only in the last thirty years or so, however, have they been getting there by canal boat. From Middlewich six or seven hours a day at the tiller will do it, with plenty of time to dilly-dally along the way. On your first afternoon afloat, following perhaps a long drive from home to the boatyard, an hour's cruise along the Shroppie will be all you can cope with, but the next day you can travel on to Marbury Lock, or Willeymoor. The sleepy hamlet of Marbury is just a short stroll from the canal and here you'll find "The Swan", a lovely country pub famous for its food, and an attractive footpath running beside the banks of a lake called Big Mere.

Grindley Brook - Ian Meredith

At Willeymoor you don't have to walk at all, because there's a delightful pub slap bang alongside the lock. Gradually you have become used to locks, but at Grindley Brook half a dozen come all at once, the top three being telescoped together as a 'staircase' which can be something of a bottleneck in the summer season, especially on Thursdays when all the boats that have travelled towards Llangollen from the English end of the canal are busily heading back to base. Boaters have been in the habit of taking a taxi or catching the bus from Grindley Brook into nearby Whitchurch, but part of the old arm which once led right into the town has been restored to provide visitor moorings, and it is difficult to resist mooring up here and walking into this interesting old country town, famous as a centre of cheese-making. In the heyday of the canal a special cheese boat left here daily for Manchester, its hold covered with white canvas to keep the cheese as cool as possible. Beyond Whitchurch there are no more locks for many miles, though there are a number of lift bridges to be raised and lowered with the same windlass you use for operating locks.

Lift bridge at Wrembury - David Hough

Passing briefly in and out of Wales, and crossing the mysteriously remote 'mosses' the canal reaches Shropshire's 'Lake District', skirting several of the charming meres which were formed hereabouts the end of the Ice Age. One of them, Blake Mere, is separated from the canal by the slenderest of margins, and makes a beautiful spot for a picnic. A short tunnel preceeds Ellesmere, a timeless old town with some particularly good shops specialising in local produce.

Ellesmere - David Hough

The town arm provides pleasant moorings near to the canal company's original workshops, still used by British Waterways as a maintenance base, and the staff here welcome enquiries from passing boaters. The Montgomery Canal hasn't been used since a breach drained it of most of its water way back in 1936. Gradually, however, it is being brought back to life, and at Frankton junction you can see the first four locks which have been restored, and take a stroll down the towpath to sample some of the atmosphere of a canal which will add even more variety to this region in the years ahead. At New Marton you pass through the last pair of locks on your way to Wales. Soon the canal is running parallel to the London-Holyhead road. Then it turns a wooded corner and you are confronted with two huge stone bridges, an aqueduct and a viaduct, carrying the canal and a railway respectively, across the valley of the River Ceiriog, from UK into Wales. Border crossings don't come much more dramatic than this, especially as, on reaching the far side of the aqueduct, the canal plunges almost immediately into a long tunnel. From moorings at either end of this tunnel it's a short walk into the little town of Chirk, useful for shopping and with a 14th century castle to visit as well. The mountains, which have been simply pale outlines on the horizon, become more tangible as the canal slips into Offa's Dyke country. Winding through woodlands you come to the River Dee and Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, the most astonishing feat of waterway engineering anywhere in the world. A hundred and twenty feet above the river, in an iron trough no wider than the width of you boat, crossing the aqueduct is tantamount to flying through mid air! You could be forgiven for thinking that the last lap into Llangollen would be an anti-climax. It is nothing of the sort, as on a high shelf above the Vale of Llangollen and surrounded by high limestone ridges, the canal makes for its terminal wharf.

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct - Davd Hough

Twenty six hours cruising away from Middlewich, should leave you with plenty of time to explore some of Llangollen's well known attractions. Take a ride further on along the Dee Valley by steam train; visit Plas Newydd, where the Ladies of Llangollen were the centre of gossip in the 18th century; climb up to the ruins of Castell Dinas Bran, over a thousand feet above sea level; visit the Canal Exhibition Centre; stroll along the last two unnavigable miles of the canal to the famous Horseshoe Falls; or just wander about the charming streets of the town, grateful that you haven't got to find a parking space!

8 hours average cruising time per day for one week.