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Canal Boat Holiday Routes in England & Wales

Useful information for your boating holiday

Canal holiday routes..

Andersen Boats canal holiday routes Our conveniently-located base in Middlewich, Cheshire allows a choice of interesting routes for your holiday. for your canal boat holidays you can choose totally rural routes or ones involving some very interesting towns and cities.

We have chosen a few popular routes to describe in more detail here, and you can see more information about each by clicking on the links below. The descriptions give you some idea of what you will see on each route, how many locks you negotiate and how long they would take to travel.

Caldon Canal

City of Chester

The Cheshire Ring

Ellesmere Port & The National Waterways Museum

Town of Nantwich

The Llangollen Canal

The Four Counties Ring

Town of Lymm

(Click a Route to view more information)

The Llangollen Canal is one of the most popular UK canal holiday routes, with a totally rural backdrop, enlivened by spectacular scenery, amazing aqueducts and the holiday town of Llangollen itself.

The Caldon Canal is one of the jewels of the waterways, combined with cruising through the Potteries.

The Roman city of Chester is a wonderful place to visit, and leads to the fascinating Boat Museum at Ellesmere Port.

These are out-and-back return routes, which allow you to choose your own pace, but if you feel a little more energetic we can suggest some 'rings', where you travel round a circular route to arrive back with us: the Cheshire Ring or the Four Counties Ring. Each canal has an individual character, as they were built at different times by different engineers, and every one has its own surprises and delights.

You are of course free to make your own variations on any of these suggested canal boat holidays, particularly if have more time to explore: there are many guides and maps to help you choose your ideal UK canal holiday route, and we are always happy to offer advice on which boat and which route would suit you best. Please Remember, if you're planning to spend a day out and about off your boat, please make sure you factor this into your plans when working out the amount of cruising hours required to complete your holiday route.

Canal holiday route guides..

Pearson's Canal Companions have achieved a high status with canal users of all kinds. These lively, colourful and committed books are generally regarded as the most detailed, informative and entertaining guides to the inland waterways. Each of the guides we offer cover the routes with large scale and highly detailed maps accompanied by a wide ranging commentary, descriptions of waterside towns and villages, and itemised listings on eating & drinking, shopping, visitors centres, public transport and boating facilities.

Pearson Canal Companion - Cheshire Ring
Cheshire Ring Guide

This guide covers the following routes:

The Cheshire Ring

Town of Lymm

£11.95 (plus P&P) Call to purchase
Pearson Canal Companion - Welsh Waters
Welsh Waters Guide

This guide covers the following routes:

City of Chester

Ellesmere Port & The National Waterways Museum

Town of Nantwich

The Llangollen Canal

£11.95 (plus P&P) Call to purchase
Pearson Canal Companion - Four Counties Ring
Four Counties Ring Guide

This guide covers the following routes:

Caldon Canal

Town of Nantwich

The Four Counties Ring

£11.95 (plus P&P) Call to purchase
view our routes gallery...
Llangollen Route
Chester Route
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