A short break canal holiday in Yorkshire

This trip gives you time for walks, the pub or simply to sit and unwind – canal boat holidays are like that – they let you make the choice..

The cruise takes you on the Rochdale Canal, from Sowerby Bridge to Hebden Bridge & Todmorden.

On day one, you arrive in the historic canal basin at Sowerby Bridge to take over your Tourist Board graded boat. After a detailed briefing, a member of staff will take you up through the first three locks, including the deepest one in the country. You then sail off along the side of the valley, through two more locks, to Mytholmroyd, where you moor for the night. Here you have two pubs with food, an upmarket café and convenience stores.

Next morning, travel on to Hebden Bridge. This old mill town nestles in a fork in the hills, houses piled tier upon tier. Hebden is the original plastic-bag-free town, and has not succumbed to a big supermarket, so has an amazing variety of shops, cafes, restaurants and pubs. It’s full of
surprises – everything from horsey clothing to hand-made pottery, and not one but two bookshops. Keep on cruising through the town and gradually wind up the valley, with woods, crags and the Calder running alongside, and views of the moors high above. Pause perhaps at the Stubbing Wharf pub, but keep going in order to reach Todmorden, a town that can’t decide  whether it’s in Yorkshire or Lancashire, famous for wool or cotton. Moor at the Fielden Wharf visitor moorings below Lock 19, just beside one pub (though you don’t have to neglect the other pubs, restaurants and the busy market). Don’t miss the Town Hall and many other fine Victorian – and much older – buildings, all dominated by a curving railway viaduct.

Next day, you turn the boat below Lock 19 and head back to Luddenden Foot (where there is a good pub and Indian restaurant). The valley looks quite different on the way down, and you’ll
see things you missed on the way up.

For the final morning, you need to get up early to be at the top lock for 8am, then cruise gently back to base.