Top of the Rings

Cruising rings are popular with canal boat holiday-makers, offering journeys which travel along several different waterways and take in a huge variety of landscapes.

Some are seriously challenging with long flights of locks and deep tunnels to negotiate.  While others, like the new Droitwich Ring, are easier and more suitable for narrowboat holiday beginners.

We’ve put together our Top 10 Cruising Rings and our best hire boat bases to start from:

1. The Droitwich Ring (21 miles, 33 locks, 16 hours): Starting from the Drifters’ bases at Worcester or Stoke Prior and ideal for beginners, this cruising ring is the only one in Europe which can be completed on a short break.  It opened up last year following the £13million restoration of the Droitwich Canals, which now reconnect the River Severn and Worcester & Birmingham Canal. Highlights include: the historic Spa town of Droitwich; the Hanbury flight of locks; and the beautiful City of Worcester with its stunning cathedral.

2. The London Ring (44 miles, 25 locks, 18 hours): Starting from the Drifters’ base at Greenford in West London, this exciting journey for seasoned canal boaters is best done in a week, leaving plenty of time to enjoy London’s world-class museums, restaurants, theatres and shops.  The route takes you through the heart of London along the Grand Union and Regent’s canals, then onto the Thames via Limehouse Lock and back onto the Grand Union Canal at Brentford Lock.  Highlights include: Paddington Basin and Little Venice, Camden Lock and market, Victoria Park, Limehouse Basin, views of London’s major landmarks along the Thames (including the Tower of London, the Millennium Wheel and the Houses of Parliament) and the historic flight of locks at Hanwell.

3. The South Pennine Ring (71 miles, 197 locks, 80 hours): not for the faint-hearted, this epic two-week journey can be taken from Drifters’ base at Sowerby Bridge.  It crosses the Pennines twice and includes passage of Britain’s longest canal tunnel.  It takes in the Calder & Hebble Navigation, the Huddersfield Broad and Narrow canals, the Ashton and Rochdale canals.  Highlights include: dramatic Pennine views; Tuel Lane Deep Lock; Manchester City Centre; and, one of the Seven Wonders of Waterways, the awesome three and a quarter-mile long Standedge Tunnel which, designed by Thomas Telford, cuts through the Pennies to link Marsden and Diggle.

4. The Stourport Ring (74 miles, 118 locks, 44 hours):  Starting from Drifters’ base at Tardebigge, this offers an exhilarating and hugely popular week.  The route takes in the Staffs & Worcs Canal, the Worcs & Birmingham Canal Navigation, the upper section of the River Severn, Birmingham & Fazeley Canal, Birmingham Canal Main Line and the Birmingham Canal Old Main Line.  The Stourport Ring visits three cities: Wolverhampton; Birmingham (with central moorings in Gas Street Station, close to shops, restaurants and museums); and the ancient City of Worcester.  Highlights include: Wolverhampton 21 locks; Brindley Place and Gas Street Basin in Birmingham; open countryside on the River Severn; Stourport Basins; Bratch Locks at Wombourne; the pretty village of Kinver; the Black Country Living Museum; and Cadbury World.

5. The Cheshire Ring (97 miles, 92 locks, 55 hours): starting from the Drifters’ base at Anderton, this superb route takes you through the heart of Manchester and the Peak District via the Ashton, Macclesfield, Peak Forest, Rochdale, Trent & Mersey and Bridgewater canals.  Highlights include: the spectacular vertical Anderton Boat Lift, also known as ‘The Cathedral of the Canals’; Preston Brook Tunnel; Dunham Massey Hall and its working Elizabethan Mill alongside the Bridgewater Canal; Castlefield Basin; Manchester’s China Town; the Rochdale 9 locks; Buxworth Basin, Whaley Bridge and the glorious Top Lock at Marple; and the Cheshire Plain and heavily locked ‘Heartbreak Hill’.

6. The Warwickshire Ring (101 miles, 94 locks, 48 hours): starting from Drifters’ bases at Napton or Rugby, with a mixture of urban and rural landscapes, the Warwickshire Ring is easily navigated in two weeks.  It takes in the Grand Union, Oxford, Coventry and Birmingham & Fazeley canals.  Highlights include: the flight of 11 locks into Atherstone, Hawkesbury Junction, one of the tightest turns on the system where the Oxford joins the Coventry; Hillmorton locks (three pairs); the Knowle Flight of five locks; the pretty canal village of Braunston; Napton Junction; Newbold and Shrewley tunnels; the awesome Hatton Flight of 21 locks; Warwick Castle; Leamington Spa; and Birmingham’s Gas Street Basin.

7. Avon Ring (108 miles, 130 locks, 58 hours): Starting from Drifters’ base at Tardebigge or Wootton Wawen, this World-famous journey includes 130 locks.  Most people do this trip in a more leisurely 10 days or two weeks, but it is possible to do it in a week.  The ring navigates sections of the Stratford Canal, River Avon, River Severn and Worcs & Birmingham Canal.  Highlights include: Stratford-Upon-Avon and its famous Swan Theatre; the Lapworth flight of 25 locks; the Wilmcote flight of 11 locks; the River Avon and its panoramic views across Wawickshire and the Cotswolds; historic Evesham and Tewskesbury; Worcester and its magnificent cathedral; Telford’s lofty Mythe Bridge; the tidal River Severn double river-lock at Diglis, the 30 lock Tardebigge Flight, the longest in the country; and the 2495 metre long Wast Hills Tunnel.

8. The Four Counties Ring (110 miles, 94 locks, 55 hours):  Starting from Drifters’ bases at Brewood near Stoke on Trent or Great Haywood in Staffordshire, this ring is achievable on a week-long holiday.  The route includes the Trent & Mersey, Staffs & Worcs and Shropshire Union canals.  Predominantly rural, this ring’s highlights include: the World famous 2670-metre long Harecastle Tunnel; extravagant cuttings and embankments on the Shropshire Union; Market Drayton home of gingerbread; Wedgewood Visitor Centre; views of the rolling Cheshire Plains; the Roman town of Middlewich; the Ski Centre, China Gardens and Waterworld at Etruria; Shugborough Hall; Churches Mansion; the waters at Tixall Wide on the Staffs & Worcs; the narrow canal at Autherley Junction; and the flight of 15 locks at Audlem.

9. The Black Country Ring (125 miles, 79 locks, 60 hours): from Drifters’ base at Great Haywood in Staffordshire this exhilarating ring is achievable in a week.  The Ring takes in the Birmingham & Fazeley, Birmingham Main Line, Coventry, Staffordshire & Worcestershire and Trent & Mersey canals.  Highlights include: Birmingham’s Gas Street Basin with access to city centre shops, restaurants and museums; 21 locks at Wolverhampton; the Black Country Living Museum; Dudley Zoo & Castle; Drayton Manor Park at Fazeley; the Staffs & Worcs Roundhouses; the waters at Tixhall Wide; Fradley Pool Nature Reserve at Fradley Junction; 11 locks at Ashton; and 13 at Farmer’s Bridge.

10. The Leicester Ring (157 miles, 102 locks, 75 hours): from Drifters’ base at Rugby on the Grand Union Canal, this epic route is achievable in two weeks.  The route cruises a mixture of non-tidal, broad and narrow canals, including the Birmingham & Fazeley, Coventry, Oxford, Trent & Mersey canals, the Grand Union Leicester Line and the rivers Soar and Trent.  Highlights include: the Saddlington Tunnel, a roost for bats on the Leicester Line; the Foxton Staircase of Locks and Museum dedicated to the incredible Foxton Inclined Plane Boat Lift which once carried boats up and down the hill in two giant bath tubs; the pretty canal village of Stoke Bruerne with its Canal Museum; Blisworth Tunnel; Braunston canal village; Hillmorton Locks; 11 locks at Atherstone; Coventry and views of its magnificent cathedral; and the 18^th century canal village of Shardlow.

Reputedly playing host to hundreds of ghosts, with bats and frogs aplenty, plus creepy tunnels, spooky locks, misty towpaths and thousands of historic buildings along the way, Britain’s 200-year old canal network provides the perfect backdrop for a haunting Halloween afloat.

Here are someof the spookiest places to go on a narrowboat holiday:

The Shropshire Union Canal is said to be Britain’s most haunted canal with five ghosts along its length, including ‘The Monkey Man’ at Bridge39 near Norbury.  The hideous black, shaggy coated being is said to be the ghost of a boatman drowned there in the19th century.  And at Betton Cutting near Market Drayton a shrieking spectre has been seen and heard.  See if you can spot them by heading north from Drifters’ base at Brewood on the Shropshire Union Canal in Staffordshire near Stafford.  A week’s canal boat hire from Brewood over Halloween starts at £795, short breaks £546.

Get the chills in Chester by visiting the city’s old Northgate where the canal was dug into part of the town’s moat and a Roman centurion can sometimes be seen guarding the entrance to the city.  You can also visit Chester’s The King’s Inn, an old coaching inn believed to be haunted by three separate spirits. Hire a boat from Drifters’ base at Bunbury on the Shropshire Union Canal in Cheshire and you can easily make it to Chester and back on a short break, cruising for a total of 14 hours and negotiating 18 locks.  Short breaks from Bunbury over Halloween start at £330, weekly hire from £470.

Blisworth Tunnel on the Grand Union Canal in Northamptonshire has spooked a number of boaters over the years.  At 3,076 yards (2.81km) it’s one of the longest on the canal system.  When construction began in 1793, the tunnel was a major feat of engineering.  Teams of navvies worked with picks and shovels for three years until they hit quicksand and the tunnel collapsed, killing 14 men.  A new route for the tunnel was found and it finally opened on 25 March 1805.  Over the years, a number of boaters travelling through the tunnel have reported seeing lights and a second route emerging.  But the tunnel runs straight through the hill so people have must seen the flicker of candlelight at the spot where the first tunnel would have intersected with the main canal tunnel.  Perhaps the ghostly navvies are still working there?!  Canal boat hire over Halloween from Drifters’ base at Gayton on the Grand Union Canal close to the Blisworth Tunnel starts at £665 for a short break and £1020 for a week.

At the Union Canal tunnel at Falkirk in Scotland, two walkers and their dogs were terrified by the apparition of a man who had been lured to the tunnel in the 1940s and viciously murdered after he had been unable to pay his gambling debt.  And there are plenty of ghostly goings on in the historic city of Edinburgh, including the ghost of the Great Lafayette at Edinburgh Festival Theatre, a magician who was killed in afire there.  Canal boat hire over Halloween from Drifters’ Falkirk base start at £534 for a short break and £821for a week.

The Trent & Mersey Canal’s Harecastle Tunnel at Kidsgrove is said to be home to a shrieking boggart – the ghost of Kit Crewbucket who was murdered and whose headless corpse was dumped in the canal.  Canal boat hire over Halloween at Drifters Stoke on Trent base on the Trent & Mersey Canal in Staffordshire starts at £432 for a short break and £664 for a week.

The Llangollen Canal in Wrexham is haunted by an eerie figure that can sometimes be seen on moonlit nights gliding along the towpath by the awesome World Heritage Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. Canal boat hire over Halloween from Drifters’ base at Trevor, right next to the Aqueduct starts at £525 for a short break and £745 for a week.

At three and a quarter miles long, the spooky Standedge Tunnel in Yorkshire is the longest, highest and deepest canal on the UK canal system and certainly not for the feint hearted! Take a boat for a week from Drifters’ base at Sowerby Bridge on the leafy Calder & Hebble Navigation in West Yorkshire and cruise through the stunning Calder Valley, then onto the Huddersfield Broad Canal to Huddersfield.  There you can moor the boat and switch to a train for a scenic rail trip to Marsden and the Standedge Tunnel Visitor Centre, which operates boat trips into the tunnel.  Weekly hire from Drifters’ base at Sowerby Bridge over Halloween starts at £515.

 

The tenth Saltaire Festival (6-16 September 2012) promises ‘something for everyone to enjoy’ – from a Food & Drink Festival, Beer Festival, live music in the Piazza and the Yorkshire Food Fair, to a new garden trail, Morris dancers, films, exhibitions and performances by award-winning comedians Stuart Maconie and Anne Fine.

You can easily reach Sir Titus Salt’s fascinating model town on a week’s narrowboat holiday from Drifters’ base at Sowerby Bridge.

Founded on the banks of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal near Bradford in 1851 by Sir Titus Salt, a leading industrialist in the woollen industry, the extraordinary town of Saltaire is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Saltaire Festival exhibition programme includes a study of the ‘Aire Valley Waterways’ by photographer Tim Smith, ‘Salts Mill Workers’ Heritage’, an exhibition of photographs and film of the Salts Mill Workers’ Outing in 1953 and an evening Bat Walk along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.

As well as enjoying the special Festival events, take time to view the town’s stunning architecture with guided walks and visits to its shops, restaurants, cafes and galleries, including the wonderful David Hockney Gallery in Salts Mill.

Canal boat hire from Drifters’ base at Sowerby Bridge starts at £515 for a week, £335 for a short break.

For more information about the festival visit www.saltairefestival.co.uk

 

Boasting more canals than Venice (56km to be precise), Birmingham is a popular destination for narrowboat holiday-makers, with plenty of visitor moorings available in heart of the city.

The City’s key attractions include: The Mailbox and Bullring shopping centres; the Sea Life Centre at Brindley Place; Cadbury World; Birmingham Science Museum; the Jewellery Quarter; Ikon Gallery; the Balti Triangle; and the Black Country Living Museum.

As well as offering fantastic shops, restaurants, museums and theatre, this month, Birmingham is hosting its annual Food Festival (13-19 July) and the International Birmingham Jazz & Blues Festival (6-15 July).

And this summer the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery will display the UK’s largest ever exhibition of ancient Egyptian artefacts on loan from the British Museum.  The Pharoah: King of Egypt exhibition will be from 14 July to 14 October 2012.

Canal boat holidays to Birmingham are available from a number of Drifters bases.  Hire a canal boat from Tardebigge or Alvechurch and you can reach Birmingham on a short break.  Or travel to Birmingham on a week-long canal boat holiday from Napton, Stoke Prior and Gailey.

Birmingham is on a number of the canal rings, including The Black Country Ring and the Warwickshire Ring.

2012 canal boat hire prices start at £330 for a short break and £470 for a week.