Guide to the Four Counties Ring
Love Travelling’s guide to cruising round the Four Counties Ring on a narrowboat
Last autumn Marion Collinson of Love Travelling travelled round the Four Counties Ring on a narrowboat holiday with her family, and has since published a Guide to the Four Counties Ring.
Marion departed from Drifters’ canal boat hire base at Stoke-on-Trent aboard a 62ft Princess Signature Class narrowboat.
The journey covered 110 miles, passed through 94 locks and took two weeks. It is possible to complete the Four Counties Ring on a 10-day holiday, but Marion and her family wanted time to visit local attractions along the way.
With such an epic journey to review, Marion’s detailed Guide to Narrowboating on the Four Counties Ring is a four-part series:
Part 1 Staffordshire
The Staffordshire guide covers the first few days heading north on the Trent & Mersey Canal, including visiting Middleport Pottery and travelling through the Harecastle Tunnel.
Part 2 Cheshire
The Cheshire guide covers the 31 locks at Heartbreak Hill, boating through the leafy Cheshire Plains and visiting Wheelock and Sandbach. This section of the journey includes transferring onto the Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal at Middlewich and a visit to Nantwich.
Part 3 Cheshire, Shropshire & The West Midlands
This third guide covers a section of the Shropshire Union Canal in Cheshire and then into Shropshire at Audlem and on to the outskirts of the Wolverhampton. Stops included The Shroppie Fly pub at Audlem Wharf, Market Drayton, The Bridge Inn at Brewood (offering a laundry service for boaters) and Autherley Junction.
Part 4 Completing the circle
This final guide covers the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal, Gailey Wharf, Penkridge, the Tixall Wide Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), transferring onto the Trent & Mersey Canal at Great Haywood Junction, the village of Stone and a stop at the Plume of Feathers at Barlaston.
Marion has also reviewed a Drifters narrowboat holidays on the Kennet & Avon Canal.
