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Most beautiful canal cruise for 60th birthday


Floggist

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Hi Everybody, first post on this forum.

 

My wife and I are experienced boaters, having been River Thames based for many years before selling the river boat that I built when we moved our cruising grounds to the south coast of England and the north coast of France. I sold our boat some time back but now my wife and I would like to hire a narrowboat and take a weeks cruise for her 60th birthday. Can the community suggest a really beautiful canal where we can hire a boat for a week please? On balance, I would say we prefer countryside to cities, but a reasonable amount of 'brick beauty' is also good too. The location of the canal is not super-important, but for what it is worth, we live in the south.

 

Thanks for any suggestions given!

 

Andrew.

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You could go for the Llangollen, lots of countryside.

 

This post does prove a point in that beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder. Im my opinion the most overated and quite boring canal is the Llangollen, the Potydoobrey aqueduct is cool but the rest is very ordinary. My faves are the Maccy the Caldon and odd parts of many others including the Selby.

 

Tim

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Depending on your wife's birthday date The Great Western Arms at Aynho on the south Oxford would be a good place to have a Birthday meal.

lt is a lovely bit of canal .

Edited by b0atman
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By far the best canal and one of the least well know is the Chesterfield Canal. Its a bit slow due to a narrow channel, but the scenery is wonderful, the people are great and the towns have there own charms. Loved Retford. The upper reaches are a wonderful place. Also its not over full of other boaters.

--

cheers Ian Mac

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It can depend on how vigorous you wish to be in term of miles covered.

 

If you want an easy cruise in rural settings then the Ashby will be great and you can always cruise some of the Coventry and Northern section of the Oxford if you want to go further.

 

Southern Oxford is a great cruise too with more locks and some bridges to contend with.

 

Llangollen is a good idea.

 

Shroppie south or North end is great.

 

further North I like the Macclesfield Canal.

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Both North and South Oxford are quite pleasant.

You reckon?

The South Oxford is lovely, rural and winding most of the way, slicing through Middle England. The North Oxford has its Borezone stretches and is chiefly useful for joining the rest of the system to the lovely South Oxford. For this reason it should be closed from Easter to October each year to prevent all those boats from the rest of the system from flooding the lovely South Oxford.

 

Floggist, this is a vote (in case you had not realised) for the South Oxford which (in case I hadn't mentioned it) is lovely.

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The Ashby Canal is rural and lock free, if you don't want to do any locks.

 

However the central section of the Leeds & Liverpool is probably the prettiest canal (just). The Caldon rivals it (after an urban beginning), as does parts of the Shropshire Union, Llangollen and Southern Oxford.

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Lots of good suggestions. Personally, for a week, I'd probably go for the Llangollen, starting at the Shroppie end. Though it would depend on when you plan to go, as it can get busy.

 

21 locks, but no locks after New Marton, so you can sit back and enjoy the lovely scenery, tunnels and aqueducts. The last stretch from Trefor to Llangollen is quite something, and there's a definite end point, i.e the marina at Llangollen. Whitchurch is a lovely town and Ellesmere makes a nice stop, and both have easy access and mooring points.

 

But that's just my opinion.

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The Ashby Canal is rural and lock free, if you don't want to do any locks.

 

However the central section of the Leeds & Liverpool is probably the prettiest canal (just). The Caldon rivals it (after an urban beginning), as does parts of the Shropshire Union, Llangollen and Southern Oxford.

I agree the central Leeds Liverpool takes some beating but I'm not sure I would recommend it to a first timer. I tend to think a narrow canal offers a better introduction.

 

But on the other hand if our OP 's wife's birthday is in mid July or August the Llangollen or South Oxford might not be the best choice either unless you want to experience lock queues.

 

At a busy time of year I would probably opt for a cruise up and down the Staffs and Worcs starting from Stone, the northern section of this canal is one of the prettiest around and Tixall Wide is a unique feature that will make ex river boaters feel right at home.

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I agree the central Leeds Liverpool takes some beating but I'm not sure I would recommend it to a first timer. I tend to think a narrow canal offers a better introduction.

 

But on the other hand if our OP 's wife's birthday is in mid July or August the Llangollen or South Oxford might not be the best choice either unless you want to experience lock queues.

 

At a busy time of year I would probably opt for a cruise up and down the Staffs and Worcs starting from Stone, the northern section of this canal is one of the prettiest around and Tixall Wide is a unique feature that will make ex river boaters feel right at home.

Pedant alert - Stone is on the Trent & Mersey, but I agree the S&W is very attractive around Tixall Wide and reasonable for the rest of its route. It is however quite heavily!y locked as it falls towards Worcester.

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