Cheshire Ring
Peak National Park and river valleys.
Bridgewater Canal
(1765, 1773)
Preston Brook Jcn - Bollin Embankment - Waters Meeting - Castlefield
Jcn
Rochdale Canal (1804)
Castlefield Jcn - Rochdale Nine Ducie Street Jcn
Ashton Canal (1796)
Ducie Street Jcn - Portland Basin - Dukinfield Jcn
Peak Forest Canal (1800)
Dukinfield Jcn - Woodley and Hyde Bank Tunnels
- Marple Aqueduct Marple Locks - Marple Jcn
Macclesfield Canal (1 831)
Marple Jcn - Bollington Aqueduct - Bosley Locks Red Bull Aqueduct -
Hardings Wood Jcn
Trent and Mersey Canal (1777)
Hardings Wood Jcn - Middlewich Locks - Anderton Lift - Preston Brook
Tunnel - Preston Brook Jcn
Allow 55 hours travelling.
30 miles wide canal, 72 miles narrow canal, 102 total miles
including a 40 mile lockfree pound.
4 tunnels, 2 aqueducts, 83 narrow locks, 9 wide locks.
Seven Wonders: Anderton Lift.
Created after early successful campaigns for
the repair of a canal breach and the restoration of key segments
(1968, 1971, 1972) this is one of the original cruising rings.
It takes you though gentle Cheshire Countryside and passes by
rearing gritstone escarpments but at its heart is metropolitan
Manchester with lots of places to visit within half an hour of
moorings. It climbs past the Pennines to some of the highest water
in the country and drops down close to the tidal Mersey. It includes
two early canals and one from the end of the first canal mania age.
Some try to race round the circuit in a week travelling for most
daylight hours, but I believe that leaves too few hours for coming
onto land.
Visitor attractions
Dunham Massey Hall
250 acre deer park, beech avenues, working Elizabethan mill - 30
room mansion with furniture, paintings, silver, kitchen, laundry and
stables.
Tie up near Bridge 27. |
Little Moreton Hall |
knot garden
and moat.
Tie up at Bridge 85. Get there before the coaches.
Salt Museum, Northwich (Tel: 01606 41331)
Creator of flashes, destroyer of buildings. underminer of canals
(1958). supplier of essential life force. Tales of salt working
since Roman times.
Tie up at Bridge 184. A longer walk west.
Waterway distractions
Lymm Dam
Fishermen surround this water set in idyllic surroundings. Supply
reservoir for the canal. Tie up at narrow A6144 Lymn Bridge.
Wooded walk
Bollin Embankment
Narrowest part of the Bridgewater. A spectacular breach ( 1971)
forced a two year closure but a new concrete channel was built with
public money.
Tie up near Dunham.
Castlefield Basin
Series of specialised wharves for all manner of goods brought here
by the very first cross-valley canal.
Tie up alongside the events arena.
Salford Quays and River Irwell
Manchester Ship Canal is no longer big enough for today’s ships but
lock down, turn right. go past the former entrance to the
Manchester. Bolton and Bury Canal up to the limit of river
navigation by the Mark Addy pubside moorings. Turn left and tie up
near The Lowry in one of the vast docks built at the end of the
canal for 20th century ships. (Tel: 0161 872 2411) Drop down to the
river through Pomona Lock. There and hack in 2 hours
Rochdale Nine
Wide locks pass the heart of Manchester night life. Chinatown and
gay pubs nearby.
Two mile link that is now a passage free of charge.
Portland Basin: Tameside Heritage Museum
Industrial heritage displayed in rebuilt warehouse.
Tie up in the basin. Canals Festival mid July.
Marple Aqueduct and Locks
Goyt Valley spanned by Benjamin Outrarn’s threearched. 1 00 foot
high Scheduled Ancient Monument. 16 locks climb 214 feet through
woods past local parkland and leafy suburban houses.
Tie up north of the Aqueduct. Energetic walk on waymarked path
into the valley. well worth the trouble.
Bosley Locks
12 locks descend 118 feet in magnificent surroundings. Telfords only
locks on the Macclesfield Canal.
Heartbreak Hill
26 sets of locks were made into pairs ( 1 835) to reduced waiting
time on this busy waterway. Chamber of Lock 53 was rebuilt in steel
after being wrecked by salt-induced |
subsidence. but was
heavy to work and ignored by boatmen.
Twenty nine locks in ten miles.
Middlewich Big Lock
Sole wide lock at the north end of Trent and Mersey Canal built to
let barges away to Manchester and Wigan but negated by the narrow
tunnel at Preston Brook and the rebuilt dimensions of Croxton
Aqueduct. |
source. Now under
re-restoration.
7 miles, 0 locks each way. Allow 4 hours
Harecastle Tunnel to Etruria
Experience the second longest tunnel. Go to original Wedgwood
pottery site and Bone and Flint Mill. 5½
miles, 0 locks each way. Allow for waiting at the tunnel and
3 hours. |
 Suggested
Guide Book
Exploring the Cheshire Ring British Waterways, 2000
 Tourist
Information
Altrincham Tel: 0161 9125931
Manchester Tel: 0161 234 3157
Ashton-under-Lyne Tel: 0161 343 4343
Macclesfield Tel: 01625 504114 |
Old Trafford (Tel: 0161 872
0199)
Manchester United Museum and Trophy Room.
Tie up at Throstle Nest Footbridge (Bridge 96).
Museum of Science and Industry (Tel: 0161 872 0199)
Celebrating the saying ‘what Manchester does today, the world does
tomorrow’ . Includes exhibits of early computers, aviation, printing
and textile machinery.
Tie up near Castlefield Arena. Allow a few hours.
Granada Studios Tour
Coronation Street and all that jazz.
Tie up near Castlefield Arena. Allow a few hours.
Metrolink Trams
Comfortable public transport as it should be.
Tie up near Castlefield Arena. Use G-Mex Tram stop.
Bridgewater Hall (Tel: 0161 907 9000)
Home of Halle Orchestra. Foyers open 7 days a week.
Tie up near Lock 89 or enter the basin.
Velodrome
Cradle of some of Britain’s Olympic cyclists.
Tie up near Lock 8 on the Ashton Canal.
Lyme Park
1377 acre deer park, Lyme cage folly, costumed attendants, gardens,
fishing, horseriding.
Tie up near Bridge 15. A longer walk east.
Paradise Mill, Macclesfield
Fine work in silk from the country’s leading centre.
Tie up at Bridge 40.
Mow Cop Trail
Energetic waymarked walk to ‘The Cloud’ and super views across the
Cheshire Plain.
Tie up at Bridge 72.
Little Morton Hall (National Trust)
Fine timber-framed manor house (1500s) with long wainscoted gallery,
chapel, priest’s hole, furniture |
Only one stop lock until Manchester 40 miles away or Wigan 54 miles
away
Three Tunnels
Wide passing pounds separate Barnton (1716 feet) and Salterford
(1272 feet) Tunnels. Together with Preston Brook Tunnel (3717 feet)
they allow the canal to hug the steep side of the Weaver Valley.
Tie up and await your hourly slot. On the hour northbound. on the
half-hour southbound.
Worth a detour
Worsley Delph and Barton Aqueduct
Duke’s mines at Worsley, original source of coal to Manchester. Huge
Barton Swing Aqueduct built by Manchester Ship Canal Company after
it bought both the Bridgewater Canal and River Irwell Navigation.
5 miles, 0 locks each way. Allow 2½
hours.
Anderton Lift (2002) and Weaver Navigation
Wide navigation under huge swing bridges that let sea going cargo
ships up as far as Winsford.
Narrowboats pass under without disturbance. Vale Royal cut, turn at
Winsford Bottom Flash.
7 miles, 2 locks each way. 5 hours plus time for passing through
lift. Book the lift in advance.
Peak National Park and Bugsworth Basin
River Goyt Valley, Millennium Walkway to the Tons, Bugsworth Basin -
a huge canal/tramway interchange and major limestone |
 Cruising
Maps
GEOprojects: Trent & Mersey Canal map 1, Preston Brook to
Fradley Junction
GEOprojects: Macclesfield and Peak Forest Canals with the
Ashton Canal |
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Start
Points |
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7 |
Alvechurch Boat Centres |
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10 |
Andersen Boats |
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10 |
Middlewich Narrowboats |
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16 |
Anglo Welsh Waterway Holidays |
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32 |
Black Prince Holidays |
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35 |
Black Prince Holidays |
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54 |
Cheshire Cat Narrowboat Hire |
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55 |
Claymoore Navigation Ltd |
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59 |
Constellation Cruises Ltd |
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65 |
Empress Holidays Ltd |
|
77 |
Heritage Narrowboats |
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92 |
Peak Forest Cruisers |
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