CRUISE 1
This short cruise takes you over the 2 famous Aqueducts, through tunnels to the lovely Welsh town of Llangollen.
Start : Blackwater Meadow Marina, Ellesmere, Shropshire
Finish: Blackwater Meadow Marina
Total distance: 39 miles
Total locks: 2 each way
Major Aqueducts: 2 each way
Tunnels: 2 each way
Cruising Hours: Approx 17 (3-4 nights)
This very beautiful canal is one of the most popular Waterways in Europe, and includes the famous Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, which is one of the most spectacular and amazing feats of engineering on the Canal system.
Built by Thomas Telford in 1805, the Aqueduct is 126 feet high, and spans over 1000 feet across a valley with the River Dee thundering away in the distance below your feet.
The Chirk Aqueduct is another impressive structure built by Thomas Telford, and is 70 feet high, and beside it at 100 feet high is an impressive Viaduct built in 1848 to take the Shrewsbury & Chester Railway across the valley. The Chirk Tunnel is 1,377 feet in length, and once through this you can moor up and walk to Chirk Castle, a 700 year old Castle managed by the National trust. Llangollen, a very pretty Welsh town at the Western end of the Canal, is easily reached from our marina in a couple of days, and is a pleasant base to moor up for 24 hours.
CRUISE 2
Grand Union canal, 4 -5 night cruise This delightful short cruise includes the famous Foxton locks, a flight of 10 locks in a staircase, and two tunnels, and is very rural, passing through just small villages as it passes through the beautiful Leicestershire countryside.
Start: Union Wharf
Finish: Union Wharf
Total Distance: 48 miles
Total Locks: 46 (inc Foxton locks 2 x10)
ruising Hours: 27 hours
Cruise from Market Harborough - a quaint, traditional English market town that dates from 1203, up the Market Harbrough arm of the Grand Union canal to Foxton.
The friendly lock-keeper will guide you through the staircase locks, stop for a cream tea in the canal side cafe or a well deserved pint in the Foxton Locks Inn. Cruise down the canal through Husbands Bosworth Tunnel which is 1166 yards long, and then along the Welford Arm of the Grand Union so that you can moor up in Welford overnight.
The next day you can cruise back up the Grand union through the Foxton Locks again, and keep straight on.
The countryside is beautiful, and you can wake up in the morning right out in the country, with only the sheep and cows for company! Just short of Saddington Tunnel & just a 15 minute walk away is the village of Saddington, which has an award winning pub - The Queens Head, in the main street & has superb views over Saddington resevoir, and serves a wide range of food.
Visit Saddington reservoir built to keep the canal well watered now a wildlife haven.
If you turn around at Kilby Bridge you will just enough time to get home again.
This cruise can be shortened to 3 nights if you turn around just before the Saddington Tunnel, Total Distance: 28 miles Total Locks: 22 (inc Foxton locks 2 x10) Cruising Hours: 17 hours.