Charter Hotelboat Willow for Narrowboat Canal Holiday Options

CRUISE OPTIONS:
Some Suggestions:
Many of our cruises start or end between Great Haywood and Fradley on the Trent & Mersey Canal, near to the Lichfield (Trent Valley) station on the main west coast rail link. There we have a mooring facility at Kings Bromley Wharf, with secure car parking facilities. From a canal perspective, the area is handy for main road and rail routes yet is very central to a wide variety of canal routes - near to the Four Counties, and it's associated adjoining canals - see the cruise map. In fact that particular area is right at the very centre of 'Brindley's Great Cross' (the first real architect of our canal system).

But don't presume that starting or finishing in this area is a requirement - it's not. You may have particular cruising requests - no problem. Of course if you just want a variety of differing types of canal, we can make some suggestions. When looking at our lists of suggestions remember we have some photos of the various canals, to whet your appetites (follow the links from the canal map). ............ And just to show that our cruising doesn't need to be based on the four counties, the first example is nowhere near the four counties ring.......

Stratford upon Avon Cruise (7days): Starting in the centre of Birmingham (now a show piece of canal renovation) with its 'yuppie' canalside bistros, we join the Worcester & Birmingham canal. This takes us out of the city centre via Edgbaston and Bourneville of Cadbury fame to Kings Norton junction where we join the Stratford canal. Very soon this canal changes to a delightful rural route, which almost belongs to some past era. The further south we go on this canal the more olde worlde it seems to get with its barrel roofed cottages, very narrow brick and iron bridges, and quaint lock infrastructure. Then to Stratford upon Avon with its canal basin packed with sightseers. We drop down Avon lock onto the river itself - ratty, mole and toad are expect to pop up at any minute - some say the Avon is like a scaled down version of the Thames. Whatever - it's charming (see the photos on our Stratford & Avon page). Several days later we emerge onto the Severn at Tewksbury to head north for Stourport on Severn and the end point of the cruise. Incidentally, Stourport Basin is charming too.

Trent & Mersey with Anderton Lift (6 or 7 days): Travelling to or from the River Weaver on the Trent & Mersey seems to be a favourite. It takes in some very pretty canal stretches, but also has plenty of interesting features beyond the merely pretty. There's Harecastle Tunnel (about 1.75 miles long); 'Heartbreak Hill' for those who enjoy locking; Meandering canal through the salt flashes between Middlewich & Northwich - surprisingly pretty; then the Anderton Lift lifting Willow bodily down from the Trent & Mersey canal in a caisson 50ft to the River Weaver below. The river is a safe and attractive navigation but designed for ocean going ships, with huge locks - fascinating.

Caldon Canal & Return (7 days): Travel up the pretty Trent & Mersey Canal from the Fradley area, skirting Cannock Chase and Shugborough, to Stoke where we branch off onto the Caldon Canal. Once we clear Stoke's suburbs we emerge into some extremely attractive countryside on the edge of the Peak District - some tortuous canal bends following hillsides with river valleys below - and dry stone walls abounding. For a while we will join the river Churnet. An extremely attractive and scenic cruise - but quite demanding (fun) in terms of boat handling skills.

Fradley to Worcester (6 or 7 days): Travel via the Trent & Mersey to Great Haywood, where we branch off SE on the Staffs & Worcester Canal, passing through Tixall Wide, then skirting around the Northern edge of Cannock Chase. The Staffs & Worcester is charming and takes us on SE skirting past Stafford and then North and West of Wolverhampton. We can arrange visits to the Black Country Museum and Dudley Tunnel limestone caverns (recommended). As we go SW, passing the main conurbation to the E, we closely follow 'Kinver Edge', a sandstone escarpment, making for a very attractive winding cruise. At Kidderminster we can arrange a back in time 'Third Class' excursion on the Severn Valley Steam Railway (recommended). From Stourport basin we drop down through the locks onto the tree lined River Severn, where we head down stream to Worcester.

Four Counties Ring ( 8 days or 7 days for enthusiasts ): This is 'the classic cruising ring'. Taking in the Staffs & Worcs; the Shroppie; Middlewich; Trent and Mersey canals. Mainly rural, apart from Stoke & Etruria, with lots of different contrasts in the nature of the canals. For more detail see our map and the descriptions of the individual canals. We can extend this cruise by several days to take in a trip up and down the Anderton Lift, with some river cruising on the Weaver. In fact add a few days and we have a number of Extensions - Caldon, Macclesfield, Llangollen canal.

Chester to Fradley - or Northwich to Fradley (5 or 6 days): From Chester we take the Shropshire Union, South, until we meet the Staffs & Worcs just north of Wolverhampton, before heading away into the country NE to Gt. Haywood and the Trent & Mersey. Similarly we can take you from Northwich on the R.Weaver; up the Anderton Lift; South on the Trent & Mersey but then West on the Middlewich going South via the Shropshire Union; then NE on the Staffs & Worcs, as before. Just two of the ‘four county’ options available to those who 5 or 6 days, but insufficient time to do the full classic ring.

The above are just a few of the favourites - remember we can build a charter cruise to satisfy your own particular preferences. Sorry, we can not cruise the Leeds & Liverpool trans-pennine canals - Willow is physically too long to fit into the locks on those canals.