A popular canal circuit that takes the traveler across three canals, four counties, through the contrasting salt towns of Middlewich and Nantwich, through the Harecastle Tunnel, 94 locks and 110 miles.
All of it superb!
As a Canal Boat Hire Cheshire holiday, it has everything.
There is rural scenery, industrial heritage, engineering feats, and warm cozy village pubs.
Now I have to admit right now that we have not done the circuit in one cruise. But we have covered the entire ring over various trips.
We joined the canal at Middlewich, an old salt town, with the very welcoming Kings Lock Inn. Good moorings here between the lock, and bridge 166.
And, by Big Lock, is the Big Lock Inn, serving a fine pint of Theakston XB, and Directors. There is a canal side garden, and it is boater and family friendly. We quite liked Middlewich, good moorings, a useful selection of shops, two banks, Somerfield and a chandlery by the boatyard.
Wheelock also provides good moorings, a newsagent, and one of our favorite pubs on the trip, the Cheshire Cheese, where our kids gave the juke box a fine work out. A news agency and post office make Wheelock a pleasant spot to re-stock. If you have time, visit the Commercial Hotel, a classic friendly pub with cozy rooms.
From Wheelock onwards, the locks start to get serious, with 26 of them over the next 7 miles before to Kidsgrove and the Harecastle Tunnel.
This was a real culture shock for us, Australians on our first ever canal cruise finding ourselves motoring through the industrial history of England operating heavy slow locks that a year previously, we didn’t even know existed!
But we loved it, and what a great stretch of canal it is!
Most of the locks along here are doubled, an improvement made in the 1830′s by Thomas Telford to speed up traffic. The locks are spread out, so they are too far for a flight, and too close to take a breather!
The remains of industry, and the potteries, are evident everywhere along this stretch. It’s a rural cruise now, with lovely scenery, right down to Lawton Three locks, which is closely followed by Church Locks.