Our Top 10 narrowboat holidays for 2022

Britain’s peaceful 3,000 mile network of inland waterways provides the perfect staycation destination for 2022.

Emma Lovell, reservations manager for Anglo Welsh, says:

“Pottering slowly through the countryside at just four miles per hour, watching out for wildlife, is a great way to relax.

“Narrow boat holidays offer a self-contained floating holiday home experience, and the chance for hirers to navigate their very own adventure afloat.  It’s free to moor up almost anywhere, so boaters can stop off at canalside pubs, villages and waterside destinations along the way.”

Here’s a guide to our Top 10 narrow boat holidays for 2022:

1.    Cruise to the World Heritage Site at Saltaire – from our narrowboat holiday base at Silsden on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, you can reach Saltaire on a short break.  The journey to Sir Titus Salt’s famous Victorian industrial model town takes seven hours and passing through 11 locks.  Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Salt built the textile Mill and entire village for his mill workers, all in a beautiful Italianate style.  Places to visit at Saltaire include the magnificent Salt’s Mill, displaying many examples of the work of Bradford born artist David Hockney.

2.    Complete the Four Counties Ring – on a week’s break from our canal boat hire base at Bunbury on the Shropshire Union Canal in Cheshire, you can access the fabulous Four Counties Ring.  The journey takes you on a 58-hour waterway odyssey, passing through 96 locks.  The four counties travelled through are Staffordshire, the West Midlands, Cheshire and Shropshire.  Highlights include: the 2670-metre long Harecastle Tunnel on the Trent & Mersey Canal and views of the rolling Cheshire Plains on the Shropshire Union Canal.

3.    Step back in time at the Black Country Museum – on a short break from our Tardebigge base on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal you can reach the Black Country Museum.  It’s an eight-hour, three-lock journey to moorings outside the 26-acre open-air site.  Here you can meet costumed characters explaining what it was like to live and work in one of the world’s most heavily industrialised landscapes.  There are period shops and homes to explore, the ‘Bottle & Glass Inn’, a 1912 school lesson and traditionally cooked 1930’s-style fish and chips.  There are also vintage tram and bus rides and the chance to take a trip ‘into the thick’ to experience life in an 1850’s coal mine.

4.    Glide across ‘The Stream in the Sky’ – from our boat yard on the Llangollen Canal at Trevor in North Wales, you’ll soon encounter the incredible World Heritage Status Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.  One of the ‘Seven Wonders of the Waterways’, this incredible structure transports canal boats 38 metres high across the Dee Valley.  On a short break from Trevor, you can travel cross the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Chirk Aqueduct, and on to Ellesmere, in the heart of the Shropshire Lake District.  The journey to Ellesmere and back takes around 14 hours, passing through two locks each way.

5.    Take a Thames cruise to Henley – on a week’s break from our canal boat hire base close to Oxford, you can enjoy a Thames boating holiday to the historic town of Henley and back.  The journey to Henley passes through 19 locks and takes around 16 cruising hours.  Places to stop off at along the way include: the City of Oxford, packed with architectural treasures, including the magnificent Bodleian Library.  You can also visit Abingdon with its popular riverside pub, the Nag’s Head.  And Wallingford with its Castle Gardens dating back to Saxon times, and Agatha Christie Trail.  Henley is home to the River & Rowing Museum and a choice of riverside pubs.

6.    Navigate to the Eisteddfod town of Llangollen – on a week’s break from Anglo Welsh’s canal boat rental base at Whixall Marina, you can cruise through the Shropshire Lake District and the Welsh mountains to Llangollen and back.  The journey to Llangollen takes around 12 hours and passes through just two locks.  It includes an 11-mile section of the Llangollen Canal, running from Gledrid Bridge to the Horseshoe Falls in Llangollen.  Here stand the incredible Pontcysyllte and Chirk aqueducts and the section was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 2009.  Once in Llangollen, you can moor up to enjoy exploring this beautiful Eisteddfod town, nestled in the Berwyn Mountains.

7.    Float through the Avon Valley and up the Caen Hill Flight – from our base at Monkton Combe on the Kennet & Avon Canal near Bath, it takes around 19 hours to reach Pewsey Wharf.  The route, which is perfect for a week away, takes you through 37 locks each way, including the 29 locks of the Caen Hill Flight at Devizes.  This journey also takes you across two dramatic Bath stone aqueducts at Dundas and Avoncliff. And through the historic market town of Bradford on Avon and the beautiful Vale of Pewsey, part of the West Berkshire Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

8.    Travel through the Warwickshire countryside to Fenny Compton – on a short break from our base at Stockton, boaters can cruise through the countryside to the pretty canalside village of Fenny Compton.  The journey begins on the Grand Union Canal, soon transferring onto the Oxford Canal at Napton-on-the-Hill.  Here, there’s a good choice of pubs, including the Kings Head and Napton Village Stores selling produce from the nearby buffalo farm, including Buffalo burgers, sausages, meatballs, steaks and ice cream.  From there, the route winds gently on through the countryside, with a series of locks to negotiate along the way.  The journey to Fenny Compton and back takes around 20 hours, passing through 24 locks (12 each way).

9.    Cruise into the Peak District – on a week’s break from our base at Great Haywood near Stafford, you can travel into the Peak District.  It takes around 20 hours to reach Froghall Basin, passing through 35 locks.  The route takes you along the Trent & Mersey Canal to Stoke on Trent, where it transfers onto the Caldon Canal.  Beautiful stretches of unspoilt countryside soon open up as you chug gently out of Stoke, with moorlands, woodlands and an abundance of wildlife to enjoy.

10. Navigate the Avon Ring – on a two-week break from our base at Wootton Wawen on the Stratford Canal, you can navigate the Avon Ring.  This epic journey covers 108 miles and passes through 130 locks.  You will navigate sections of the River Avon, River Severn, Worcestershire & Birmingham Canal and the Stratford Canal.  Highlights along the way include: Stratford upon Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare; Tewkesbury and its 12th-century abbey; and the 30 locks at Tardebigge.