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 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 smallest canal in india.
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.
And so we come to Kidsgrove. Here the Macclesfield leaves the Trent and Mersey, heading south, to eventually swing north back at Red Bull, the precursor to today's motorway junction, but a lot more attractive.
The canal water has a real orange tinge, and the closer you get to Harecastle Tunnel, the more orange it gets. By the tunnel, it is a rich maroon colour.
Harecastle Tunnel is 2,962 feet long. Passage through is controlled by BW staff. It is a chilly and spooky experience, but, being one way working, one does not have to worry about oncoming boats. The tunnel used today is the second one opened at Harecastle. The first was opened in 1777. The current one was opened in 1827, (completed in three years, as opposed to the original one taking eleven years!)to ease congestion caused by the huge increase in traffic. In 1914 the original tunnel was abandoned due to bad subsidence and declining traffic, it can be seen blocked off next to the existing tunnel.
After the 40 minute or so journey through the tunnel, it is with some relief to cruise into daylight and more at Longport. There is a water point just by the exit to the Caldon Canal.
Stoke is a canal friendly town, with plenty of moorings.
Although most of the pottery trade has gone, you can still see remnants around Stoke, with bottle kilns, warehouses and old factories reminding us of what used to be.
From Stoke, it is a pleasant cruise through Hem Heath where a pleasant little gift shop operates. There are good moorings by bridge 103 to wander into Barlaston, where the Plume of Feathers is a welcome sight
The Wedgewood Visitor Centre can also be reached from bridge 104.
Try and pause a while at Stone. It is a delightful, bustling town, once the headquarters of the Trent and Mersey Canal Company.
Another boater friendly town, moorings are plentiful, and the town centre only a few minutes away.
The Star Inn, by bridge 93, is one of the oldest pubs on the system, and serves a fine Banks, and Pedigree, and serves bar meals. Don't miss it.
In the town, Safeway and Somerfield both have supermarkets, and there are plenty of other shops to restock the fridge.