Canal holiday ring routes

RING ROUTES

We offer you three canal holiday rings, using the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, Rochdale Canal and Leeds & Liverpool Canal. The shortest of these takes eleven days (Rochdale/HNC). The L&L/Rochdale is just achievable in two weeks with a reasonable sized crew. If you have three weeks you can do justice to the L&L with either the HNC or Rochdale.

All these routes are immensely rewarding, but are absolutely not suited to the inexperienced, or less than intrepid. You have to get the timing right, particularly for Standedge Tunnel, which is only open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Please tell us your intended route when you book.

Mileages are for the rings, starting and finishing in Sowerby Bridge. Times are for guidance.

Slideshow of routes down the Calder Valley from Sowerby Bridge

Slideshow of South Pennine Ring (HNC half)

Slideshow of South Pennine Ring (Rochdale Canal half)

Circular 11-night Holiday - available only on Short Break boats for very experienced crews - Monday start (you need the extra day - don't try this on Friday start)

Circular 14-night Holiday - available on any Out & Back Boat starting Saturday, or Short Break boat  starting Monday or Friday

"Very varied scenery, beautiful rolling hills, pretty villages/towns, abandoned factories & regeneration of disused factories into modern apartments. Highlight of trip was Standedge Tunnel, it was a wonderful experience and we emerged into sunlight and bunting they have up for bicentennial celebrations."
Mr Jones, Oxford

ROCHDALE CANAL &
HUDDERSFIELD NARROW CANAL
23. The South Pennine Ring 71 miles 197 locks 80 hours
This exhilarating journey crosses the Pennines twice. You need to plan carefully so as arrive on time for passages in three different places which you must book: Standedge Tunnel, and Locks 66 to 83 and 36 to 37 on the Rochdale. This trip is achievable in eleven nights (ten does not work), but because you should allow some time for possible delays, it is much more comfortable in a fortnight - which should leave you a little spare time to visit the Peak Forest Canal.

Sail down the Calder & Hebble Navigation past Brighouse, with a short river section to Cooper Bridge, where you take the right turn into the bottom lock of the Huddersfield Broad. This leads you up through the outskirts of Huddersfield right into the City centre. Go through the University, a weird but satisfying juxtaposition of sixties high-rise and nineties mill conversion, then dive under another mill (this one real) into the first of two new tunnels which lead directly into new locks. As you emerge, a steel-truss railway viaduct frames the start of your journey up the Colne valley into the hills.
At Slaithwaite the canal has been put back on its original track. You will enjoy exploring the village. Then go on up the valley, to the summit, 644’ 9” above sea level. Walk down to the village of Marsden, whose Mechanics Institute is the home of Mikron Theatre (though they will be away touring). The Standedge Visitor Centre gives an insight into the lives of the tunnellers who blasted their way under the Pennines, the packhorse teams who preceded them over the top, and the leggers who took the boats through 3 ¼ miles of pitch dark. The very short summit pool makes the entrance into Standedge Tunnel all the more dramatic by its understatement.
BW will take pull your boat through the tunnel with an electric tug, while you ride in a glass-sided passenger boat allowing you to see the work of the original miners and of their modern successors. Your guide will bring this to life.
After the tunnel, the canal descends quickly through the Diggle flight, then into the Saddleworth villages, with weavers’ cottages, and genuine charm as well as craft shops. The centre of Stalybridge has been transformed by the construction of a new canal.
You enter Ashton by passing under an ASDA, to be compared with the Sainsbury’s you passed at Huddersfield several days (and 74 locks) ago. Dukinfield Junction has perhaps the most graceful footbridge on the canals, and there is an interesting Industrial Museum opposite.
The Ashton Canal takes you down, past the site of the Commonwealth Games and the new on/off Super Casino, into Manchester. The city is full of life and things to do, such as the Lowry and the Bridgewater Hall.
Next morning, meet BW for your supervised trip through the part of the route with most potential for regeneration, now the canal is open: a fascinating glimpse of inner-city life. Pass under a vast interchange on the M60, and suddenly you're back in greenery. Slattocks locks take you up to a good mooring.
Then it's through the canal's eponymous home town, past Clegg Hall (a Grade 1 listed ruin), and time for another assault on the Pennines. Take breath exploring Littleborough, or at the very least its second-hand bookshop. Pass between tall mills with the moors looming overhead, and arrive at the Summit - Inn to hand. At the second lock down the other side, you're back in Yorkshire, and after you go under a splendidly overdone Gothic railway bridge, the Great Wall shows you are about to arrive in Todmorden: completely untouristy yet with much to enjoy - fine Victorian buildings, especially the Town Hall, a lively market and many places to eat and drink, all dominated by a curving railway viaduct.
Pass down the valley, its sides closed in with crags and trees and views of the moors high above. A stream runs alongside, and the locks are set among woods or stone cottages. The Pennine Way crosses at Callis, and soon you arrive in Hebden Bridge. This old mill town nestles in a fork in the hills, houses piled tier upon tier. Hebden has excellent shops and is full of surprises - everything from horsey clothing to hand-made pottery. 
On your home stretch now, the canal gradually descends through woods, fields and small stone towns to the deepest lock in the country, which brings you finally back to our basin. 
Navigation notes: This journey is recommended for experienced crews only. The Huddersfield and western half of the Rochdale Canals are not yet in as good condition as other canals and you may experience difficulty or delays. Some of the locks can be hard work. Passage through Standedge is available on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Dogs are now allowed through the tunnel. You should pre-book passage with British Waterways (01782 785703). The Manchester end of the Rochdale is subject to vandalism and your passage will be supervised by BW. Passage between Locks 66 and 83 on the Rochdale must be pre-booked with British Waterways (01782 785703) and is available only for a limited number of boats each morning (except Sundays). Passage between Locks 36 and 37 (the summit) must also be booked (7 days). We will give further details in the Information Pack posted to you in good time before your holiday. You must tell us at the time of booking that you intend to do the South Pennine Ring. We will advise on direction of travel and lock/tunnel booking.

Circular 21-night Holidays - available on any Out & Back or Short Break boat

ROCHDALE CANAL &
LEEDS & LIVERPOOL CANAL
24. The Northern Pennine Ring 185 miles 215 locks 115 hours
The second way to cross the Pennines twice, by the Rochdale and the Leeds & Liverpool. There are real contrasts between the urban centres (some newly regenerated, and some waiting for that), and the Pennine crossings, which have some of the most striking scenery on the waterways.

Leaving our historic canal basin, your journey begins with the excitement of a new tunnel and the deepest lock in the country. The canal gradually climbs through woods, fields and small stone towns to Hebden Bridge. This old mill town nestles in a fork in the hills, houses piled tier upon tier. Hebden has excellent shops and is full of surprises – everything from horsey clothing to hand-made pottery. Untie, and go on up the valley, its sides closing in with crags and trees and views of the moors high above. A stream runs alongside, and the locks are set among woods or stone cottages. The Pennine Way crosses at Callis.
So to Todmorden, completely untouristy yet with much to enjoy – fine Victorian buildings, especially the Town Hall, a lively market and many places to eat and drink, all dominated by a curving railway viaduct. From here the going gets serious – more Alpine than Pennine. Another 18 locks in just three miles bring you breathless but exhilarated to the summit, at 600' the second highest you can scale in England. You will have earned a drink at the Summit Inn.
From here, you drop down into Littleborough. Pass Clegg Hall, a Grade 2* listed building dating from 1618, which was long a ruin but has now been restored. Soon you come to Rochdale itself, where some of the biggest restoration projects have been tackled, including the M62, which for so long seemed permanently to block the canal. Now you go under it by a short but ingenious deviation of the canal. Then descend through town and country, transformed by the restoration of the canal, right to the centre of Manchester. Pubs and restaurants welcome boaters, and the city is full of life and things to do.
Leave Manchester by dropping under a skyscraper and taking the last nine locks of the Rochdale to Castlefield, junction with the Bridgewater Canal. Pass the Trafford Centre and turn onto the Leigh Branch. Go to Worsley, and stop to see the birthplace of the canals. Transfer seamlessly to the other Leigh Branch (you will have to look this up!). This takes you through to Wigan, where you join the L&L just above the bottom of the famous flight. Pause to explore the covered market and bustling town. Set out up the flight, with splendid views back over the town. Then you are back in the country, with locks at Johnson's Hill, where the Lancaster Canal never got joined to the L&L. And so through countryside, with views of the Calder Valley (that's the Lancashire Calder), interspersed with old mill towns like Blackburn, you get to Burnley, and cross the embankment above the rooftops of the town. By now you're getting the message: the builders of the L&L were astonishingly bold, so you aren't too surprised, having climbed the deep locks at Barrowford, to see the long, wide and deep Foulridge Tunnel ahead of you. You emerge into a pastoral scene, with your first views of the Yorkshire Dales. After dropping through three locks, you meander round the hillside on one of the most isolated stretches of canal anywhere, an extraordinary step out of modern life. Keep going through Bank Newton and Gargrave flights, to arrive at Skipton, Gateway to the Dales. Pause to explore the castle.
A long stretch along the hillside with smashing views and lots of swing bridges - much easier these days - takes you to the top of Bingley Five Rise. Now you get more activity, with several staircase locks taking you down into Leeds, green nearly all the way into the city centre. Huge investment is transforming Leeds: you can visit the Royal Armouries, Harvey Nicholls and many places to eat and drink.
Now you are on the Aire and Calder, a big navigation with electric locks: you may see some commercial traffic. This takes you round to Wakefield, where you join the Calder & Hebble Navigation. This gradually leads you up the valley, the locks getting shorter and the lock houses smaller as you go. Your route passes in and out of the river, and has a charm of its own. Finally the Pennines come into view again, and you know you are nearly back in Sowerby Bridge.

Navigation notes: Previous experience essential. You can make this journey in either direction, depending on your start day. See Route 23 for information. This trip can be done in two weeks by very active, organised crews.

HUDDERSFIELD NARROW CANAL &
LEEDS & LIVERPOOL CANAL
25. The Outer Pennine Ring 192 miles 248 locks 130 hours
The third and most demanding way to cross the Pennines twice, by the Huddersfield Narrow and the Leeds & Liverpool. A journey for real enthusiasts, with an extraordinary variety of sights along the way.
For the first part of this journey, follow Route 23 to Manchester. For the second part, follow Route 24 across the Leeds & Liverpool and back to Sowerby Bridge.
Navigation notes: Previous experience essential. You can make this journey in either direction, depending on your start day. See Route 23 for information. This trip cannot possibly be done in less than two and a half weeks, however good the crew.