One of our earliest industrial canals, the Bridgewater was ahead of its time, and its sturdy construction still impresses in its modern role as a vital link in the north west’s leisure network
We follow 37 miles of the River Avon as it flows down from Warwickshire into Worcestershire, passing Mediaeval abbeys and bridges, glorious countryside, and historic Stratford-upon-Avon
From Little Venice we follow London’s canal past the crowds at Camden Lock and through the less well-known lengths further east to reach Limehouse, the Olympic Park, and London’s newest waterway ring
After the tortuous windings of the southern Oxford, the northern part comes as a contrast - a result of an 1830s shortening exercise whose traces are still visible to today’s leisure boaters
One end is in rural Derbyshire, the other in the heart of Manchester, but both canals form a vital link in the Cheshire Ring - and some attractive cruising too
