Canal Boat Holiday Base 16 Information - on the Cheshire Ring

Short Break Routes One Week Routes Longer routes Boats from Base 16

Boats departing from Bases 15,16 and 18 are currently unable to complete the Cheshire Ring due to a sink hole on the Bridgewater canal near Lymm

About the Area

Base 16 is south of Manchester and north east of historic Chester. It is run by one of the best boat operators in the UK, with a friendly, professional service.

This strategically sited base on the Trent & Mersey canal near Northwich in Cheshire is an excellent starting point for your canal cruises, and is on the Chshire Ring. For the newcomer to canals Chester or Ellesmere Port and return is a good cruise option.

Short breaks can take you towards Manchester, or south to Middlewich and beyond. One week takes you to Chester or the Cheshire Ring itself.

Routes from Base 16

Your holiday isn't tied to a specific route. You simply hire a boat for the time you choose, then explore the canals however you like. Our short-break, week, and two week routes are just ideas to help you plan your ideal canal holiday.

Short break routes (3 - 4 nights)

Lymm and return
2 locks • 18 hours

Cruise above the picturesque River Weaver and its valley. The only lock has a drop of 6 inches! This route includes Preston Brook tunnel, nearly a mile long, and two shorter tunnels.

Beeston or Nantwich and return
16 locks • 20 hours

Easy cruising south from Base 16 with superb scenery and good pubs. Medieval Nantwich is about a mile from the canal.

River Weaver via Anderton Boat Lift and back
10 locks • 10 hours

Re-opened in 2002 the Anderton Boat Lift carries two boats at a time hydraulically, one up and one down. The River Weaver is at the centre of the Cheshire salt making area, and has excellent wildlife in beautiful scenery.

One week routes

Chester and back
44 locks • 32 hours

Ellesmere Port and back
52 locks • 40 hours

From the base to Middlewich the cruising is easy and lock free and you enjoy your first experience of the delightful countryside that is a characteristic of this cruise. Notice the scars on the church tower at Middlewich, made by the musket balls of the Roundheads and Cavaliers during the Civil War. Turning right into the Wardle cut, for much of the way you run along a hill side and through a few well spaced locks to Barbridge junction and then join the Shropshire Union canal. Here you commence the drop down to Chester and on arrival there are moorings right beneath the city walls. Don't miss a walk along the city wall and through its narrow medieval streets of this World Heritage site. A few more locks allow you to continue to Ellesmere Port with a possible intermediate stop for a walk to the popular Chester Zoo. Visit the celebrated Boat Museum at Ellesmere Port where the canal joins the very much larger Manchester Ship canal. This really is a splendid introduction to canal cruising.

Cheshire Ring
92 locks • 49 hours

An enchanting run along the hillside over looking the River Weaver, brings you to a lock with just a six inch fall and then you are on the Bridgewater canal which is wide, deep and lock free for the long run to Manchester. A mooring at Castlefields will allow you to explore the City with its tram system. Don't miss a visit to the huge Arndale Centre or the even closer Science and Industry Museum. You now steadily climb the Ashton canal and begin to leave Manchester behind you reaching your highest point at Marple. Commence a long lock free run past Macclesfield before the descent to join the Trent & Mersey canal. From this junction to Middlewich many of the locks are paired which gives some indication of the intensity of the now long gone commercial traffic between the potteries and the ports.

Longer routes

Four Counties Ring
102 locks • 65 hours

Cruise to Middlewich and join the Four Counties Ring.