Canal Boat Holiday Base Information - Base 20 on the Llangollen Canal

About the location

Base 20 boasts a superb setting close to the majestic Pontcysyllte Aqueduct which carries the Llangollen Canal high above the River Dee. Llangollen town is only a two hours cruise away.

This base offers short breaks and one week cruises on the Llangollen Canal, one of the easiest routes for people new to canal boat holidays. Short breaks from the base include Llangollen itself or southwards to villages on the English-Welsh border. The full length of the canal can be cruised in a week.

Routes from this base

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)

These follow sections of the Llangollen Canal described in the One Week routes

Ellesmere and Return • 4 locks • 14 hours
Llangollen and Return • 0 locks • 4 hours

One week routes

From Base 20 the two hour cruise to Llangollen follows the contours of the land, passing narrow sections where the cliffs overlook the canal on one of the UK's most stunning stretches of waterway.. There are good moorings at LLangollen, home of the Welsh national eistedfodd. Visit the Steam Railway centre, walk to the famous Horseshoe Falls, and enjoy the many attractions.

Back from Llangollen cross the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct - the 'stream in the sky' with your boat suspended in a narrow trough 126 feet above the River Dee. Enjoy the beauty of the Welsh countryside before crossing the border into England halfway across the Chirk Aqueduct, and on towards Ellesmere, a small market town dating back to Anglo Saxon times, with its mystical mini lakes (meres) and abundant wildlife and wildfowl.

The Llangollen Canal leads on to Whitchurch town and the pretty villages of Wrenbury and Marbury, and Grindley Brook's six locks and local stores. The Canal is home to important marine plant life as well as dragonflies, butterflies and wildflowers at the water's edge.

Whitchurch and Return plus Llangollen • 4 locks • 24 hours
Wrenbury and Return plus Llangollen • 24 locks • 32 hours
Barbridge and Return • 42 locks • 42 hours