Take a canal boat holiday this Easter and visit attractions along the way including Cadbury World, Birmingham Sea Life Centre, Water World, SS Great Britain, Standedge Tunnel, Foxton Locks and Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.
Drifters Waterway Holidays is offering family canal boat holidays from £536 for a short break. Families can set off on an adventure together – learning how to work the locks, navigate tunnels, speak the boating lingo, spot wildlife, explore mile upon mile of traffic-free towpaths and visit fantastic attractions.
You can choose from 500 boats from 35 bases across the country. All its operators provide hirers with life jackets and boat steering tuition. Bikes can be stored on the roof of the boat and dogs are welcome aboard most boats.
Peak District and Water World: Drifters base at Stoke on Trent on the Trent & Mersey Canal is on the National Garden Festival Site with its exciting Water World, dry ski-slope, multi-screen cinema, ten pin bowling and shopping centre. On a short break travel through the stunning Churnet Valley along the Caldon Canal and head to the Churnet Valley railway and the Black Lion Pub at Consall Forge. On a week’s break, travel the 111-mile Four Counties Ring, stopping at the Wedgewood Factory, Lord Lichfield’s historic working estate at Shugborough Hall and Churche’s Mansion – the Elizabethan mansion house in Nantwich. Short breaks on a boat for four from Stoke on Trent over Easter from £536, weekly hire from £825.
Cadbury’s Chocolate and the Sea Life Centre: Boaters can travel lock-free to Birmingham in just five hours from Drifters’ base at Tardebigge, stopping for Easter chocolate at Cadbury World. With more canals than Venice, there’s no better way to travel into Birmingham City Centre where over-night moorings are available in Gas Street Basin, close to Brindley Place. There’s plenty for families to see in Birmingham, including the Sea Life Centre at Brindley Place, shops at the Mailbox and Bullring or a show at one of the theatres, museums or art galleries. Short breaks on a boat for four from Tardebigge over Easter start at £595, weekly breaks from £855.
Bath and Bristol on the Kennet & Avon Canal: A short break from Sydney Wharf in the centre of the beautiful World Heritage City of Bath takes you to historic Bradford on Avon and Tithe Barn, used as a set in many costume drama films. Or head west to Bristol’s Floating Harbour and visit Brunel’s masterpiece – the SS Great Britain and the new Blue Reef Aquarium. The journey to Bristol takes eight hours, passing through 13 locks. Easter short breaks on a boat for four from Bath start at £680, weekly cruises from £970.
Travel across the Stream in the Sky: At over 38 metres high and 305 metres long, the awesome Pontcysyllte Aqueduct (AKA ‘The Stream in the Sky’ www.pontcysyllte-aqueduct.co.uk) on the Llangollen Canal in North Wales, is an incredible feat of engineering and offers the canal boat ride of your life! Even though canal boats travel at four miles an hour, with not even a hand rail on the south side of the aqueduct to obscure panoramic views of the stunning Dee Valley below, you feel as if you are floating above the earth. And travelling along the Llangollen Canal offers the chance to experience one of the UK’s most stunning stretches of waterway, explore Shropshire’s mini lakes teeming with wildlife, visit historic Chirk Castle and ride the Llangollen Steam Railway. Short breaks on a boat for four from Trevor at Easter from £590, weekly cruises from £840.
The Pennines, Standedge Tunnel and Selby Abbey: Hire a boat for a week from Sowerby Bridge on the leafy Calder & Hebble Navigation in Yorkshire and cruise through the Calder Valley, then onto the Huddersfield Broad to Huddersfield. Moor your boat and switch to a train for a short but scenic rail trip to Marsden and the Standedge Tunnel Visitor Centre. At 3.25miles long, Standedge is the highest, longest and deepest canal on the UK canal system. An engineering marvel, carved through hard millstone grit, the tunnel runs beneath the Pennines from Marsden in Yorkshire to Diggle in Lancashire. Navigating the tunnel is a specialist one-way trip for experienced boaters only but the visitor centre at Marsden offers fantastic guided boat trips in a glass topped boat. Once back on board your boat in Huddersfield, you can head back down to the Calder & Hebble to the ancient town of Selby, with its abbey and Monday market before heading back to Sowerby Bridge. Short breaks on a boat for four from Sowerby Bridge over Easter start at £590, weekly hire from £910.
The Grand Union Canal in Northamptonshire: Drifters’ base at Gayton on the Grand Union Canal in Northamptonshire is one of the most popular in the country. Not only is it centrally located and easy to get to (just minutes from Junction 15a of the M1), but it also offers a great variety of cruising routes for boaters, whether novices or experienced navigators. A short break (four nights) can take you to Fenny Stratford and back, cruising through miles of countryside. You pass through the village of Stoke Bruerne, with its friendly waterside pubs and fascinating Canal Museum housed in an old corn mill. On a week’s cruise, you can travel to the historic town of Market Harborough and back via the Foxton staircase of locks, with views of the Leicestershire countryside and the chance to find out about the intriguing Foxton Inclined Plane boat lift which once operated there. Short breaks on a boat for four from Gayton over Easter start at £655, weekly breaks from £995.
Click here to book with www.drifters.co.uk
