In some parts of the UK canal network a number of canal’s can be linked together to make a cruising ring.
These are great ways to have a narrowboat holiday as you never have to turn round and head back and you see new places everyday. They are also fabulous places to walk and if you are feeling energetic you can use them as long distance paths and spend days exploring them.
The Cheshire Ring is made up of the Trent and Mersey Canal (Kidsgrove Staffordshire to Preston Brook near Runcorn), the Bridgewater Canal (Preston Brook to Castlefields Manchester), Rochdale Canal (Castlefields to Piccadilly basin Manchester city centre), Ashton Canal (Piccadilly Basin to Portland basin in Ashton Under Lyne), Peak Forest Canal (Portland basin to Marple near Stockport) and the Macclesfield Canal. (Marple to Kidsgrove).
It is 97 miles, 93 locks and takes about 55 hours of cruising to get around. For more information visit:Cheshire Ring Info )
You will find that nearly all early major transport routes follow river valleys, and the early canals were no different, but the canal engineers had a problem that they had to maintain a level for as long as possible, and also cross the tributaries of the river that the route was following this leads to some abrupt changes in direction to keep a level and cross the mini valleys with the least amount of earthworks as possible.
At the cache site the canal executes a 90 degree bend very sharply and the off side bank is protected with iron rails, even so the concrete edge bears the marks of boats that haven’t made the turn. This is a good place to Gongoozle and watch the mistakes of the steerers *grin *
There are usually boats tied up nearby so be careful when hunting for the cache that you aren’t too obvious.