This canal winds serenely through Cheshire and Shropshire to its terminus at Llangollen (home to the Eisteddfod) in the Welsh Mountains having crossed the spectacular aqueducts at Chirk and Pontcysyllte. To Wigan Pier: 133 miles / 96 locks.

From Manchester it is possible to cruise the famous Barton Wing Aqueduct over the Manchester Ship Canal. Here, in 1761 the Canal Age was born when the Duke of Bridgwater had James Brindley design a way to transport coal from his mines to the growing city of Manchester. Here is not much further to Wigan Pier, the butt of many a Music Hall joke, now home to the award winning living museum “The Way We Were”.