Canal hire firms on Midland canals & South Wales canals
The network of canals radiating out from Birmingham were once at the heart of the Industrial Revolution, bringing raw materials to the developing industries and finished goods to our cities and overseas.
With so many cruising routes and rings the Midlands now makes a wonderful place to take a hire boat holiday. The Rivers Severn and Avon have long trading histories, the Severn being an important route to Shrewsbury and Wales in medieval times and the (Warwickshire) Avon was navigable up to Stratford in the 17th century. The Coventry Canal and the lock free Ashby Canal once served coalfields now buried under green vegetation. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal cuts through tunnels and many locks on its descent to Worcester and the Stratford Canal ends in a basin alongside the famous Theatre on the River Avon. Across the Severn Estuary in South Wales the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal winds through the beautiful Brecon Beacons National Park. The Waterways of East Anglia, the Fens and Middle Levels, the rivers Nene and Great Ouse, offer an unique, peaceful and fascinating cruising area, a mixture of natural rivers and man-made drain for these wide flat lands.
Choose a boat from a Hire firm on the Coventry or Ashby Canals and you are are at the centre of the northern and southern canal networks with a wide choice of routes and circular canal Rings
Hire a boat on the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal (Mon and Brec) and you can enjoy stunning scenery on one of the most beautiful cruising waterways in Britain, isolated from the rest of the canal system.
Cruising the River Severn and River Avon is a wonderful experience, quite different to canal cruising. Explore the Droitwich Canal or down to Sharpness on the Gloucester and Sharpness Ship Canal.
Try hiring a boat on the East Anglian Waterways, explore the Fens, Middle Levels and Rivers Great Ouse, Cam and Nene, an unique, peaceful and beautiful area scattered with interesting villages and market towns.