UK canal & river guides - every navigable waterway
Cruise the UK canal network.
Guides to Britain's canals and navigable rivers - live closures, marinas and boatyards, and one-tap route planning for each.
There are currently 416 closures and restrictions across the network (51 blocking navigation, 365 advisory), with a further 214 planned to start later. Most closures are due to low water levels. Last checked 28 Aug 2026.
Live from the Canal Nav closures feed. See every closure on the map →
Aire & Calder Navigation
One of Britain’s great commercial waterways - big, deep locks and long straight reaches carrying boats from Leeds to the Humber ports.
Read the guide →Ashby Canal
A completely lock-free contour canal through gentle Leicestershire countryside and the battlefield of Bosworth - perfect for a relaxed cruise or a first hire holiday.
Read the guide →Ashton Canal
A regenerated urban canal climbing out of central Manchester through 18 locks, forming a key link in the popular Cheshire Ring.
Read the guide →Basingstoke Canal
A beautifully restored canal and haven for wildlife, climbing the Deepcut flight through wooded Surrey heathland - one of the loveliest waters in the south.
Read the guide →Birmingham Canal Navigations
The BCN is a dense historic network at the heart of the second city - more miles of canal than Venice - offering urban exploration, the Farmer’s Bridge flight and endless connections.
Read the guide →Bridgewater Canal
The Duke’s canal was Britain’s first true canal and remains completely lock-free, famously crossing the Manchester Ship Canal on the swinging Barton aqueduct.
Read the guide →Bridgwater & Taunton Canal
A quiet restored canal crossing the Somerset Levels between Taunton and Bridgwater, rich in wildlife and big open skies.
Read the guide →Calder & Hebble Navigation
A mixed river-and-canal navigation through the Calder valley, known for its short, wide locks worked with a traditional handspike.
Read the guide →Caledonian Canal
Thomas Telford’s ship canal links the lochs of the Great Glen, including Loch Ness, climbing Neptune’s Staircase at Fort William beneath Ben Nevis.
Read the guide →Chesterfield Canal
The “Cuckoo Dyke” winds from the Trent towards Chesterfield through beautiful Nottinghamshire countryside, with the restored Norwood and Thorpe flights.
Read the guide →Coventry Canal
A busy junction canal linking the Trent & Mersey, Oxford and Birmingham networks, with the atmospheric Atherstone flight and easy connections in every direction.
Read the guide →Droitwich Canals
The restored Barge and Junction canals reconnect the Severn to the Worcester & Birmingham, creating the compact and scenic Droitwich Ring.
Read the guide →Dudley Canal
Famous for the Dudley Tunnel and its dramatic underground limestone caverns, a fascinating industrial-heritage canal beneath the Black Country.
Read the guide →Erewash Canal
A well-restored former mining canal running up the Erewash valley to the atmospheric Great Northern Basin, a peaceful backwater off the Trent.
Read the guide →Exeter Ship Canal
The oldest still-navigable ship canal in Britain and among the first to use pound locks, running from the historic quay at Exeter down to the Exe estuary.
Read the guide →Forth & Clyde Canal
A coast-to-coast ship canal across Scotland’s waist, reconnected to the Union Canal by the astonishing rotating Falkirk Wheel.
Read the guide →Fossdyke Navigation
Dug by the Romans and still in use, England’s oldest canal runs across the flat Lincolnshire landscape from the Trent to historic Lincoln.
Read the guide →Gloucester & Sharpness Canal
Once the broadest and deepest canal in the world, this ship canal lets boats bypass the treacherous Severn tideway between Gloucester and Sharpness.
Read the guide →Grand Union Canal
The Grand Union is Britain’s main-line canal, running 137 miles from Little Venice in London to the heart of Birmingham. Wide locks, the Hatton flight and long lock-free pounds make it a classic first long-distance cruise.
Read the guide →Grand Western Canal
A completely lock-free canal and country park winding through rolling Devon countryside near Tiverton, home to a horse-drawn passenger barge.
Read the guide →Huddersfield Narrow Canal
The highest, steepest narrow canal in Britain, burrowing under the moors through Standedge - the longest, deepest and highest canal tunnel in the country.
Read the guide →Kennet & Avon Canal
Running from Reading to Bristol, the K&A climbs the mighty Caen Hill flight of 29 locks and threads Bath’s Georgian splendour, a restored waterway now one of the most popular in the south.
Read the guide →Lancaster Canal
A tranquil, almost lock-free canal running north from Preston past Lancaster to Tewitfield, with the Lune Aqueduct and views to the Lakeland fells.
Read the guide →Leeds & Liverpool Canal
The longest single canal in Britain crosses the Pennines from the Mersey to the Aire, taking in Wigan’s 21-lock flight, Bingley Five Rise and wild moorland scenery.
Read the guide →Llangollen Canal
A UNESCO World Heritage route carrying boats across the breathtaking Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, 126 feet above the River Dee - the most spectacular canal in the network and the busiest holiday cruising ground.
Read the guide →Macclesfield Canal
A high-level moorland canal running along the edge of the Peak District with fine stone bridges and long lock-free stretches, part of the popular Cheshire Ring.
Read the guide →Middle Level Navigations
A vast lattice of dead-straight drainage channels across the Fens linking the Nene and the Great Ouse - remote, big-sky boating for the adventurous.
Read the guide →Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal
The “Mon & Brec” hugs the hillsides of the Brecon Beacons National Park with barely a lock, offering some of the most beautiful and peaceful cruising in Britain.
Read the guide →Montgomery Canal
A tranquil, partly-restored canal branching off the Llangollen into the Welsh borderlands, prized for its wildlife and unhurried pace.
Read the guide →Oxford Canal
One of the oldest and prettiest contour canals, the Oxford winds through unspoilt countryside from Coventry down to the Thames at Oxford, famous for its lift bridges and rural moorings.
Read the guide →Peak Forest Canal
Climbing to Bugsworth Basin beneath the Pennines, the Peak Forest offers dramatic scenery, the Marple aqueduct and lock flight, and a gateway to the Cheshire Ring.
Read the guide →Pocklington Canal
A gloriously unspoilt lowland canal off the tidal Derwent, a designated SSSI teeming with wildlife and one of the most natural waterways in the country.
Read the guide →Regent’s Canal
The capital’s best-loved canal sweeps from Little Venice through Regent’s Park and Camden Lock to Limehouse, past the Islington Tunnel.
Read the guide →Ripon Canal
The northernmost lock canal in England, a peaceful spur off the River Ure leading to the cathedral city of Ripon.
Read the guide →River Ancholme
A straight, quiet Lincolnshire river running north from Bishopbridge to the Humber at Ferriby Sluice - largely lock-free cruising under big Fenland skies, managed by the Environment Agency.
Read the guide →River Cam
Past the willows and college backs of Cambridge, the Cam runs down to join the Great Ouse - punts above Jesus Lock, powered boats below.
Read the guide →River Great Ouse
The Fenland’s main artery winds from Bedford through Ely’s cathedral city to the tidal Wash, opening a whole network of lock-free rivers and drains.
Read the guide →River Lee Navigation
From Limehouse and the Olympic Park up through the Lee Valley to Hertford, a green corridor threading the edge of London.
Read the guide →River Nene
A broad, quiet river running from Northampton to the Wash through Oundle and Peterborough, characterised by its distinctive guillotine-gate locks.
Read the guide →River Soar
The Grand Union’s Leicester line follows the meandering River Soar through water-meadows and the heart of Leicester, a lovely mixed river-and-canal cruise.
Read the guide →River Stour
Constable’s river winds through the water-meadows of Dedham Vale from Sudbury down to the tidal estuary at Cattawade - a gentle, historic navigation for small craft, cared for by the Environment Agency.
Read the guide →River Thames
England’s greatest river is navigable from Cricklade to the tideway, flowing past Oxford, Henley and Windsor with grand locks and riverside moorings all the way to London.
Read the guide →River Welland & Glen
The Welland runs from Stamford through Spalding towards the Wash, joined by the little River Glen - remote South Lincolnshire waters on the edge of the Fens, under Environment Agency care.
Read the guide →River Wey Navigation
One of the earliest river navigations, now cared for by the National Trust, running from the Thames at Weybridge to Godalming through leafy Surrey.
Read the guide →Rochdale Canal
A tough, rewarding broad canal crossing the Pennines through Hebden Bridge and Todmorden, with dramatic hill scenery and a lock roughly every quarter mile.
Read the guide →Selby Canal
A short, rural canal linking the Aire & Calder to the tidal Ouse at Selby, a gateway between the Yorkshire waterways and the River Ouse.
Read the guide →Sheffield & South Yorkshire Navigation
A broad, workmanlike waterway climbing the Tinsley flight into the heart of Sheffield, linking the city to the Trent and the tidal network.
Read the guide →Shropshire Union Canal
Telford’s fast, straight “Shroppie” cuts through deep wooded cuttings and high embankments from the Wirral to Wolverhampton, prized for its remote countryside moorings.
Read the guide →Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal
A lovely rural contour canal from the Trent & Mersey down to the Severn at Stourport, winding past red-sandstone outcrops and the pretty village of Kinver.
Read the guide →Stort Navigation
A pretty, winding river navigation from the Lee up to Bishop’s Stortford, quiet and rural despite its closeness to London.
Read the guide →Stourbridge Canal
The heart of England’s glassmaking country, climbing the Stourbridge Sixteen past the restored Bonded Warehouse and glass cone.
Read the guide →Stratford-upon-Avon Canal
A charming canal descending through the Lapworth flight to Shakespeare’s Stratford, known for its barrel-roofed lock cottages and split cast-iron bridges.
Read the guide →Trent & Mersey Canal
Josiah Wedgwood’s canal links the Midlands to the north-west through the Potteries and the mile-and-a-half Harecastle Tunnel, a working artery lined with marinas and boatyards.
Read the guide →Union Canal
A contour canal running lock-free from Edinburgh to Falkirk, carried across the Avon and Almond on grand aqueducts and dropping to the Forth & Clyde via the Falkirk Wheel.
Read the guide →Worcester & Birmingham Canal
Climbing out of Birmingham to the Severn at Worcester, this canal is dominated by the Tardebigge flight - 30 locks in two and a half miles, the longest in the country.
Read the guide →Wyrley & Essington Canal
The winding “Curly Wyrley” follows the contours across the northern BCN, a lock-light lifeline of the Birmingham canal network.
Read the guide →