Regional Hire-Firm & Marina Hubs

Regional guides to canal boat hire firms and marinas across the UK — Northern, North West & North Wales, Midlands & South Wales, Southern, and South East.

• Hire Firms — Midlands and South WalesScenery is varied: Brindley-built rural contour canals (North Oxford, Ashby), industrial heritage through the BCN and Black Country, the Severn and Avon offerin
• Hire Firms — North West England and North WalesScenery skews rural and dramatic: the Llangollen carries you over the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, the Macclesfield runs along the Cheshire–Peak fringe, the Shroppie
• Hire Firms — Northern England and ScotlandScenery is mixed industrial-heritage and open countryside: stone-built mill towns, moorland edges, the Yorkshire Dales fringe at Skipton, the Aire valley west o
• Hire Firms — Southern and South East EnglandThe Norfolk Broads are a separate world: wide, lock-free (with very limited bridge clearance in places), tidal in their lower reaches, with a strong sailing-cru
• Midlands and South Wales Marinas and MooringsLock densities and ring routes drive the choice of marina more than anything else: Tardebigge sits at the top of a 30-lock flight (great for the Avon/Worcester/
• North West and North Wales Marinas and MooringsLock densities affect mooring choice: a marina at Wrenbury gives easy weekend cruising before any committed lock-work, whereas a base on the Macclesfield commit
• Northern Marinas and MooringsThe Lancaster Canal is essentially a single tramline with a handful of marinas spaced along it; the Forth & Clyde / Union is similar — a small set of well-known
• South East England Marinas and MooringsThe Broads' tidal sections (Yarmouth, Breydon, lower Bure, lower Yare) require tidal planning for any passage; marinas above the locks at Geldeston and on the u
• Southern England Marinas and MooringsBristol's Floating Harbour and the tidal access to the Severn estuary make the south-west end of the K&A unusual: serious tidal planning is required for any pas