Featured canals
By canal
For narrowboat dwellers, canal paddleboarders, and the urban canal community. Each canal page combines Canal & River Trust geometry with the storm overflows that discharge into it.
grand-union
Grand Union Canal
London to Birmingham via the Chilterns and Northants — the backbone of the southern English canal network. Heaviest paddle/narrowboat traffic outside the BCN.
- Length
- 328.9 km
- Locks
- 279
- Overflows
- 10
- Spills · 24 h
- 0
leeds-liverpool
Leeds & Liverpool Canal
127 miles across the Pennines — the longest single canal in Britain. Industrial Yorkshire and Lancashire with active boating communities.
- Length
- 203 km
- Locks
- 108
- Overflows
- 4
- Spills · 24 h
- 0
trent-mersey
Trent & Mersey Canal
93 miles linking the Trent at Derwent Mouth to the Mersey at Preston Brook — Burton-on-Trent's brewery canal, with the Harecastle Tunnel.
- Length
- 151.1 km
- Locks
- 96
- Overflows
- 2
- Spills · 24 h
- 0
kennet-avon
Kennet & Avon Canal
Bristol to Reading via Bath — connects the Severn estuary to the Thames. The Caen Hill flight at Devizes is one of the great paddleboarding/walking spots.
- Length
- 138.7 km
- Locks
- 106
- Overflows
- 1
- Spills · 24 h
- 0
oxford
Oxford Canal
78 miles connecting Oxford and the Thames to Coventry. Slow, rural, popular with hire boats.
- Length
- 127.7 km
- Locks
- 47
- Overflows
- 0
- Spills · 24 h
- 0
shropshire-union
Shropshire Union Canal
Ellesmere Port to Wolverhampton — narrow Welsh borderlands canal. Connects to the Llangollen and the Montgomery.
- Length
- 106.9 km
- Locks
- 53
- Overflows
- 1
- Spills · 24 h
- 0
lancaster
Lancaster Canal
Preston to Tewitfield, in Lancashire. Mostly lock-free — a popular paddleboarding canal with no boat traffic disruptions.
- Length
- 95 km
- Locks
- 15
- Overflows
- 0
- Spills · 24 h
- 0
worcester-birmingham
Worcester & Birmingham Canal
Diglis Basin in Worcester to Gas Street Basin in Birmingham — climbs 428 feet via the famous Tardebigge flight (30 locks).
- Length
- 48.1 km
- Locks
- 58
- Overflows
- 0
- Spills · 24 h
- 0
rochdale
Rochdale Canal
Sowerby Bridge to Manchester via the Pennines. Heavily affected by combined sewer overflows — a poster canal for the Truth Engine.
- Length
- 52 km
- Locks
- 92
- Overflows
- 1
- Spills · 24 h
- 0
monmouthshire-brecon
Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal
Brecon Beacons National Park canal — beautifully rural, popular with paddlers and walkers.
- Length
- 55.2 km
- Locks
- 6
- Overflows
- 0
- Spills · 24 h
- 0