The new waterway age

The last three years have seen hundreds of miles of canal reopened - and with boats now available for hire on many of them, your choice of holidays is bigger than ever before.

After the 'canal mania' age of the 1800s, the arrival of the railways meant a slow decline for many of Britain’s most picturesque water routes. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, countless canals were closed or left to decay.

But with the boom in pleasure cruising after the Second World War, pressure mounted to bring these canals back into use. The pioneering volunteer navvies began restoration work, eventually joined by local councils, canal owners such as British Waterways, and the Government. The arrival of the National Lottery, in the 1990s, gave an enormous boost to the movement - and now canals are reopening at a faster rate than they were ever built.

What does this mean for you? For the holiday boater, there's now more choice than ever before - and more stunning scenery.

New cruising grounds

Perhaps the greatest achievement is the reopening of Scotland’s Lowland Canals, dubbed the Millennium Link. Comprising two waterways, the Forth & Clyde Canal and the Union Canal, this route runs from coast to coast, from Glasgow to Edinburgh. Long, peaceful stretches of canal with no locks are interspersed with imposing aqueducts and - most impressive of all - The Falkirk Wheel, an amazing rotating boat lift linking the two canals. You can now hire boats from Falkirk to take a voyage of discovery on the Millennium Link, available for booking online through Waterscape.com.

Two further cross-country routes have opened in the Pennines. With plenty of locks needed to cross the hills, the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and the Rochdale Canal are waterways for energetic crews - especially if they appreciate marvellous moorland scenery. Despite their industrial-sounding names, both the canals have long rural stretches. The Huddersfield has the added attraction of Britain’s longest canal tunnel at Standedge, which is almost four miles long. Through Waterscape.com, you can book a boating holiday from Sowerby Bridge or Ashton, ideal for either canal. (Please note that the Rochdale Canal is partially closed until later in August.)

The Kennet & Avon Canal, through beautiful Berkshire, Wiltshire and Somerset, actually reopened in 1990. But a Lottery-funded programme of improvements has just concluded, bringing this crown prince of waterways up to the standard its attractive setting merits. You are now assured of comfortable cruising through unspoilt countryside which, to many, sums up just what canal boating is meant to be: picturesque market towns, quiet farmland and convivial waterside pubs. Waterscape.com offers a good range of holidays on the K&A from a base at Hilperton.

And there’s much more to explore. Other recent openings have included a remarkably wide new waterway from the Fens to King’s Lynn, previously only accessible via a tricky tidal passage, plus two vital ‘missing links’ in the form of the Anderton Boat Lift and the Ribble Link. But there is more yet to come.

Future attractions

The work doesn’t stop there. Even now, hundreds of people are hard at work on the next set of waterway reopenings.

You can already enjoy many of their achievements. Wales's idyllic Montgomery Canal is scheduled to reopen in 2007, but you can already cruise its northern section, where a grand reopening ceremony was held at Easter. Book boats from nearby Wrenbury on Waterscape.com.

Then there’s the most ambitious project of all - the Cotswold Canals, the long-lost water route from Thames to Severn. Strong contenders for the title of "Britain’s most attractive waterways", the Cotswold Canals are set to reopen by 2010. Get a taster by booking a holiday on the ever-popular River Thames, and venturing into the Cotswolds as far as Lechlade, where the canal route began. Waterscape.com has a wide selection of Thames holidays.

With more miles opening every year, there’s always something new to discover on Britain’s waterways.

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