Cheshire Ring

Cheshire Ring
Specifications
Length	97 miles (156 km)
Locks	92
Status	Canal ring
Navigation authority	Canal & River Trust

The Cheshire Ring is a canal cruising circuit or canal ring, which includes sections of six canals in and around Cheshire and Greater Manchester in North West England: the Ashton Canal, Peak Forest Canal, Macclesfield Canal, Trent and Mersey Canal, Bridgewater Canal and Rochdale Canal.

Because it takes boats approximately one week to complete the circuit, it is suited to narrowboat holidays that start at and return to the same location. The route has 92 locks and is 97 miles (156 km) long. It passes through contrasting landscapes between Manchester city centre and rural Cheshire with views of the Peak District and the Cheshire Plain.

The term "Cheshire Ring" first appeared in the Inland Waterways Association (IWA) Bulletin in 1965, where it was coined as part of a campaign to prevent the abandonment of, and restore navigation to, part of what had been known as the Peak Forest Circular Route between Manchester and Marple. When commercial carrying declined after the Second World War, sections of the Rochdale, Ashton and Peak Forest Canals that make up the urban part of the ring had gradually fallen into disuse, and by the early 1960s were impassable, with little depth of water and many locks in an unusable condition. There was a risk that the canals would be abandoned, and infilled, as they were becoming stinking eyesores. Perseverance by the IWA and the Peak Forest Canal Society paid off, and on 1 April 1974, following restoration, the ring was re-opened to navigation.

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