Short break canal holidays

A short break canal holiday is a magical way to slow down. See so many new sights along the canal, meet friendly people and enjoy welcoming pubs.

Here is a sample route to get you planning. You'll find lots more if you 'click for routes' on the availability search results.

Short breaks

Sample route from Sowerby Bridge

Hebden Bridge and Todmorden
20 miles 32 locks 16 hours

Day 1
Sowerby Bridge Wharf, with its Georgian warehouses and canal basin, makes a great place to start your holiday. After a thorough briefing, you're off and we're helping you through your first three locks, including England's deepest. Then you set off through woods and fields to Mytholmroyd, which has good moorings, two quite different pubs with food, plus two convenience stores.

Day 2
After breakfast (Milly's Café) head for Hebden Bridge. This attractive town is set where two rivers meet, and climbs the hills on either side - you've heard of back to backs, but what about an underdwelling? A bracing mix of shops combines things you need with things you want, always with a twist because Hebden is seriously alternative - the first town to rid itself of plastic bags.  After Hebden, carry on (if you can get past the Stubbing Wharf pub without stopping) and you find a romantic landscape with a little river tumbling alongside as you go through craggy woods and past charming terraces and houses. Look up, and you see the moors. Walk up, and you're on them. Soon you reach Todmorden, a mix of Yorkshire and Lancashire with roots in both wool and cotton. Fielden Wharf gives you quiet moorings in the town centre, with lots of good places to eat and drink.

Day 3
Explore Todmorden - fine town hall and useful market - before turning and heading back past Hebden Bridge (you'll want to stop again) to Luddenden Foot. There's a pub and good Indian restaurant, and a playground by the canal.

Day 4
You have a nice trip back through the woods and a mini-tunnel to get to the top lock, then down and back to the yard.

This journey is doable in a weekend. If you go midweek you get an extra day to go for walks - or just to relax.

Check out the routes for each boat by doing an availability search, then 'Click for routes'. Or see more weekend or midweek break canal holiday routes.

When and where

• Weekend breaks run from Friday afternoon till Monday morning.
• Midweek breaks run from Monday afternoon till Friday morning.
• All holidays start at 1400 and finish at 0900.
• Short breaks are out and back from Sowerby Bridge.
• Boats available from 2 to 10 berth.
• Many boats have free places for children.

This website concentrates on opportunities for first timers. Our other site has one way trips, rings and other canal holidays for crews with a little (or a lot of) experience.