Find your bearingsCities show first. Towns and villages appear as you zoom in. Marina water shapes appear with the marina layer. A roads appear after two zooms.
Show bridges and useful places on the map
Markers appear as you zoom in, with bridges at the closest level. The map currently includes 0 marinas and 0 boatyards. Map records and details come from several sources, so information may be incomplete or out of date. Check current service availability before making an essential stop.
60′ × 6′ 10″From London
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Drag anywhere on the map to move it. Scroll or pinch to zoom towards your pointer. Click a canal to select it, then click again to deselect. Click directly on a bridge, lock, marina or service marker to open its details.
Will it fit?
Fits these sizes, with a route from your start
Check before travelling · click for the reason
Too long or too wide
Fits here, but no route found from your start
Excluded by your tidal or estuary settings
Mapped, but boat sizes not checked yet
Selected by you
Your route
Approximate route outline
Grey means your boat fits the recorded sizes on that stretch, but the planner has not found a route there from your start. Amber means there is a size or access question here, or on the way. Click the line to see why. Pale dashed lines are waterways left out by your tidal river or estuary settings. They are not necessarily closed.
The map includes canals, arms, basins and river connections. Where OpenStreetMap maps a marina basin or pontoon, it appears with the marina layer. Turn on extra rivers for geographical bearings. They are not planner connections. A roads are optional context and sit behind the waterways. We have checked boat sizes on 181 sections. Blue lines show other mapped waterways whose boat limits still need research. Turn on historic canals above to explore old routes and restoration projects.
0 names. Turn on historic canals above to include old canals and restoration remains.
No matching name in this map view. Unnamed canal pieces are still drawn.
Lock coverage and sections still being checked
Loading the lock audit…
Which stretches still have an approximate shape?
The remaining fixed outlines are specialist tidal passages. Their safe course depends on current channels, tides, charts and local passage guidance, so the atlas does not pretend that one permanent centreline is a navigable route.
Your boat fits the length and width limits on this route
The marked route runs from A to B for your 60′ × 6′ 10″ boat.
Distance, locks and your cruising time
Distance and lock data is not loaded yet.
See the route and its checks
Boat length and width only. Check water depth, headroom and opening notices before travelling. Distances, lock records and journey times are planning estimates. The route favours fewer sections needing a size check; it is not necessarily the shortest or quickest journey.
Check what is happening before you move
Boat fit and a mapped route do not prove the waterway is open today. Check the navigation authority again near departure.
Your planned waterways include: Paddington Arm, Grand Union, Tidal Thames, Thames, Kennet & Avon, Bristol Avon, Hanham to Bristol Harbour.
These links open CRT’s current information. The public planner does not display a copied notice feed while permission for that use is still being discussed.
An extra foot may make no difference on one canal, but stop you getting through a lock on another.
57′ 6″
The short-lock question
Calder & Hebble and Huddersfield Broad use this published length. A 57 ft widebeam is within that length limit; a 60 ft widebeam is too long for it. Some narrowboats up to 60 ft have made angled passage, with little margin.
Sheffield: 61 ft 6 in. Thorne: 61 ft 8 in. Rufford: 62 ft. Leeds & Liverpool: CRT says 64 ft, IWA 62 ft. These are different restrictions. Shortening a 65 ft boat to 60 ft can therefore gain several useful routes.
Most main canals in central and southern England are still long enough for these boats. You can still reach the western Leeds & Liverpool through Leigh. The loss is chiefly short northern routes and some branches, with additional changes near 70 ft.
A 10 ft-wide boat is within the listed width for the broad section at Leicester. Up to 10 ft 6 in, Erewash and the recommended Ribble Link width remain. The Ribble approach also needs a boat no longer than about 62 ft and suitable draught.
Much of the upper main line uses 12 ft 6 in. Bridge 24 near Long Itchington is listed at 12 ft. A 12 ft boat has a stronger case for the broad southern region than a 13 or 14 ft one, subject to tunnel arrangements and the shared Oxford-reach conflict.
The listed maximum width between Reading and Bath on the Kennet & Avon is 4 m / 13 ft 1 in. A 70 ft × 12 ft boat remains within it; a 57 ft × 14 ft boat does not. Bath to Bristol is wider, so that western stretch is not itself lost, but you cannot assume a through route from Reading at 14 ft.
Liverpool in a 70 ft narrowboat: approach via the Bridgewater, Leigh Branch and western Leeds & Liverpool. The Wigan-to-Leeds short locks are not on that route.
Thorne Lock: the Aire & Calder and New Junction reach its western side; Keadby reaches the eastern side. A Trent Falls / Goole diversion is a specialist tidal passage.
Rochdale in a long narrowboat: you can explore towards Sowerby Bridge from Manchester, then the short Calder & Hebble locks prevent continuing east.
Lancaster: fitting the canal itself does not overcome the shorter Rufford approach and Ribble Link width. Changing your base is different from cruising there.
Diagonal passage is specific to the boat and lock.
The quoted maximum boat size is not an empty rectangular chamber. Cills, gate swings, recesses, rudder and hull shape matter. A diagonal calculation cannot certify passage. The narrowboat exception cannot simply be applied to a 10–14 ft widebeam, or stretched into a claim that a 70 ft boat can pass the short Yorkshire locks.
For a narrowboat, compare 57–59 ft against 60 ft if northern flexibility is the priority. A 65–70 ft narrowboat offers more room with a real northern-route trade-off. For a widebeam, investigate 57 ft × 10–12 ft for northern flexibility, or 60–70 ft × about 12 ft for spacious southern cruising. These sizes are starting points for your shortlist. Before buying, check the actual boat against the tight spots on the routes you want.
A widebeam can travel extensively within a region. None of the 10–14 ft beams restores an ordinary inland north–south passage through England’s narrow Midlands links.
About the place search
The search uses downloaded Canal & River Trust lock and bridge records, Scottish Canals lock records, OpenStreetMap marina and lock records, and this atlas’s towns and waterway sections. It is a substantial place list, not a complete list of every UK marina, bridge or lock. Try the canal name with a number when several results match.
Finding a named place does not establish boat access. The pins use the source coordinates; their links to the route drawing are approximate. Routes still use the researched section-wide boat limits. Small branches, marina entrances and the exact position of every obstruction are not covered.
Map place names use the GeoNames UK gazetteer. For a useful zoom order, the display groups places by population and administrative importance. “City”, “town” and “village” are map display levels here, not claims about legal city status. Villages with no recorded population or fewer than 250 people are left out to keep the download practical on a phone.
Restored stretches, missing links and separate waterways worth exploring. Discover what is there today, what people are working towards and how you can help.
These stories sit alongside the boat planner. Restoring a canal takes many stages: a section can hold water, welcome walkers or run trip boats long before it becomes a through route. Access and project updates were researched on 7 September 2026.
