Your floating hotel on the Canals and Rivers of the UK

Our guide to the waterways of the UK in detail.

Pictures of the Grand Union Canal,

Gayton to Norton.

The Grand Union is a broad canal, we can take both boats through the locks together, however for most of the canal between locks we are unable to stay breasted up and will work in single file. This was the way that boats used this canal in the days of working boats. The Grand Union canal as we know it today is long, 175 miles, and the main route was made up from the merger of three different canals. It varies from inner city to isolated rural, from heavily locked, 21 in two miles, to several pounds over 10 miles in length. It is so long that we never work it as a single trip, but rather it features in many different cruises. Sometimes a section is cruised on its own, sometimes a small part is used to connect different canals as part of a cruise.

This section from Gayton to Norton junctions was built as part of the the Grand Junction canal, which runs from Brentford on the Western edge of London north west to Braunston Northamptonshire. It is nearly 100 miles long, has 100 locks and two of the longest tunnels on the UK canal system as well as several major branches. It is very much an expressway of the canal age. However it does not share the love for speed of modern main routes. Life still moves along at under walking pace and stops completely at locks.

After a long lock free run through the couyntry it climbs the flights of locks at Buckby to finish at Norton junction where the Leicester branch could takes you over to the Rivers Soar and eventually Trent.

. The railway follows the same route but is rarely intrusive until the last few miles when it is also joined by the M1.

A long run through the country passing boats new and old.
The buckby flight of locks lifting the canal up to it's highest level.

More pictures of this canal?

Bull's Bridge to Marsworth / Paddington Arm. / Marsworth to Gayton / Aylesbury Arm

Norton to Braunston / Braunston to Napton /Napton to Warwick / Warwick to Lapworth

Lapworth to Camp Hill. / Camp Hill to Salford / Digbeth Branch.

More information on this canal.

General information.

History of the canals which make up the present Grand Union canal.

The Grand Junction / Warwick to Napton / Warwick to Birmingham

The Grand Union.

Find our information about other canals on the canal index page.

If you have any questions then do ring us on 07977 229103
or email us at martinreed@reedboats.co.uk