WindLad

Any sights, pubs or restaurant recommendations, send them my way! Cheers all.

Cheers guys. Have gone with the South Pennine route now, thanks for the advice.

Thanks, so much @dmr. I have a couple of friends around Chorlton and Stretford, and then I went to university in Manchester so I have many fond memories of it. I was also looking forward to Hebden and I have friends in Chorley. Sorry, this all feels like useless info but I'm just wondering if I weren't clear about why I wasn't a big fan of Eutraria. Just the lack of eating and pubbing options. I'll attach a photo of the awful roast I had nearby. Oh yeah @Stroudwater1, it sounds like it's become really popular to live aboard in the last couple of years. I can imagine it being very big around Bath and Bristol too. I think me and my friend are going to have to toss for it. I thought maybe some more research might mean we'd be able to make a better call, but I'm still divided. However, good to get your advice and tips so thank you.

Thanks @Stroudwater1 and @IanD. cheers for the heads up on logistics. Have either of you done Kennett and Avon out of interest? Just wondering how you feel they compare.

I didn't mind the derelict mills and warehouses. It was more the part where we were on the edge of the motorway and the only restaurant being a low quality carvery. There's four of us. I know for SPR it's double the locks than were on the four counties. There were good stretches of that however without any locks. We have the Pearson guide so I guess we know what we'll be getting ourselves into. There is the rain to think about too... But then last year it seemed like that the north had a much better summer than the south.

I'm planning our holiday on the waterways and struggling to decide between a ten day trip on the Kennett and Avon there and back again, or the South Pennine Ring. We've done a good part of the Oxford Canal, which was wholly beautiful, even didn't mind Banbury. Also did the Four Counties, which was epic and breathtaking in a completely different way, although if I was going to split hairs ever so slightly marred at the beginning when going through the desolation of Eutraria at Stoke. (Note to readers - starve, rather than stopping off at Lindley Farm carvery). My heart is with the SPR but a friend wants the K&A, but we both can be swayed. I like northerners and would like to stumble across Sean Bean and marry him, and alternatively the idea of all those white old ladies in Bath puts me off the K&A a little. I'd heard there are alot of towns on the SPR however, and am wary of a lot of it being like Eutraria. Any thoughts?