Four counties ring or alternative route advice

[EveT]

Hello. 

I am new to the forum. 

We are having a  2 week holiday from Anderton in June and would like to know does the for counties ring trace busy road traffic on the easterly side? and is there a better road free alternative? 

 

We have already traveled the llangollen. And other uk canals  We are happy with a there and back route if that is best  I just don't like continuous traffic noise. 

 

Was considering Chester then as far as we can down past Market Drayton. Would that be a more peaceful alternative. 

 

We would love to hear your experienced suggestions. Thank you

 

[Stroudwater1]

Hi welcome to the forum. We did the four counties ring two years ago and didn’t particularly notice traffic noise.
 

Some parts are by busy roads but most narrowboat engines equalise traffic noise out. I know of a forum member with an electric/hybrid powered boat IIRC who moors on the Trent and Mersey so it can’t be bad. 
 

Inside a boat with decent insulation even mooring by a motorway it’s quiet inside with doors shut. The roads tend wind back and forth anyway by canals so it’s seldom constant. 
 

 

[IanD]

37 minutes ago, EveT said:

Hello. 

I am new to the forum. 

We are having a  2 week holiday from Anderton in June and would like to know does the for counties ring trace busy road traffic on the easterly side? and is there a better road free alternative? 

 

We have already traveled the llangollen. And other uk canals  We are happy with a there and back route if that is best  I just don't like continuous traffic noise. 

 

Was considering Chester then as far as we can down past Market Drayton. Would that be a more peaceful alternative. 

 

We would love to hear your experienced suggestions. Thank you

 

 

There are certainly some parts of the T&M where traffic noise intrudes (e.g. Sandbach to Middlewich) but it's mostly fine, and even there it's definitely nowhere near as bad as the stretch down towards Burton-on-Trent. Like any canal there are plenty of peaceful places to moor, so long as you take some care to avoid the noisy bits -- even Stoke-on-Trent has some good stopping places... 😉 

[midnight cowboy]

The Shropshire south of Nantwich is very rural with kingfishers etc no major roads nearby. Chester is interesting historic town and don’t forget Ellesmere Port canal museum 

[EveT]

Thank you so much for your replies. I'm excited to do this route now. 

I will give it a go and hopefully find quiet place to moor up. 

Eve

 

 

[junior]

Do you mean you don't want to be near a road when you moor up for the night, or are you talking about not wanting to be boating with a road going along side it? 

 

If the latter, there are places where the road will be along side you, such as Booth Lane in Middlewich, Teddesley, just north of Great Heywood, and in the middle of Stoke, but in none of these places will it take you more than 5 or 10 mins to be back in more peaceful surroundings. 

 

If it's the former, there isn't anywhere that you 'have' to overnight where you'll be inundated with road traffic.