Manchester’s 200 Year-Old Canal Welcomes First City Centre Boat Trip

Visitors to Manchester will soon be able to experience the city centre from a new perspective thanks to a unique boat trip through the heart of the UK’s first industrial city along the 200 year-old Rochdale Canal.

Owners, Mark and Ruth have spent many months travelling around the world. Now back in the UK, Ruth and Mark wanted to show people a unique side to England and set up Wandering Duck tours.

The Through the Middle tour is the only one night canal boat tour in the country and is a great way to give people a taste of boating. Starting in Piccadilly Basin where the Ashton Canal meets the Rochdale Canal, the trip travels down nine locks in the city centre where guests can experience the historic mills and buildings that line the canal, work the 200-year old locks and experience the city from a completely different angle, before heading to out to Worsley for the night.

Until Wandering Duck there was no opportunity for people to join a small group tour on the canals. Hire Boats can be expensive unless you already have a group together, and day boats don’t offer the full experience of staying on the boat overnight and working the locks.

Ruth Bratt from the Wandering Duck said: “

The city centre tour offers people a special trip through the world’s first industrialised city passing Manchester’s famous Gay Village at Canal Street, the site of the legendary Hacienda nightclub, Deansgate Locks and into Castlefield basin then onto the Bridgewater Canal."


The first trip launches on Tuesday 16th July and runs monthly on a Tuesday and a Wednesday. For bookings please visit www.wanderingduck.co.uk

David Baldachinno, waterway manager at Canal & River Trust said: “Manchester’s canals are world famous and this boat trip is fantastic as it offers people a chance to experience the delights of boating and experience Manchester a different way along this hidden gem through the city.”