One of the many delights of cruising canals
is the wide choice of routes available. Indeed in England and
Wales there are over two thousand miles of rivers and canals
that can be navigated. (You probably won't be able to read
the detail on this map, but it does give an idea of the network.)
Linslade adjoins the Market town of Leighton Buzzard which
over the last hundred years has become famous for its sand.
Much of this sand was transported by Narrow Gauge Railway
and loaded aboard narrow boats. Many of these loading wharves
can still be seen today. Linslade is situated on the northern
Edge of the Chiltern Hills, just an hour's journey by road
or rail from London.
The Grand Union Canal was one of the last canals to be
built and opened in 1806 to provide a direct link between
London & Birmingham. It has many outstanding engineering
achievements like the Blisworth and Braunston tunnels, the
aqueducts at Cosgrove and Milton Keynes and the Weedon embankments.
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