Trent and Mersey Canal

On the Cheshire stretch of the canal, between Middlewich and the northern end of the canal in Preston Brook Tunnel, is the Victorian Anderton Boat Lift, which lowers boats fifty feet from the T&M to the River Weaver. It was restored to full operation in 2002 after twenty years of disuse, and was then the only operational boat-lift in the United Kingdom until the construction of the Falkirk Wheel in Scotland.

Another major feature is the Harecastle Tunnel, near Kidsgrove in the city of Stoke-on-Trent, north Staffordshire. There are actually two tunnels; the first was built by Brindley and was 2,880 yards (2,630 m) long, and boats were moved through by men lying on their backs and pushing against the roof with their feet. This was a physically demanding and slow process and created major delays, so civil engineer Thomas Telford was commissioned to provide a second, wider, parallel tunnel with a towpath. This 2,926-yard-long (2,676 m) tunnel was opened in 1827. In the 1900s, the Brindley tunnel was closed due to severe subsidence, but the Telford Tunnel – although also prone to the same problems – remains in use, and is the fourth-longest navigable canal tunnel in the United Kingdom.

Just north of Harecastle Tunnel, the T&M features a 'flyover' junction. The Hall Green Branch leaves the T&M mainline (which runs east–west here) on the south side, but then crosses over the main line and travels a short distance north to join the Macclesfield Canal at Hall Green Stop lock (some guides do not refer to the Hall Green branch, simply treating it as part of the Macclesfield Canal).

The actual junction where the branch leaves the main line is a normal right-angle junction called Hardings Wood Junction. The branch leaves the main line on the south side, then immediately turns 90 degrees clockwise. It runs westwards alongside the main line, maintaining the original level while the main line drops through two locks. At the Red Bull settlement, the branch turns 90 degrees right, to head north and cross the main line on Poole Lock aqueduct. It then immediately crosses the A50 on Red Bull aqueduct, carrying boats north to join the Macclesfield Canal at Hall Green.

The canal passes through the city of Stoke-on-Trent, where it meets the Caldon Canal.

The canal formed an integral part of the 1986 Stoke-on-Trent Garden Festival and in 1988 was declared a linear Conservation Area.[4] The towpath was upgraded in the 1990s and forms part of the National Cycle Network (Route 5).

The northern end of the canal makes an end-on junction with the Bridgewater Canal within Preston Brook Tunnel, from which one can access Runcorn (but no longer the Mersey or Ship Canal) in one direction and Manchester (with its many canal links) in the other direction.

From the junction with the Bridgewater Canal, the T&M travels south through Preston Brook Tunnel (one-way operation, alternating each half-hour) and two smaller tunnels at Saltersford (since 2008 also one-way operation, alternating each half-hour), and Barnton to the "junction" with the River Weaver at Anderton Boat Lift near Northwich.

After Anderton, the next major destination is Middlewich, where a junction with the 50-yard-long (46 m) Wardle Canal leads to the Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal which gives access to Chester, Llangollen and ( heading south on the Shropshire Union) a parallel route to Birmingham via Wolverhampton.

South of Middlewich, having passed through Wheelock, the T&M climbs out of the Cheshire Plain via the 'Heartbreak Hill' locks (more traditionally known as the 'Cheshire Locks') to the summit-level and the junction with the Hall Green Branch, leading to the Macclesfield Canal at Red Bull Kidsgrove. Most of the locks in this flight are doubled, although not all of the duplicates are still usable. Of particular note was lock 53 where, due to subsidence from brine pumping, the 'spare' lock was replaced by a steel contrivance with guillotine gates. Theoretically, this was adjustable to compensate for further subsidence although, in practice it was less than successful and was ultimately removed altogether. Little evidence of 'Thurlwood Steel Lock' remains today. The boater can use the Macclesfield Canal to head for Marple, and the junction with the Peak Forest Canal (and hence, via the Ashton, Rochdale and Bridgewater canal) to complete the 'Cheshire Ring'.

In September 2012 a serious breach occurred at Dutton Hollow near Preston Brook, which cost around £2.1 million to repair.[5][6] The breach was south of bridge 213 and the canal was unusable between there and Middlewich Big Lock 75.[7] The canal was officially reopened on 2 May 2013.[8]

After the Harecastle Tunnel (one way, alternating roughly every two hours), the canal emerges in the outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent, and is soon in the middle of the city and then at Etruria, and the junction with the Caldon Canal.

Leaving Etruria, the canal is soon back in open country. It is now in the upper valley of the River Trent, which the canal follows until the river becomes navigable and the canal is no longer needed. The next sizeable place is the market town of Stone.

After more countryside, the canal reaches Great Haywood Junction and the towpath bridge across the junction with the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, which heads south to skirt Wolverhampton and join with the River Severn at Stourport-on-Severn, thus connecting the Mersey with the Severn.

The next event is a right-angle bend, of no apparent significance from the boat, but this is where the canal (and the Trent itself) changes its basic direction from south-east to north-east (heading towards Nottingham).

Very near is Fradley Junction (with the Coventry Canal's "detached portion"). The Coventry soon leads to the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal and branches off to Birmingham or (via another stretch of the Coventry Canal) to Coventry and a junction with the Oxford Canal and thence to the Thames and the 'Southern Half' of the English canals.

The canal now heads directly to its terminus, passing through Burton upon Trent, Mercia Marina at Findern, the largest inland waterway marina in the United Kingdom, and then through wide locks (the first being at Stenson) to Shardlow and finally Derwent Mouth.

It is not far from Derwent Mouth, via the River Trent, to Trentlock, the four-way junction with the Erewash Canal (dead end at Great Northern Basin, formerly a link with the Cromford Canal), Cranfleet Cut (bypassing Thrumpton Weir to continue navigation towards Nottingham) and the River Soar Navigation (linking via Leicester to the Grand Union Canal). Beyond the Cranfleet Cut the Trent is navigable all the way to its mouth at Trent Falls on the Humber Estuary.