Shropshire Lady Canal Boat The Lyneal Trust The Lady

New in 2017, the The Shropshire Lady is a specially built 60 foot narrow boat designed for day trips that will accommodate up to 12 people including two wheelchair users. A day’s cruise on board the Lady with a trained crew provided by the Trust costs just £140. You can choose from one of two routes to enjoy the wonderful sights on the Llangollen Canal. Take a picnic or enjoy a pub lunch, it’s your choice. Your cruise will start when you leave Lyneal Wharf and finish when you arrive back there.

The Shropshire Lady is unique on the waterways of Britain, if not the world. She has been designed with the assistance of professional physiotherapists and with the needs of our customers in mind, has thoughtful adaptions including an improved wheelchair lift, adapted WC and a consistent corridor from stern to bow which will accommodate wheelchairs of up to 28” (71cms) width. Her interior colour scheme has been chosen to help those who are partially sighted.

At the rear is a spacious deck, reached by a ramp from the shore with access to the saloon by hydraulic lift (maximum capacity of wheelchair and user is 200 kgs) or by the use of steps instead of the lift, dependent on the needs of the passenger.

Once inside, passengers have access to comfortable, fixed seating alongside huge windows and dropped sides to enable amazing views of the canal, countryside and wildlife. The saloon is light and airy and for those cooler days there is heating.

The galley, which is part of the saloon, has a hob, fridge and sink and all the crockery and cutlery needed to prepare light refreshments for the seated passengers on their tables. For a full list of crockery, cutlery and other equipment on the Lady click here.

The passenger saloon opens out into very large “well-deck” in the bow, with more comfortable bench seating. In sunny weather, open up the covers to this deck and enjoy the almost dreamy atmosphere the boats creates as she moves along and causes a gentle breeze, to waft through the passenger saloon.

Take a tour of The Shropshire Lady

The Lady is equipped with powerful bow-thrusters to make manoeuvring a bump-free experience, and is built to the highest safety standards required by the appropriate authorities.

Our skippers will be happy to let passengers have a go at steering the boat and for those who may find use of the traditional tiller a little difficult, we have installed a state of the art “joy-stick” steering option with a CCTV to assist your forward vision.

Shropshire Lady is normally available for hire from 10am till 5pm (at the latest) but the actual start time, journey plan, finishing time can all be agreed before the day as your day-skipper will get in touch with you to make these arrangements. Our skippers know the good picnic spots, the pubs which serve lunch and the turning places, and how long particular journeys take, bearing in mind that no more than 3mph can be assumed as an average speed!

When you arrive at Lyneal Wharf, after you have unloaded your vehicle, the Trust has a spacious car park across the lane.

Whilst our skippers and crew are responsible for the Shropshire Lady, we do ask that at all times there is one person responsible for the passengers, and their health and safety. Please read our Guidance for Groups before you arrive.

Shropshire Lady is sure to provide Lyneal Trust clients with some very special memories over the years. She is a beautiful addition to our little fleet. She is unique and we are very proud of her.

Read below comments from The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

What amazing voyages we have enjoyed again this year.

Many new patients, their families, RJAH League of Friends volunteers / trustees and MCSI (Midlands Centre for Spinal Injuries) staff have been able to enjoy wonderful and memorable days on the Shropshire Lady and in the company of the amazing Lyneal team.

We can’t thank you all (and I mean all) enough. Each and every skipper and deputy skipper have been amazing on our sailings. As we don’t get to see you all and don’t thank you personally on the day of our visits, I would like to thank all of the office staff, the gardeners and ground keepers and all of the other volunteers who keep the Lyneal trust going. Thank you, you may not see firsthand the joy that you bring to our patients but believe me, you really do have such a positive effect on our them.

Absolutely everyone who came aboard the Shropshire Lady this year was instantly put at ease and made incredibly welcome. Our cruises have been enjoyed for many different reasons by our patients these include but not exclusively

being out in the world and away from the hospital ward,
being surrounding by nature and it’s amazing beauty and diversity,
when possible spending the day with family as equals not as patients and visitors,
delicious food chosen on the day not 2 days ahead of time,
seeing that anything is possible with the right support,
experiencing that they will be treated with respect and inclusion by complete strangers
AND of course, CAKE

We care for such a diverse group of patients even though they all have a spinal cord injury. Not a single patient has returned from one of our cruises without a being smile and a sense of total relaxation.

Please never underestimate how difficult it is for our patients to feel relaxed. With their newly acquired injury their lives, relationships, home life, economic security, physical abilities, self-confidence and self believe have all been affected. For our patients to feel relaxed after a day’s cruising is quite a feat.

So, to finish. Thank you so much for all of your hard work and dedication, whatever your role you really do make a difference

Please click here to read the Terms and Conditions for hiring the Shropshire Lady.

Click here to book the Shropshire Lady

Click on a photo below for a closer look at the Lady.