Canal Nav

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Plan canal routes on Great Britain's waterways: lock-aware timing, live closures, boat-fit checks.

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find_place

Look up a place name on the British inland waterway network and return matching locations with coordinates (marinas, moorings, water points and other waterside facilities). Use it to disambiguate a place before calling plan_route or plan_round_trip, or to get coordinates for a known spot. Results are waterway locations only; it is not a general geocoder.

namestring, required

Place or facility name to search for, e.g. "Braunston" or "Aston Marina".

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Tools (6)

find_place

Argument	Type	Description
name*	string	Place or facility name to search for, e.g. "Braunston" or "Aston Marina".

Input schema (JSON)

{
  "type": "object",
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
  "required": [
    "name"
  ],
  "properties": {
    "name": {
      "type": "string",
      "minLength": 2,
      "description": "Place or facility name to search for, e.g. \"Braunston\" or \"Aston Marina\"."
    }
  },
  "additionalProperties": false
}

get_closures

Live closure, stoppage and restriction notices for the inland waterways of Great Britain, covering every GB navigation authority: Canal & River Trust, Environment Agency, Scottish Canals, Broads Authority, Bridgewater, Middle Level, River Wey, Basingstoke and more, not just CRT. Search near a place (name or "lat,lon", with an optional radius) or by waterway name (e.g. "Oxford Canal"). Returns active and upcoming notices with dates, the responsible authority, whether each one blocks navigation, and links for detail. Data refreshes from the authorities' published notices, so reopen dates reflect the latest updates.

Argument	Type	Description
place	string	A place name or "lat,lon" coordinates to search around. Give this or waterway.
waterway	string	A waterway name to match notices against (e.g. "Grand Union Canal"). Give this or place.
radius_km	number	Search radius around the place in km. Default 25.

Input schema (JSON)

{
  "type": "object",
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
  "properties": {
    "place": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "A place name or \"lat,lon\" coordinates to search around. Give this or waterway."
    },
    "waterway": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "A waterway name to match notices against (e.g. \"Grand Union Canal\"). Give this or place."
    },
    "radius_km": {
      "type": "number",
      "maximum": 150,
      "minimum": 1,
      "description": "Search radius around the place in km. Default 25."
    }
  },
  "additionalProperties": false
}

plan_round_trip

Plan return-to-start cruises from a point on the inland waterways of Great Britain, sized to fit a number of days. Returns several options: circular loops where the canal network offers one (canal "rings"), plus out-and-back and fewest-locks alternatives, each with distance, lock count, day-by-day plan and suggested overnight moorings. Timing is lock-aware and closures from every GB navigation authority are flagged on each option. Give boat dimensions to get fit warnings, and routes touching tidal water carry a tidal safety warning. The start can be a place name or "lat,lon" coordinates.

Argument	Type	Description
date	string	Start date (YYYY-MM-DD) for closure checking. Defaults to today.
days*	integer	Number of days the round trip should fit in.
start*	string	Start (and finish) point: a place name on the waterways or "lat,lon" coordinates.
boat_beam	number \| string	Boat beam (width). Metres by default (e.g. 2.08), or feet/inches (e.g. "6'10\"").
boat_length	number \| string	Boat length. Metres by default (e.g. 17.4), or a feet/inches string (e.g. "57ft").
boat_draught	number \| string	Boat draught (depth below the waterline). Metres or feet/inches.
lock_minutes	number

plan_route

Plan a boat journey between two points on the inland waterways of Great Britain (canals and navigable rivers). The route follows the water itself, not roads. It counts every lock and estimates cruising time from realistic boat speed plus time per lock. Live closures and stoppages from every GB navigation authority (Canal & River Trust, Environment Agency, Scottish Canals, Broads Authority and others) are routed around automatically, and when a dated closure blocks the natural line the result compares waiting for it to reopen against taking the detour. Give boat dimensions to get per-waterway fit warnings (too long, too wide, too deep, too tall for a waterway on the route). Routes that cross tidal water carry a tidal safety warning. Places can be names (resolved on the waterway network) or "lat,lon" coordinates. If a name matches several distinct locations the tool returns the candidates instead of guessing; call again with the chosen one.

Argument	Type	Description
to*	string	Destination: a place name or "lat,lon" coordinates.
date	string	Departure date (YYYY-MM-DD) for closure checking. Defaults to today.
from*	string	Start point: a place name on the waterways (e.g. "Braunston Marina") or "lat,lon" coordinates.
boat_beam	number \| string	Boat beam (width). Metres by default (e.g. 2.08), or feet/inches (e.g. "6'10\"").
boat_length	number \| string	Boat length. Metres by default (e.g. 17.4), or a feet/inches string (e.g. "57ft").

search_directory

Search Canal Nav's directory of waterside businesses on the British inland waterways: marinas, chandleries, boat hire, boatyards, pump-out and services, fuel, moorings, surveyors, brokerage, and canalside food and pubs. Filter by free text, category, or proximity to a place. Listings marked unclaimed can be claimed for free by the business owner at https://canalnav.com/.

Argument	Type	Description
near	string	A place name or "lat,lon" to search around (approx. 15 km).
query	string	Free-text search over business names and descriptions.
category	string	Directory category to filter by.

Input schema (JSON)

{
  "type": "object",
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
  "properties": {
    "near": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "A place name or \"lat,lon\" to search around (approx. 15 km)."
    },
    "query": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Free-text search over business names and descriptions."
    },
    "category": {
      "enum": [
        "marina",
        "chandlery",
        "hire",
        "boatyard",
        "services",
        "fuel",
        "moorings",
        "surveyor",
        "brokerage",
        "food",
        "trade",
        "other"
      ],
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Directory category to filter by."
    }
  },
  "additionalProperties": false
}

will_my_boat_fit

Check boat dimensions against the published maximum craft dimensions for a named British waterway (length, beam, draught and air draught, from Canal & River Trust published figures covering the full CRT network). Returns a per-dimension verdict quoting the limit. Draught and headroom vary with water level and silting, so treat the answer as advisory. For a whole journey, use plan_route with boat dimensions instead: it checks every waterway along the route.

Argument	Type	Description
waterway*	string	Waterway name, e.g. "Ashby Canal" or "Llangollen Canal".
boat_beam	number \| string	Boat beam (width). Metres by default (e.g. 2.08), or feet/inches (e.g. "6'10\"").
boat_length	number \| string	Boat length. Metres by default (e.g. 17.4), or a feet/inches string (e.g. "57ft").
boat_draught	number \| string	Boat draught (depth below the waterline). Metres or feet/inches.
boat_air_draught	number \| string	Boat air draught (height above the waterline, for bridges and tunnels). Metres or feet/inches.

Input schema (JSON)

{
  "type": "object",
  "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
  "required": [
    "waterway"
  ],
  "properties": {
    "waterway": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Waterway name, e.g. \"Ashby Canal\" or \"Llangollen Canal\"."
    },
    "boat_beam": {
      "type": [
        "number",
        "string"
      ],
      "description": "Boat beam (width). Metres by default (e.g. 2.08), or feet/inches (e.g. \"6'10\\\"\")."
    },
    "boat_length": {
      "type": [
        "number",
        "string"
      ],
      "description": "Boat length. Metres by default (e.g. 17.4), or a feet/inches string (e.g. \"57ft\")."
    },
    "boat_draught": {
      "type": [
        "number",
        "string"
      ],
      "description": "Boat draught (depth below the waterline). Metres or feet/inches."
    },
    "boat_air_draught": {
      "type": [
        "number",
        "string"
      ],
      "description": "Boat air draught (height above the waterline, for bridges and tunnels). Metres or feet/inches."
    }
  },
  "additionalProperties": false
}