They were Britain's first motorways, and brought about a communications revolution on a par with the worldwide web. Yet in just over half-a-century, canals were superseded first by trains and then by motorways as the preferred route for trade in goods.

After being left to die, they have now found new life as 'linear leisure parks' for boaters, walkers, cyclists and horse riders. This bookazine, Heritage Waterways, celebrates the history of the canals and navigations in the British Isles, their special features, their culture, their people... even the flora and fauna they engender.

Edited by Keith Langston, Heritage Waterways captures, with some stunning photography, the essence of Britain's first superhighways.