Canal holidays

I've noticed a number of posts mentioning canal holidays (including LisaE's famous one which led to her life with Graham!) and I wondered how many of you have taken canal holidays?

For myself I have been narrowboating since the mid-70's and take at least one if not two waterway holidays each year - just love it!

Howard

Never taken one and probably never will, not because I think they sound lame, but because I'm scared of water. :-/  Maybe I'll get the guts someday if I take some swimming lessons or something.  Until then, I don't like water that goes up much higher than my waist.  I'm a big scaredy cat.

Krissy, you go so slowly on the canal boats you can hardly tell it's water! David parents take a long canal boat trip every year and last summer we spent a weekend with them on their boat - - - and I can say that HANDS DOWN it was the coolest thing I've done in England. Unless you count getting married. I'm desperate to go on another one. The feeling of absolute peace you get floating out there in such stunningly gorgeous surrounds... the friendliness of the people walking their dogs along the tow path, and just the casual exploration of it all.... absolutely amazing.







I don't know why my pictures aren't working. Poop.

Marlespo, I think the photos aren't coming up because your album is password-protected. Would love to see them, though!

Krissy, another thing to keep in mind is that the thing about narrow boats is that they're darn close to being flat on the bottom. That's because since the canals for the most part are man-made, they didn't want to dig more than they needed to to get the job done...hence, most of the canals are waist-deep anyway because the boats don't need deep water to run. You fall in and all you need to do is stand up. I'd be more afraid of the junk that can be in the water, actually. So, if you do fall in, make sure you wash off with clean water.

I think canal boating is one of the best secrets that England has. Not too many visitors even know it exists, which is a real shame...best way to get a flavor of the UK ever imaginable. You can even hire day boats, or weekend boats. You can also hire a boat that has someone else do all the work (but the work is part of the fun).

If anyone is interested in doing a UKY boat trip, I'm interested in being a part of it. Could be a day or weekend thing, and one boat can take up to seven passengers, even overnight, so sharing expenses is possible. It's basically a "floating self catering hotel" in that a boat has beds, eating area, living area and a kitchen and bathroom (typically with a shower). You can bring your own food, or stop at pubs along the way.

We're moored near Bristol, and a day trip from there in to Bath (and back) is quite doable.

modified for spelling error...grrr

Ooo ooooo I want to do this!  Sounds lovely!

Do the 35 miles of the Basingstoke Canal....and you can moor outside my back gate (I'll even feed ya while you are here)....

View of our local canal - http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/grneyesntx/detail?.dir=/House&.dnm=Canal+behind+the+house.jpg

TTFN-
Sher

The Leeds-Liverpool stretch is lovely too, and there's a really good company operating out of Skipton.  We went with Snaygill Boats (http://www.snaygillboats.co.uk/. The boats were amazingly comfortable and had a nice warm area for hanging wet coats etc. We were also able to tie the children's bikes on the roofs so that they cycle along the tow paths. We had a 4 berth boat and our friends had a 5 berth, and we could go through locks side by side. We went up beyond Burnley and then back down towards the 5 rise lock at Bingley in a week.

See http://www.canalholidays.com/routes/leedsliverpool/ for more details of the area.

We went with Snaygill Boats

Snaygill Boats are great!  See my post in Community News.  This will be our third time with them!

Sher, we have the same bread box!
Great photos, BTW...I love your garden...must be really fun to live on the canal!

Beautiful canal, Marlespo!   Is it the Shropshire Union?

A sad note about Snaygill Boats of Skipton:  the wonderful proprietors Cris and Gill are retiring and selling off the boatyard.  So book with them now before they go!

Marlespo- thos ephotos are GORGEOUS! I would love to go on a canal boat holiday. 

I don't know which canal we were on, we joined my in-laws for their visit, but it's the canal up by Manchester that has the stretch with 16 locks on it! That was honestly a great time, doing all of those locks, and some serious exercise.

Two summers ago we took a canalboat out from Bath, and it was a wonderful expirence. It's not difficult to operate the boats. It was great fun, and we definately want to do it again, but don't know when. I don't know where all the pics from that trip are, but I found one with the girls on the boat. Tris became a great expert at operating the lockes and swing bridges. We didn't go the Caen Hill Lock thing in Devizes tho, we had lost a whole day before we got there due to a problem with our engine. It was funny tho, because they sent a guy out on his bicycle with his dog to sort it out for us   I dont' mind that we had to miss doing all those lockes tho    Maybe next time we will give it a go. 



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I think I've sorted your canal, Marlespo!  It's the Peak Forest Canal:  your middle photo is of the Marple railway bridge, taken as you were crossing the Marple Aquaduct.  Have a look at

www.penninewaterways.co.uk/peak/pf6a.htm  (towards the bottom of the page)

and see if it looks familiar, and brings back blissy memories!

And Tebs I've been on the Kennet & Avon too, but starting from Reading and turning round at Devizes.  Like you we didn't have time to do the Caen Flight, but unlike you didn't have the excuse of a duff engine - too much time spent in waterside pubs in our case    ! 

Loved your photo!  There really is no nicer place in the whole world than the bow-well of a narrowboat on a British waterway, so peaceful!

To quote from The Wind in the Willows, "Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats."

Howard,, I actually was naive enough to think we could make it to Reading and back to Bath again in a week's time  We found some wonderful pubs too,, can't remember my fav, but it would be easy to find again    I think it's something everyone should do at least once in their lifetime. The canal lifestyle is so bohemian

and for those who think driving one of these long boats is difficult, may I present Captain Dani



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