Has anyone "Floated Merrily Along" in a narrowboat on British Canals???
Aug 21st, 2009, 12:20 PM
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Has anyone "Floated Merrily Along" in a narrowboat on British Canals???
I'd love to plan a 5 night cruise on a narrowboat in England and would love some first hand knowledge of trips taken. I'm kinda partial to the Llangollen Canal out of Ellsmere. Myself and 4 friends will be going in September of 2010 and I'd like to hear about anyones trip.--Thanks!
Aug 21st, 2009, 12:45 PM
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I'm sorry to be of really no help but my parents did such a tour years ago and loved it. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the company they went with. I hope you get some good advice here. Have fun!
Aug 21st, 2009, 12:51 PM
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Thanks KTtravel, I didn't know if anyone had noticed me! I am also interested in finding out the cheapest way to travel from London to Ellesmere in Shropshire area (I think) possibly by rail or???
Aug 21st, 2009, 01:01 PM
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My ex-sister-in-law and her 2nd husband had a narrow boat. It was great fun, but the locks were hard work I recall -all hand operated. Theirs was based in the Northampton area though. We went on it a couple of times for short trips. Slow and good fun, but as I said hard work at the locks. The canalside pubs made up for it though. 
Sadly she had to sell the boat when her husband died.
Sadly she had to sell the boat when her husband died.
Aug 21st, 2009, 01:06 PM
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Did a cruise for a week years ago with my kids. We had a wonderful time, especially since the boys loved working the locks. In France, most of the locks are electrically operated, and automatic. In England, they give you a crank handle, and wish you good luck. We enjoyed ourselves even though it rained hard for six of the seven days.
Try it in the U.K.; it will be an adventure. Then try ditch crawling in France. I'll bet you will enjoy France more.
Try it in the U.K.; it will be an adventure. Then try ditch crawling in France. I'll bet you will enjoy France more.
Aug 21st, 2009, 01:09 PM
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Thanks for the info, I kinda knew about the locks and I think if we aren't to hungover we'll be able to raise or lower accordingly. I've been looking into some of the boat companies and it looks as if Tillerman has the best rates and accomidations for our needs. The route I'm interested in looks to have only a few locks----not sure how many canal side pubs though.
Aug 21st, 2009, 01:16 PM
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A friend went to London a few years ago and told me about something called a travel pass that lets you ride the Tube or Train or buses. is there such a thing that covers a wide range of transportations?
Aug 21st, 2009, 02:02 PM
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Yes. Most European cities will have something of the kind. For London, see
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/faresa...ets/10628.aspx
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/faresa...ets/10628.aspx
Aug 21st, 2009, 02:22 PM
#11
I like the bingley locks on the leeds liverpool, 7 locks in a row, there is a pub at the top mind.
Other options could be a boat on the norfolk broads (swallows and amazons) or in a scottish loch. But narrow boats are a must especially tunnels (you walk the boat throush lying on your back withthe legs on the roof.
Year since I did it so no company names.
Keep googling for some stories to find the best canals or try the British waterways authority which should have some good maps
Other options could be a boat on the norfolk broads (swallows and amazons) or in a scottish loch. But narrow boats are a must especially tunnels (you walk the boat throush lying on your back withthe legs on the roof.
Year since I did it so no company names.
Keep googling for some stories to find the best canals or try the British waterways authority which should have some good maps
Aug 21st, 2009, 02:32 PM
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Sweet! I am going to try both suggestions (especially the lying on my back in the tunnel!!!) I am getting a surge of excitment and know this is going to be a great visit to U.K. but I need to go for now. Keep putting down anything you think might be of interest on the canals and I'll check in tomorrow-PEACE
Aug 21st, 2009, 03:39 PM
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Hi,
My family of three adults is very keen on British canals. Our first one, some years ago, was the Llangollen and Shropshire Union. We hired our four berth narrowboat from Black Prince Holidays out of Chirk on the Welsh Border, then took it to Chester on the Shropshire Union and back to Llangollen then return to Chirk. A fortnight's travel. We loved it so much that on our second long trip we scheduled three different canals. We had a week on the Monmouthshire and Brecon in the Brecon Beacons area of Wales. I thoroughly recommend this one, only about five locks all up and heartwrenchingly lovely scenery. Cambrian Cruisers out of Brecon. We also did a week on the Union Canal in Scotland from the Falkirk Wheel boatlift to Edinburgh. No locks after the wheel.
Next year we have another long trip and have booked a week on the Lancaster canal, also fairly lock free. I know it seems a bit of a cop out but my husband and I are retired and I am arthritic. It isn't fair to leave all the work to our son!
So we have done a fair bit of canal boating in Britain. It is life in the slow lane but harder work than we anticipated. Go for it, you sound young and strong!
Rosemary
My family of three adults is very keen on British canals. Our first one, some years ago, was the Llangollen and Shropshire Union. We hired our four berth narrowboat from Black Prince Holidays out of Chirk on the Welsh Border, then took it to Chester on the Shropshire Union and back to Llangollen then return to Chirk. A fortnight's travel. We loved it so much that on our second long trip we scheduled three different canals. We had a week on the Monmouthshire and Brecon in the Brecon Beacons area of Wales. I thoroughly recommend this one, only about five locks all up and heartwrenchingly lovely scenery. Cambrian Cruisers out of Brecon. We also did a week on the Union Canal in Scotland from the Falkirk Wheel boatlift to Edinburgh. No locks after the wheel.
Next year we have another long trip and have booked a week on the Lancaster canal, also fairly lock free. I know it seems a bit of a cop out but my husband and I are retired and I am arthritic. It isn't fair to leave all the work to our son!
So we have done a fair bit of canal boating in Britain. It is life in the slow lane but harder work than we anticipated. Go for it, you sound young and strong!
Rosemary
Aug 22nd, 2009, 03:45 AM
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Do it !
It's a beautiful way to spend a vacation. Rentals are usually by the week, but for approximately half the cost you can take a boat for a "mid-week break" (typically 3pm Monday to 9am Friday) or a "weekend break" (typically 3pm Friday to 9am Monday).
Tillerman are indeed at the lower end of the price range, but it might still seem a bit pricey in high season (June to mid-September). My recommendation would be to economise on the season rather than on the size of boat. That is, save money by going in May (but not a "bank holiday" weekend) but don't skimp on the size of boat. Out of the main season there will be a lot less queueing at locks and narrow bits, and less frantic reversing when other boats emerge too fast from under bridges on blind bends. The most important factor in choosing a boat, imho, is to have a full-time bed for everyone aboard. Your bed is your only bit of "private" space on board, and the person whose bed is turned into the dining table every morning feels rootless all day, with nowhere to drop odds and ends and keep books, sweaters etc.
Don't worry too much which canal you choose, you'll want to come back again and explore others anyway. But don't plan a trip with a ring af a squizzillion miles and locks to get round. Everyone who does this runs out of time and spends the second half of the trip burning out the engine with no time to stop anywhere. A Monday to Friday trip only gives you three full days - if you plan to do only 60 "locks plus miles" (30 out and 30 back) you will still spend 7 hours a day at the tiller (don't count on averaging more than 3 lock&miles per hour). If you're coming to see the cute villages and pubs you'll want to spend time off the boat as well...
One simple bit of practical advice - don't bring rigid cases onto the boat, there simply isn't room for them. There are no shelves, and the corridor is two feet wide, so you spend the whole trip moving cases or falling over them. Bring soft holdalls that scrunch into a cupboard, or leave the empty cases in the car, if you don't travel by train (nearly all boatyards are a short taxi ride from a train station, for the simple reason that when they built the railways, they followed the canal routes...)
BilboBurglar is pulling your leg - you DON'T have to leg your boat through tunnels - you just drive through. Wide tunnels (scarily) are wide enough for boats to go through in opposite directions. Narrow tunnels have timed passages for boats coming from first one end then the other. Tunnels are pitch black, drippy, echoey, low-roofed, claustrophobic, and very scary - kids love them (in a sort of, kind of way). The person stuck up at the back steering and trying not to scrape his head and knuckles along the roof and walls is usually less keen, especially in Harecastle tunnel which is over a mile long and takes forty minutes to get through (you wouldn't want to fall off the boat in the middle and have to copy the cow that swam through foulridge tunel on the Leeds & Liverpool). One exception is the longest tunnel of all at Marsden, under the Pennines. In this tunnel the boats are towed through in convoy, and you and your crew travel in the tug (about two hours to do the three miles, I think). But this is on the Huddersfield Narrow canal, which although very beautiful is not really a first-timers' trip because of the huge numbers of locks (not one set of locks in one place, like Caen Hill, Hatton, Tardebigge, or Heartbreak Hill, but three days of nothing but a quarter-mile of canal followed by another lock.....
Don't let people put you off with scare stories about locks. They are two hundred years old and easy to grasp. Not many people sink their boat in the lock and no-one dies (in a good year). Google "boat sunk lock" for some good pictures and you'll REALLY pay attention to the boatyard briefing. Locks are only "lots of hard work" if there are lots of locks ! Pick a route with only as many locks as you want to do (none on the main line of the Lancaster, a very few on the LLangollen, not too many on the Shroppie, a reasonable number on the Trent an Mersey, and an unreasonable number on any route that climbs towards Birmingham or over the Pennines or Cotswolds. Actually, the Leeds Liverpool avoids the biggest Pennine hills, so the locks aren't too bad - but the Huddersfield and the high parts of the Rochdale need real dedication. In the Midlands and North, boat crews mingle at locks to chat about pubs and routes and help one another out. There are two of us on our boat, so there's usually only one working the locks and a bit of help from another crew (meaning that there are people on BOTH sides of the lock) speeds things up for everyone. But on our recent trip on the Oxford canal (lovely route, with a chance for a visit to Oxford and a day on the Thames) we were astonished that crews of boats queuing behind us would stand glumly by their respective boats, watching one of us running arouud alone, and only move forward when we were leaving and it was time to open the paddles to prepare the lock for themselves.
My recommendation is too obvious, really. The LLangollen is almost everybody's first thought. But for good reason - it's very very picturesque, it has a nice mixture of miles of countryside followed by stops at small towns, it's not too much hard work but has enough locks and lift bridges to keep the crew occupied, it has some very good canalside pubs (and a couple of ropey ones), everyone is used to tourists so you don't stick out like a sore thumb (the natives were even friendly to us, and we were the worst kind of foreigners, English!), it has a proper destination (LLangollen itself, a lovely town with plenty to do including steam train rides), and it has two scarily-exciting aqueducts (whatever you have read about the PontyWhatsit, you will still not be ready for it).
>If you would like a recommendation for a route that is well known to boat owners, but less used by hireres (renters) then how about the Trent and Mersey from Preston Brook to Anderton and a few days on the River Weaver ? This involves the Anderton Vertical Boat Lift - amazing Victorian engineering that drops you and your boat 50 feet into the Weaver.
Speaking of boat lifts, how about cruising between Edinburgh & Glasgow via the Falkirk Wheel Rotating Boat Lift (look it up) ?
If you are feeling lazy, you might be pleased to know that on the Weaver, and in Scotland, the lockkeepers do all the hard work for you....
Final bit of advice. Buy a Pearsons or Nicholsons guide NOW. It doesn't even have to be for the area you end up in. Get a cheap one off the internet for a few quid. It will give you a good feel for how canals feel and the kind of things to look for and how to plan a trip. When you have booked your boat, get the right guide and plan carefully - not to squeeze every last minute and mile out of your trip, but to make sure you don't miss good places to stop, know where the good pubs and shops are, and where to fill up with water and (most important) where to turn round (narrowboats are longer than the canal is wide).
Enjoy !
It's a beautiful way to spend a vacation. Rentals are usually by the week, but for approximately half the cost you can take a boat for a "mid-week break" (typically 3pm Monday to 9am Friday) or a "weekend break" (typically 3pm Friday to 9am Monday).
Tillerman are indeed at the lower end of the price range, but it might still seem a bit pricey in high season (June to mid-September). My recommendation would be to economise on the season rather than on the size of boat. That is, save money by going in May (but not a "bank holiday" weekend) but don't skimp on the size of boat. Out of the main season there will be a lot less queueing at locks and narrow bits, and less frantic reversing when other boats emerge too fast from under bridges on blind bends. The most important factor in choosing a boat, imho, is to have a full-time bed for everyone aboard. Your bed is your only bit of "private" space on board, and the person whose bed is turned into the dining table every morning feels rootless all day, with nowhere to drop odds and ends and keep books, sweaters etc.
Don't worry too much which canal you choose, you'll want to come back again and explore others anyway. But don't plan a trip with a ring af a squizzillion miles and locks to get round. Everyone who does this runs out of time and spends the second half of the trip burning out the engine with no time to stop anywhere. A Monday to Friday trip only gives you three full days - if you plan to do only 60 "locks plus miles" (30 out and 30 back) you will still spend 7 hours a day at the tiller (don't count on averaging more than 3 lock&miles per hour). If you're coming to see the cute villages and pubs you'll want to spend time off the boat as well...
One simple bit of practical advice - don't bring rigid cases onto the boat, there simply isn't room for them. There are no shelves, and the corridor is two feet wide, so you spend the whole trip moving cases or falling over them. Bring soft holdalls that scrunch into a cupboard, or leave the empty cases in the car, if you don't travel by train (nearly all boatyards are a short taxi ride from a train station, for the simple reason that when they built the railways, they followed the canal routes...)
BilboBurglar is pulling your leg - you DON'T have to leg your boat through tunnels - you just drive through. Wide tunnels (scarily) are wide enough for boats to go through in opposite directions. Narrow tunnels have timed passages for boats coming from first one end then the other. Tunnels are pitch black, drippy, echoey, low-roofed, claustrophobic, and very scary - kids love them (in a sort of, kind of way). The person stuck up at the back steering and trying not to scrape his head and knuckles along the roof and walls is usually less keen, especially in Harecastle tunnel which is over a mile long and takes forty minutes to get through (you wouldn't want to fall off the boat in the middle and have to copy the cow that swam through foulridge tunel on the Leeds & Liverpool). One exception is the longest tunnel of all at Marsden, under the Pennines. In this tunnel the boats are towed through in convoy, and you and your crew travel in the tug (about two hours to do the three miles, I think). But this is on the Huddersfield Narrow canal, which although very beautiful is not really a first-timers' trip because of the huge numbers of locks (not one set of locks in one place, like Caen Hill, Hatton, Tardebigge, or Heartbreak Hill, but three days of nothing but a quarter-mile of canal followed by another lock.....
Don't let people put you off with scare stories about locks. They are two hundred years old and easy to grasp. Not many people sink their boat in the lock and no-one dies (in a good year). Google "boat sunk lock" for some good pictures and you'll REALLY pay attention to the boatyard briefing. Locks are only "lots of hard work" if there are lots of locks ! Pick a route with only as many locks as you want to do (none on the main line of the Lancaster, a very few on the LLangollen, not too many on the Shroppie, a reasonable number on the Trent an Mersey, and an unreasonable number on any route that climbs towards Birmingham or over the Pennines or Cotswolds. Actually, the Leeds Liverpool avoids the biggest Pennine hills, so the locks aren't too bad - but the Huddersfield and the high parts of the Rochdale need real dedication. In the Midlands and North, boat crews mingle at locks to chat about pubs and routes and help one another out. There are two of us on our boat, so there's usually only one working the locks and a bit of help from another crew (meaning that there are people on BOTH sides of the lock) speeds things up for everyone. But on our recent trip on the Oxford canal (lovely route, with a chance for a visit to Oxford and a day on the Thames) we were astonished that crews of boats queuing behind us would stand glumly by their respective boats, watching one of us running arouud alone, and only move forward when we were leaving and it was time to open the paddles to prepare the lock for themselves.
My recommendation is too obvious, really. The LLangollen is almost everybody's first thought. But for good reason - it's very very picturesque, it has a nice mixture of miles of countryside followed by stops at small towns, it's not too much hard work but has enough locks and lift bridges to keep the crew occupied, it has some very good canalside pubs (and a couple of ropey ones), everyone is used to tourists so you don't stick out like a sore thumb (the natives were even friendly to us, and we were the worst kind of foreigners, English!), it has a proper destination (LLangollen itself, a lovely town with plenty to do including steam train rides), and it has two scarily-exciting aqueducts (whatever you have read about the PontyWhatsit, you will still not be ready for it).
>If you would like a recommendation for a route that is well known to boat owners, but less used by hireres (renters) then how about the Trent and Mersey from Preston Brook to Anderton and a few days on the River Weaver ? This involves the Anderton Vertical Boat Lift - amazing Victorian engineering that drops you and your boat 50 feet into the Weaver.
Speaking of boat lifts, how about cruising between Edinburgh & Glasgow via the Falkirk Wheel Rotating Boat Lift (look it up) ?
If you are feeling lazy, you might be pleased to know that on the Weaver, and in Scotland, the lockkeepers do all the hard work for you....
Final bit of advice. Buy a Pearsons or Nicholsons guide NOW. It doesn't even have to be for the area you end up in. Get a cheap one off the internet for a few quid. It will give you a good feel for how canals feel and the kind of things to look for and how to plan a trip. When you have booked your boat, get the right guide and plan carefully - not to squeeze every last minute and mile out of your trip, but to make sure you don't miss good places to stop, know where the good pubs and shops are, and where to fill up with water and (most important) where to turn round (narrowboats are longer than the canal is wide).
Enjoy !
Aug 22nd, 2009, 04:55 AM
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Years ago we took a family vacation on the Macclesfield and Peak Forrest canals
http://www.macclesfieldcanal.org.uk/
We had horrible weather (rainy and very cool at the end of June) and we did not go far but it was very beautiful and interesting and we all remember the trip fondly. We broke up the time on the boat with some side trips including a train trip from Whaley Bridge to Buxton and a walk up to Lyme Hall
http://www.macclesfieldcanal.org.uk/
We had horrible weather (rainy and very cool at the end of June) and we did not go far but it was very beautiful and interesting and we all remember the trip fondly. We broke up the time on the boat with some side trips including a train trip from Whaley Bridge to Buxton and a walk up to Lyme Hall
Aug 22nd, 2009, 08:43 AM
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Here is a link on how to use a narrow boat sized lock that might be useful.
http://www.wikihow.com/Use-a-Narrowb...zed-Canal-Lock
The tip about having an extra lock handle is a really good one!
http://www.wikihow.com/Use-a-Narrowb...zed-Canal-Lock
The tip about having an extra lock handle is a really good one!
Aug 22nd, 2009, 11:02 AM
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Some English friends have dined out for years on tales of their ten days on a narrowboat in continuous downpours. They did not speak to the couple who shared the boat with them for many, many years.
Aug 31st, 2009, 07:08 PM
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Hello,
I did a narrowboat cruise in 2006 and would highly recommend it to anyone. It is a working holiday, but it is an experience that may not be repeated. I rented from Claymoore Narrowboats out of Preston Brook and cruised to Chester and back. Not to many locks and beautiful countryside along the way. Claymoore is a small family run business that included many items that others charge extra for like insurance. I flew into Manchester from the US and Claymoore arranged and paid for a taxi to and from the airport, and another taxi to the local grocery store for stocking up on supplies. I do not know if they still do this anymore but you can check out their website.
Don't worry about the locks. Once you have done a couple, they go pretty easy and most other boaters are willing to help if you ask for help.
Enjoy your trip.
I did a narrowboat cruise in 2006 and would highly recommend it to anyone. It is a working holiday, but it is an experience that may not be repeated. I rented from Claymoore Narrowboats out of Preston Brook and cruised to Chester and back. Not to many locks and beautiful countryside along the way. Claymoore is a small family run business that included many items that others charge extra for like insurance. I flew into Manchester from the US and Claymoore arranged and paid for a taxi to and from the airport, and another taxi to the local grocery store for stocking up on supplies. I do not know if they still do this anymore but you can check out their website.
Don't worry about the locks. Once you have done a couple, they go pretty easy and most other boaters are willing to help if you ask for help.
Enjoy your trip.
Aug 31st, 2009, 11:03 PM
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Chris- England, I just wanted to say that that is one of the best postings I've ever seen on here. Well done.
Schmindy, remember the options of Loch Ness and the Caledonian Cannal.
There are some good photos on Undiscovered Scotland:-
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.u...nal/index.html
Bilboburglar, for shame- Swallows and Amazons is in the Lake District, not the Broads.
Schmindy, remember the options of Loch Ness and the Caledonian Cannal.
There are some good photos on Undiscovered Scotland:-
http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.u...nal/index.html
Bilboburglar, for shame- Swallows and Amazons is in the Lake District, not the Broads.
