Canal Boat Holiday

Canal Boat Holiday

by A Person | Published on October 18th, 2007, 2:48 pm | Travel

A few years ago we booked a holiday on a canal boat. Starting at Bidford on the River Avon we did the "Avon Ring" travelling to Tewsbury, Gloucester, Worcester, Birmingham, Stratford and back to Bidford. It was a lovely relaxed way to see the countryside, there are pubs all the way along the canals and you arrive in the centers of these old cities within walking distance of all the attractions - the Cathedrals, theatres and restaurants.

The boats are set up with hot showers, kitchens with ovens etc.

Thoroughly recommended
River Avon

Canal Basin, Gloucester

Leaving Canal Basin at Stratford on Avon (Royal Shakespeare theatre just behind the Ice cream boat)

Is this like a "day" trip or a "week"???

I'm stongly considering a trip to Europe this spring...

Liv wrote:Is this like a "day" trip or a "week"???

I'm stongly considering a trip to Europe this spring...

Three words: You absolutely should!

Liv wrote:Is this like a "day" trip or a "week"???

The Avon Ring can be done a week, but it's much nicer as a two week trip, that allows you to spend a few days in one spot. Take in a play at Stratford or rest after doing some of the long flights of locks. The cost was £1,200/week for the 6/8 berth which is under £30 per person per night, but that's all in except for beer and food. Given the sorry state of the US$ now probably isn't the time for a European vacation.

A Person wrote:
Liv wrote:Is this like a "day" trip or a "week"???
The Avon Ring can be done a week, but it's much nicer as a two week trip, that allows you to spend a few days in one spot. Take in a play at Stratford or rest after doing some of the long flights of locks. The cost was £1,200/week for the 6/8 berth which is under £30 per person per night, but that's all in except for beer and food. Given the sorry state of the US$ now probably isn't the time for a European vacation.

Hi, I did this trip a while back... It ws a very relaxing time.
Actually it was the week of the Diana 'Incident' in 97, so was actually the best week ever to not have a TV.
The canal boat trip into Wales is also good I've heard, but a lot more fields and sheep, less towns.

Londonwide wrote:Hi, I did this trip a while back... It ws a very relaxing time.
Actually it was the week of the Diana 'Incident' in 97, so was actually the best week ever to not have a TV.
The canal boat trip into Wales is also good I've heard, but a lot more fields and sheep, less towns.

Actually, a trip that gives many opportunities to just sit and watch the world go by can be a very good way to vacation, I think. Few people understand the value of real relaxation, at least around where I live. Shame, really.

The 'trip into Wales' is the Llangollen canal and is memorable for the Chirk Aqueduct and tunnel and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. These are spectacular - it's unnerving to look over the side of a canal boat and see the valley floor 120 feet below. If you're at all interested in the works of the great engineers of the time (late 1700's early 1800's) like Telford it's fascinating. The downside is that it's an out and return trip, loops are a bit more interesting if you don;t have much time

Pontcysyllte Aqueduct

Chirk Aqueduct and Viaduct

So do you "live" in the boat? Or do you stop at Hotels... Sounds really cool, but I don't know if my little American brain is grasping the concept.

You betcha. They're like an RV

They vary from 45' to 65' in length and are 6' beam i.e 300 sqft.

They have double beds, bathrooms with showers, toilets, hot water, kitchens with ovens & fridges, central heating etc.

They're powered by a small diesel engine and putter along at a relaxing 5mph. There is free mooring for short term stays (48 hours). Pubs usually ask you to drink some beer if you moor at their docks - what a hardship.

Who drives it? Do I get to? October 20th, 2007, 6:49 am Reply with quote

Who drives it? Do I get to?

Liv wrote:Who drives it? Do I get to?

Steering can be quite an interesting experience, as they can get up to 40-50ft in length (as I remember), and the canals are narrow..

An ex-co-worker of mine used to live on one. I thought it was the coolest thing.

You drive. Yup they are up to 65' long and the dimensions are dictated by the locks. It's a tight fit.

: Canallock.jpg (86.65 KiB) Viewed 1028 times

The good thing is that the boats are steel barges. Pretty much indesctructible and the front is pointy (to use the correct terminology) the first few times you may bang it about a bit but unless you hit a fiberglass boat (on one the rivers) you're not likely to damage much.

So let me get this straight.... For $2500 dollars I can go to Europe, rent a barge and drive it around bumping into crap like a crazy lunatic??????

Dude, I'm so in....

They've got some on herefor 375... that's not bad....

I like this idea.... But do I really want to be cramped in a 747 for a 8 hour flight to Europe??? Hmmm......

Let's see for a family of 4, 2 weeks high season - (fall is cheaper, less crowded and nicer)

Airfare for 4 = $4,000
Transport to rental location = $200
Narrowboat rental 55' 4 berth @ £800 per week = $3,200
Food + beer + spending money = $1,000

Say $9,000

If you ram a steel boat weighing 25 tonnes into an immovable object you will hurt something or someone. If you get any part of your body between the boat and a wall or other boat you will likely lose it. So reasonable caution is neccessary. At one point I misjudged by about a foot where the tow path was under a bridge and hit it at about 5mph. It didn't damage the boat - except for scraping some black tar off, but it knocked people off their feet, broke crockery and generally scared the sh!t out of everyone.

How to control a narrowboat It's not difficult, we met someone from Iowa and they managed. (We found out she was from Iowa when we helped her out of the water.)

Liv wrote:They've got some on herefor 375... that's not bad....

That's November/December. That would really suck. September/October maybe.

Liv wrote:But do I really want to be cramped in a 747 for a 8 hour flight to Europe??? Hmmm......

If you don't want to fly 8 hours that pretty much rules out anything outside continental USA. An 8 hour flight is not twice as bad as a 4 hour flight. You get used to it, and it's better than spending a day in a cubicle selling crap to people that don't want it.

That's a bit over my budget I think...

At this point even if I go "all in", I'd have max of about $7 G's.... but, I'm thinking about leaving the kids out of this one... If I can figure a way for family to watch them.... I'd love to take them, but frankly after 5 years of not being alone, we need a break.

This might be one to put off until the kids are older. Having kids big enough to work the locks makes it a lot easier and faster. It's hard work doing a flight of locks if there's just two of you. There are 30 locks in the Tardebigge flight - I was grateful for the kids assistance. I just drove the boat - they went on ahead and got the locks ready

Wait, do you do the lochs yourself too??

Locks & lifting bridges, holding up traffic - all part of the fun.

The ones on the rivers are powered and have lock keepers to operate them, but on the canals you're using 200 year old technology - a hand crank.

: CanalCrank.jpg (42.62 KiB) Viewed 962 times

This is awesome.......

I'm going to have to check into this a little bit more when the time comes.

Liv wrote:This is awesome.......

I'm going to have to check into this a little bit more when the time comes.

As much fun as it is, I actually think I would be frustrating to travel all the way from NC to spend 2 weeks in a small boat. There is little option of going out for day trips beyond the canal, and of visiting the villages that are actually on the water.. and they do go SOOO slowly.
(I think that is why the car was invented, and canals used less.)

If you haven't visited before I think you would want to seem more of the classic touristy areas.. Just my thoughts.

I was actually thinking about that. I'd love to do this for a day or so, and then maybe do "normal" stuff too. I figured I'd check into that....

We also have a friend in Bristol, If he wouldn't mind seeing us, we'd like to stop by and say hi....

I wonder though is the long term prediction for the Euro to continue to be worth more than the dollar?

I wonder if it would make more sense to wait a year on this....

Then again in a year, Bush may have invaded England, and brought Democracy to you too....

Then I won't have to worry.

Then again in a year, Bush may have invaded England, and brought Democracy to you too....

Then I won't have to worry.[/quote]

he he...

Him and Blair could live together in a houseboat, playing Risk.. probably the Lord of the Rings Special Edition.
Or maybe thats no different to now.

Liv wrote:I wonder though is the long term prediction for the Euro to continue to be worth more than the dollar

It's not the absolute value, it's the trend that's important. The short and medium term predictors are that the US dollar will continue to fall against other currencies. The US is headed for a severe recession if it continues to piss away over half its income on "missiles for peace". If Bush takes on Iraq the economy is doomed.