Let me explain from the “git-go” as we say out here, that I’ve lived in Southeastern New Mexico all of my life. Out here on what they call the high plains, the landscape is mostly desert. Lakes tend to be man-made and filled by pumping water out of the ground. There’s a local joke that we live in the middle of some of the best boating and fishing places around. Right smack dab in the middle. Yep, drive any direction for four or five hundred miles and you’ll find water.As a result of my location, I’ve always been intrigued by bodies of water and how people get around on them. So, when my wife and I were dining with a couple we know and they showed us some pictures of their vacation on a narrowboat in England, my interest was piqued.
The Canal System
It turns out that there are hundreds of miles of navigable canals that run through England, Scotland and Wales and people travel these canals in rented boats for recreation. The canals are just about seven feet wide at their narrowest points, so the boats built to travel them are long and narrow–thus the term ”narrowboat”. Narrowboats are built in varying lengths, but most are long enough to have room for a small bedroom or two, kitchen and bath facilities and storage for your stuff. Think of a travel-trailer built for the water and you get the general idea. CLICK HERE TO SEE A TYPICAL LAYOUT OF A NARROWBOAT The wheel and other controls are typically located at the rear of the boat, so the person doing the piloting does so from the rear, looking over the roof of the living quarters.
Image provided by Drifters Waterway Holidays
The Locks
Because the elevation where the canals run rises and falls, there is a system of locks which prevent all of the water from running to the part of the canal with the lowest elevation. The locks operate by allowing the boat to enter a chamber with gates on both ends that hold in the water. By manipulating the gates in the correct order, the water is either raised or lowered to allow the narrowboat to continue along the canal. Some of the locks have operators, but many must be operated by the people traveling on the narrowboat. This is another aspect of canal boating that adds to the fun and interesting.
The Narrowboat Lifestyle
Probably one of the most alluring aspects of a narrowboat vacation is the relaxed, easy-going pace and the freedom to stop and continue on at will. Spot an interesting-looking pub along the way? Just tie up and check it out. Spend the night if you like and continue on in the morning. The only appointment on your schedule is the return time you set for yourself when you initially rent the boat. What you do and where you go during the time of your rental is up to you.
Narrowboat Rental Companies
Most narrowboat vacations (or “holidays” as the British prefer to say) take place over anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Typically, those who take a narrowboat holiday do so by arranging it through any number of narrowboat rental companies with locations throughout the UK. At this point I must emphasize that I have never taken a narrowboat vacation myself and have never personally dealt with any of the companies listed below, so please do some investigation on your own before you proceed. With that said, I think you’ll find that most of the narrowboat rental companies are friendly, helpful and often small enough to give you lots of personal attention and advice. Many are small, family owned and run operations that bend over backwards to help out newcomers to the narrowboating lifestyle.
Here are a few companies that have online locations. Their websites are useful to browse to learn more about narrowboats. Many include tons of free and useful information:
- Black Prince Narrowboat Holidays
- Andersen Boats
- Alvechurch Waterway Holidays
- Viking Afloat
- Rose Narrowboats
- Acier Narrowboats
- Canal Junction maintains an extensive list of narrowboat rental firms including contact information and links to their websites.
Want to Learn More?
There are lots of free resources available online to take advantage of. There is a newsgroup titled uk.waterways.rec devoted to the waterways of the United Kingdom, and its members are friendly, informative and helpful. Another online forum is hosted at canalworld.net. Many of the narrowboat rental websites include pages of free information, such as the website of Sheffield Narrowboats.
Planning Your Trip
Once you’ve decided that a narrowboat vacation is for you, the first step is to decide how long you want to spend on the water. Most of the veterans I’ve talked to recommend at least a week to start with. The next step is to decide where you want to begin and end your trip, keeping in mind that narrowboat travel is a slow, leisurely method of seeing the countryside. The average narrowboat speed over the course of a day is probably 3 miles per hour or less, depending on how many locks you encounter on your route. So, it’s important to plan a route that will allow you to cruise for a set number of hours per day and still allow plenty of time to explore on foot when you want to without feeling too rushed to make it to your end destination on time.
Planning can be done through use of detailed waterway maps available from companies such as Nicholson and Pearson. There are also maps available online at places like Canal Junction.
