Has anyone ever been on a narrow boat holiday

Yes - loads :) :) Loved it - have been with friends - took the children - took the dog :) :) First went in 1973 - last time in 2002 just before we got Tara :)

Daisy

Yes.  Billiant.  Loved it.  Life is so much better at 4mph :)
I think I would say though, if you are going to a stretch with lots of locks it is much easier when you are travelling with another couple at least because what happens is Hubby always wants to steer the boat and you get left opening all the locks which can get a bit exhausting.  Also watch the dogs, ours fell in a couple of times because she loved "walking the plank" across the locks which can be slippery which could be very dangerous if the locks are being operated but otherwise it amounts to a great holiday for dogs.

Have to agree about not going as a twosome :) Some people manage it (have even seen someone operating a flight of locks single-handed ), but the more people (aged over about 6ish) the better :) :) Bramble absolutely loved the narrowboat - he was the perfect dog to take as he doesn't like water and so didn't leap in at all. It was very good practise for his obedience too as we used to sit him at the back of the towpath while we operated the locks - if we ever left him in the boat by himself it was always with the doors shut. He got huge amounts of exercise as we used to walk between as many locks as possible :) :) As you will see from my previous post we haven't been since we got Tara - for a VERY good reason - she would be a disaster on a boat :D :D :D :( :( :(

Daisy

For the swashbucklers ;)

Love them but as the owner of 2 Siberian Water Hooskies I try and avoid messing around in boats - or should I say fishing for hooskies! :rolleyes: (I suppose I could put them in kennels but what's the point of holidaying in UK if I can't take them with me?)

Kez loves to swim but thankfully only if he can walk in the water I really fancy it but not so good on boats as get quite sick but wondered if you could really tell when you are going so slow.

Going to Hatton Locks at the weekend for a walk and I know I will get the bug, just thought it might make a nice change from Camping -Although with this weather it would feel like floating on water in the tent

My OH loves them and I'd like to go but the boats are sooooo expensive. And not a one of them came with a nice weather guarantee! ;-)

I can just imagine trying to go now. We'd never get anywhere for my goldens jumping off in the water :-D

Had to give our narrowboat up a couple of years ago due to my husbands arthritis, but the best holidays yet with all the dogs on the back deck with us as we sailed along. Wonderful times!

Narrowboats are fab. We have been boating since I was two and my mum and dad live on a narrow boat now. The canal runs alongside our fields on the Shropshire Union stretch. Its very popular these days - not the very quiet holiday it once was. If I was going on one now for a week it would be in the winter - log burner, wine and cuddles with husband and the dogs :D  And yes, we have managed a narrowboat with two danes - but it was quite stressful and rather cramped LOL

> If I was going on one now for a week it would be in the winter - log burner, wine and cuddles with husband and the dogs

LOL :D Yes - we always tried to avoid the busiest times, usually went May/June. I don't do queueing - particularly locks :D :D :D Worst holiday we ever had though was in 1982 when we took both sets of parents on the Llangollen canal - BIG MISTAKE :D :D :D Parents had only met once the year before at our wedding. MIL fell down the steps the first day. Water was very low due to a leak in the canal and FIL (in his PJs) had to carry elderly, CKCS over the gangplank every night to do a tiddle. My father got the sulks as he ran the boat aground big time - get the picture :D :D :D :D Only, ever, take the family and friends that you guarantee that you won't fall out with :D :D :D However, we have taken lots of children with us (nephews and friends of children or the family) and all have had a really super time :) :)

Daisy

I have been on a few when I was an ickle girl but was put off after I fell in and remember going right down to the bottom and the sheer panic I would get tangled up in and old bike or something that had been chucked in absolutely terrified me It made matters worse that all my family were stood at the side laughing at me when I finally came to the surface :( I was so upset but they didn't see why I was :rolleyes::rolleyes: I still have nightmares about it and hate the thought of being anywhere I wasn't able to get to dry land very quickly :)

I've fallen in too :D :D Went on a canal holiday when I was 18 with my church youth club (got the bug after this) :D Two boats - one pulled the other - 10 girls, 10 boys + minister and his wife + a couple of helpers :D :D :D They wouldn't wait for me after a lock and then 'encouraged' me to jump onto one of the boats - I hit the boat but couldn't hold on :D :D Just as well that I could swim - they then made me walk for a hundred yards before they stopped to pick me up :D :D :D

Daisy

Some waterways are a lot quieter than others.  The Lancaster canal is lovely and quiet, lovely countryside and beautiful views over the bay to the Lakeland hills as it passes by my bit :).  It also has the advantage of being engineered to have no locks apart from it's little arm down to the sea at Glasson Dock if you are doing things single handed.  It's not terrible long but adequate for a weeks holiday.  The Leeds and Liverpool is very nice too, a little bit busier round it's locks but generally pretty quiet. 

Which waterway is it that goes over that really long high bridge???  It absolutely terrifies me just looking at it so I dont think I could ever go across it.

Llangollen - Ponti....... Bridge (can't spell Welsh :D )

Daisy

It is fun :D if you like a slower pace of life for a while.

Tips - not great if you have dogs that hurl themselves into the water at every given opportunity, you will spend more time getting dogs out of water than you will going anywhere and you DO have to go somewhere to make the drop off point for the end of the holiday. (cant turn around on most canals, winding holes are few and far between if they are there at all!)....

Ditto, not great if you have children of the 'im bored/want to watch telly/want to go fast' brigade or the 'in a minute, no im just doing this, sorry wot did you say?' type.... (because by the time 'in a minute' has been and gone, you no longer need someone to catch a rope or fend off because you have gone adrift or you have hit something else......).

Much better with a group of capable adults/semi adults and dogs who can contain themselves at so much water (and often the temptation of cattle/sheep/things on the other side of the water), some trips you can engineer so you end up within walking distance of a nice pub each night.

Id avoid going in the major school holiday seasons.... because sadly a huge proportion of people are not capable of following the rules regarding how fast, and who ought to pull over to let someone else pass, or why its not wise to moor on a blind sharp bend..... crunch.... and there are a lot of 'noddy boats' (plastic hulled river cruisers not really suitable for canals), that go very fast and are easily broken when hit hard with several tons of steel hulled narrow boat..... (fun holiday that one).....

Final fing to beware of.... built up areas, canals tend to pass through some loooooooovely areas and some downright blummin orrible ones.

Do NOT be surprised if you suddenly find yourself bombarded with stones and sticks or worse, fired at with air rifles - its happened to me on a few occaisons and is distinctly unpleasant.

Less heinous but still nasty - canals still go past such wonderful sights as 'rendering plants'.... and 'margerine factories'..... suss out where these are in advance (i am cleverly NEVER the one at the tiller when we go past the Kraft factory in manchester), and make sure someone elses turn to steer...... they STINK and certainly one go past a rendering plant will stop you eating bacon for years and the scum on the water by the marge factory will make you look at I Cant Believe Its Not, No Really I Cant, Well Actually I Probably Could Believe Its Not Butter in a very different way....

All in all though, i enjoy it and do eventually intend to live on a narrow boat (if i dont live on top of a mountain), just dont expect it to be anything more than pootling about in a long thin floaty tin!