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Canal trips in the
UK
A good friend of ours owns a canal boat, or
narrowboat, and we have been lucky enough to join him on a number of short and
long trips along the canals and waterways of England. Originally he lived on
the boat when he worked in Birmingham, but in recent years it has been based on
the Kennet and Avon canal between Reading and Newbury in Berkshire, and more
recently at Leeds.
The boat - called the "Chelonian" (latin for the
turtle family) is a traditional style British narrow boat (NOT a "barge"), 60ft
long, and fitted out as a leisure craft with five berths. You can find out more
about the boat at chelonian.co.uk.
We have spent a number of very pleasant long weekends
on the Chelonian, plus some longer trips, and we even spent Christmas on the
boat in 2003. Although we didn't venture very far on that occasion, we have
since done a number of more extensive trips, including sections of the River
Thames in Oxfordshire and Berkshire in 2006, a 100 mile trip across the
Heart of England from
Birmingham to London (almost) in August 2007, all the way
to Bristol on the Kennet & Avon Canalin
July 2008, along the Oxford Canal in May
2009, across the Pennines in July 2010, and
back the other way by a different route on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal in June 2011.
From this page you can access all of our on-line
material on our canal trips. These include itineraries,
picture galleries, travelogues,
blogs, and maps.
Key links:
Chelonian - home page
Waterscape - British Waterways' leisure
site
Canalplan AC -
excellent interactive guide to the UK's inland waterways |
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