Any Canal boaters on here ?

spyder · 30th July 2014, 13:12

Just busy packing for a trip around the Birmingham canals. It will be our third trip on the canals, a really different way to see the country.

We are spending a few days at the Black Country museum and then heading up to Calf Heath to pick the boat up. from there down to stourport, back past the BCM through the +/- 4 Mile tunnel to Tipton and back up to Wolverhampton. From there to Stafford, Great Harmouth and back to Calf Heath.

A 70 mile trip with 94 locks over 7 days-all at 2.5 MPH. A few stops at some pubs along the way to break the monotony of course.

Although hard work, it is a relaxing way to spend a week and actually see my family the whole day, instead of dealing with other peoples families for 1/2 the day.

Taking the Vauxhall, as I do not cherish the thought of leaving the Tourer unattended next to a canal for 8 days, besides the 75 needs to tow the trailer the weekend after for the camping trip.........

Astraeus · 30th July 2014, 16:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by spyder

Just busy packing for a trip around the Birmingham canals. It will be our third trip on the canals, a really different way to see the country.

We are spending a few days at the Black Country museum and then heading up to Calf Heath to pick the boat up. from there down to stourport, back past the BCM through the +/- 4 Mile tunnel to Tipton and back up to Wolverhampton. From there to Stafford, Great Harmouth and back to Calf Heath.

A 70 mile trip with 94 locks over 7 days-all at 2.5 MPH. A few stops at some pubs along the way to break the monotony of course.

Although hard work, it is a relaxing way to spend a week and actually see my family the whole day, instead of dealing with other peoples families for 1/2 the day.

Taking the Vauxhall, as I do not cherish the thought of leaving the Tourer unattended next to a canal for 8 days, besides the 75 needs to tow the trailer the weekend after for the camping trip.........

Not canals but sailing. We are supposed to be off from the Firth of Tay (Tayport) to the Forth Estuary on Friday. Weather permitting. Very windy and trance to Tay very rough today!

Chris

Grumpy1 · 30th July 2014, 20:55

My late wife and I covered many a mile on the canals Craig. We hired a boat on the Macclesfield canal first, just for a week to see how we got on

My two sons are 48 and 49 now, so it was a few years ago!

The next year we hired a boat from Robin Hood Boats based on the Erewash canal. This time for two weeks because we enjoyed the first time so much. The Erewash goes on to the Trent and Mersey canal and of course we were able to cover a lot more ground (water?) with two weeks to enjoy

Near Shardlow

We then became friends with someone who owned their own boat and they very kindly lent it to us for two weeks for the next few years. It was moored at Sawley Marina, just down the M1 from us. From there we were soon on to the Trent and Mersey and many different canals to explore.

Night mooring at Willington

My favourite canal was the Shropshire Union.

Unfortunately our friends sold the boat and that was the end of our canal holidays I'm afraid. We couldn't afford the very high prices of the hire companies!

Definitely our favourite type of holiday, with camping in North Yorkshire a very close second

Slingsby

We loved the canals so much we spoke about selling the house one day and living on a canal boat. Wasn't to be, sadly.

Sorry if I've gone on a bit, but you've brought back some very happy memories. Thanks.

Enjoy your holiday. I envy you.

Chad.

PS Sorry about the poor quality of the photo's. They're scanned from old slides/negatives.

spyder · 30th July 2014, 22:08

That really sounds lovely Chad, we have met a couple of live aboarders and it is definitely a different type of life. Not sure if it would be for me at the moment, but holidays on the canal for us are a great family holiday. Will post up some pics next week.

Craig.

Astraeus · 30th July 2014, 23:05