Stop off at beautiful villages during a narrowboat trip along Midland canals

THIS time last year I was sitting at home watching Molly-Mae flirting with Tommy Fury on Love Island.

Now, I find myself floating on a narrowboat called Molly May on a remote Warwickshire canal.

Verity E. Milligan

All narrowboats are disinfected before you are allowed on board, and it’s face masks on, as a staff member shows you the ropes, literally[/caption]

Funny how a global pandemic can change how you spend your leisure time.

Throw in a stop at a sleepy village called Willoughby and this boating break was fast morphing into a weird ITV tribute trip.

Our long weekend away was originally planned for late May but coronavirus put paid to that.

At the time, I wondered whether the trip would happen at all but with Britain blinking into the light after lockdown, Kate Boats, based in Stockton, Warks — part of the Drifters Waterway Holidays network — got up and pumping again in early July.

The original plan was to see if we could take a narrowboat holiday with another family — on separate boats — without wanting to murder each other at the end of it.

Instead, it turned into an opportunity to see if a socially-distanced holiday with another family is possible.

Alamy

A trip down along the canals can take you to quiet villages you would probably not otherwise visit[/caption]

Two families, two boats — our family of four and my wife’s sister’s family of four. Definitely more Covid-19 friendly than a shared cottage.

Kate Boats is doing everything by the book. All narrowboats are disinfected before you are allowed on board, and it’s face masks on, as a staff member shows you the ropes, literally.

Once all our luggage and food was loaded, there was a quick run-through of the boat and then it was on to the water for an accompanied trip to get the hang of steering and locks. And then you’re on your own.

It’s quite daunting being left in control of a 52ft boat with your wife and two daughters on board but you quickly get the hang of things.

The boating crowd are an odd mob. Generally, if you pass serenely you’ll be met with a cheery: “Good morning/afternoon!”

But if you’re travelling slightly too fast, have taken a bend slightly too wide or have got your steering in a bit of a muddle, you will feel a passing boatman’s disapproving eyes boring into your soul.

And just when you’re about to crash ever-so-gently into a moored-up boat, they have an uncanny knack of popping their heads up just in time to greet you with a slow shake of the head.

Once we’d got to grips with the tiller — ish — our next challenge was to tackle the locks.

Again, before we had given one a bash, it seemed quite overwhelming.

Water gushing in and out of an enclosed space to move your boat up and down levels of canal — all controlled by us.

It’s quite physical work but if you follow the process, it’s perfectly safe and fairly straightforward.

I must admit that, pre-lockdown, the thought of spending three nights on a cramped narrowboat in the English countryside didn’t fill me with a huge amount of joy.

But, as confinement dragged on, I warmed to the idea of going from lockdown to locks-down more and more — a change of scenery and canal-side pubs serving lager in actual pint glasses top of the plus-sides.

And I was very impressed with Molly May’s onboard facilities. A perfectly serviceable kitchen, complete with small fridge-freezer, oven, microwave and kettle.

There was one permanent bed set up in the rear bedroom, while the kids slept on the front-of-boat couches, which cleverly converted into a fairly vast double bed.

The bathroom was basic but you won’t convince me that having hot, running water pumping out of a decent enough shower head while bobbing up and down on a canal isn’t some sort of complex witchcraft.

The biggest surprise for me was that, despite being 6ft 2in, I was able to move quite comfortably through the boat with just the hint of a crouch.

Our route took us through the Warwickshire countryside from Stockton to Hillmorton via Braunston and then back again.

I’d recommend a stop by the riverside in Braunston — it’s how you imagine a classic canal boating scene, with a cute barge-based cafe and arts and craft stall.

Midway between Braunston and Hillmorton, we moored up again and took a 15-minute stroll in-land to Willoughby, with its quaint village pond, field of alpacas and the Rose Inn.

The kids loved the massive playground in the rec just behind the pub, the adults enjoyed the peace and quiet and the beers.

The stops at various villages along the way were all well and good but we quickly found that, other than a basic village shop and maybe a pub, there wasn’t a great deal to see or do.

The absolute highlight for us was just mooring up anywhere we wanted to along a tow path, bringing out food and drinks to share between the two boats and watching the children — aged between five and eight — from afar as they galloped about in picturesque, rolling fields.

It really was a “simple pleasures” kind of trip, definitely enhanced because of the recent confinement of lockdown.

Our two families “bubbled up” for the trip but if you did want to try this as a socially distanced break for two families, it would absolutely work.

Interestingly, Kate Boats have noticed a big leap in the number of breaks being taken by families on multiple boats since lockdown.

That could be down to a desire for coronavirus compliant holidays or people getting creative as foreign trips fall by the wayside.

All I know is that despite what I feared before going, it turns out a narrowboat holiday is, as Molly-Mae might say, 100 per cent my type on paper.

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