The UK canal cruise holiday through one of the country’s prettiest cities
A WEEK on a narrowboat is never going to be the obvious choice of holiday for the thrill-seeker.
Travelling at 2mph on current-free water is about as sedate as it gets.
Inspired to take to the water after being entranced by narrowboat star Robbie Cummings and his BBC show Canal Boat Diaries, we’ve got a couple of trips under our belt.
But I wanted to level up the challenges and found what I was looking for on the River Avon near Bath.
It’s there, via the astonishing Caen Hill flight of locks, that boats pass from the quiet charm of the ordinary UK canal network to the navigable section of the Avon.
This rolls through Wiltshire, Somerset and Gloucestershire before flowing into the Severn Estuary, and the section between Bath and Bristol is open to narrowboats.
That’s if their pilots are adventurous enough.
And I felt I was.
We picked up our 49ft narrowboat from the Hilperton Marina in Trowbridge.
As soon as we had got to the bottom of that run of locks and on to the Avon, everything was immediately very different.
For starters, the river was about four times wider than a typical canal.
The water was also demonstrably moving.
The ride had got just a little bit wilder.
Other changes became apparent as we headed down river.
First the locks are no longer a simple matter to open: You are suddenly pushing against a current, you need at least four people to muster the strength to get the gates open.
This saw me asking favours of passing fishermen, other boat users and once even emptying the beer garden of the Jolly Sailor pub of drinkers to help us out.
Then there was the way the banks changed: Most canals have clean edges so you can moor up almost anywhere, whenever and wherever you fancy.
On the river things were much different.
Finding a place to stop was quite a challenge involving ropes, gang planks and some pretty hairy jumps from boat to bank and back.
It wasn’t exactly white-water rafting but much more high-octane than any barge trip I’d done before.
We took a tactical decision as we neared the midpoint of our trip to give up on the idea of getting all the way to Bristol and spending one night in its famous and historic “floating dock”.
One of the most common boat names you see is Narrow Escape — suggesting the idea of someone who has quit the rat race for a quieter and more fulfilling life.
Family of swans
Well I’m still in the rat race and this was only a week-long break from it.
And I realised I didn’t want to spend quite as much of it slogging against the current.
Some 15 miles short of Bristol, we turned round.
The sun came out and we headed back towards Bath, stopping before it in the most beautiful stretch of river to switch off for the best part of two days.
This meant reading, watching movies, sunbathing, swimming, birdwatching and strolling to the nearby Boathouse pub for lunch.
Our narrowboat came with a double bed at one end and a dinette that converts into another double at the opposite end, as well as a compact galley kitchen and bathroom with shower.
While basic, it was clean, comfy and ideal for two.
A highlight was hand-feeding a family of swans that came by several times a day for titbits.
Dropping a grape directly into their beaks was about as white- knuckle as this spell of the trip got.
Suddenly it felt like a holiday again and not an attempt to qualify for a sailor’s proficiency badge.
Which is not to say I hadn’t enjoyed the challenge of the river.
We rounded off our trip with a glorious lunch at the upmarket Newt at Castle Cary, which was a sharp contrast to our more basic meals cooked in a galley kitchen.
But it was the waterside pubs I will remember.
As well as the Sailors and the Boathouse, others included the Lock Inn at Bath, The George at Bathampton and the incredible trio of pubs at Bradford-on-Avon all within 100 yards of our mooring point: The Canal Tavern, The Barge Inn and the Lock Inn.
And who doesn’t like a lock-in?
There is no finer thing than tying up outside a pub and nipping in for a half before tootling off again.
GO: Bath canal trip
SAILING THERE: A three or four-night short break for up to four people in 2024 with Drifters is from £590 in total and from £815 for a week.
In 2025, short breaks are from £715 and £970 for a week.
See drifters.co.uk or call 0344 984 0322.