When boaters come to visit...

Last week, just as I arrived home I saw this unlikely pair moored up at my local water point. The lovely hotel boats Snipe and Taurus were once again in my local area. Although we have plenty of beautiful pictures on Flickr I couldn’t resist taking a few more of the red-painted boats and traditionally colourful water cans. Even on a gloomy, rainy day these boats are a sight to make you stop and stare (also known as ‘gongoozling’!)

There are very few traditional working pairs of hotel boats on the canal system today. It’s lovely to watch the motor tow the butty towards an ancient ‘bridge hole’, unhurried as they travel onward. Yet Neil, Corinne and the crew can cover a surprising distance in the space of a week, always offering their guests a varied trip that can include big cities and tiny hamlets.

That night Neil and Corinne came round to my boat: It’s always a novelty to have friends to visit who have arrived by boat, knowing that their own home is conveniently moored a short walk away down the towpath. I had just put my two little daughters to bed, but upon hearing the arrival of Neil and Corinne they immediately got up again to see ‘the lady who turns us upside down’! There were a lot of giggles, running about and tickling before Corinne persuaded them back to bed with the promise to visit again in the morning.

I love to chat to Neil and Corinne about their unusual lifestyle, their travels, their boats and adventures, and how they got into it all in the first place. So while the girls obediently settled to sleep in their boatman’s cabin at the back of our boat, I shared a few glasses of wine with my travelling friends and talked about all things boaty. They’ve done many more hours of boating than me and have learned traditional techniques that I’ll never need, like how to take a butty and motor safely into a lock. At the moment I’m reading the memoir ‘Maiden’s Trip’ by Emma Smith. She learned to carry cargo with a traditional working pair during the Second World War and the descriptions in the book make you realise how very different things are manoeuvring a pair of 70ft boats together.

The next morning my youngest (age 3) opened her eyes and immediately said,
“Can I go into the living room?”
“Yes…. But why?”
“To see if Corinne’s still there!”
I explained that Corinne had returned to her own boat, but shortly after breakfast Corinne arrived with home-baked biscuits for the girls. Her boats were already in the lock beginning to climb the Marsworth flight and since then they have travelled all the way to London.

I noticed on Twitter recently that Corinne shared a cool picture of narrowboats moving faster than lorries on the M25 and smiled to myself. You may think the lifestyle is slow and relaxed but they sure do get around. As I write this they are now preparing for a trip up the River Lea. Catch up with them soon and grab your own cabin (much more affordable than hiring a whole narrowboat),  with a £50 discount .

Disclosure: I was paid to write this on Neil and Corinne's hotel boats blog but re-published here as it is also part of my Real Life! I realise I am not writing much about my real life lately and this is because work and other personal commitments are making me super-busy at the moment!

Peggy
x

West country canals – a forgotten dream?

I grew up in Devon but by the time I lived there, there wasn’t much in the way of navigable canals left. I remember going on a school trip to see Cann Quarry Canal, a two mile waterway that connected with the Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway. I think it was only working for ten years. There’s a little five mile long canal in Exeter from Exeter Canal Basin to the River Exe estuary. There’s also a little canal near Tiverton which I think runs a horse drawn boat trip. There are several more abandoned canals around Devon but they have long since fallen into disrepair. So it wasn’t until I grew up and boldly went to seek my fortune in London that I really began to discover the thriving canal network that is still navigable for 2000 miles across the UK.

I lived in a flat in Kentish Town near Camden and watched with fascination the painted boats that would pass through Camden lock. The romantic gypsy in me began to realise, some people actually live on these boats! A seed was sown, and I have since become someone who lives on a narrowboat, and has travelled the canals of London and Hertfordshire.

I can never take my boat on the long forgotten canals of Devon where I grew up; the short canals that remain are not connected to the main system. By default then, I have always thought that the way to connect my boating life with my West Country roots would be to travel west as far as I can by canal. This is why the Kennet and Avon canal has become the journey that I have yet to do.

Having spent my adult years building a career, and then a family, in and around London, do I still hear the call of the West Country? Do I see a white horse carved into a Wiltshire hillside in my dreams? Or a famous flight of 29 locks at Caen Hill near Devizes?

This is the boating journey that I never got to do. Now that I am settled on a residential mooring near a good school my cruise down the Kennet and Avon must be done as a holiday trip someday. (If you are single or a couple, it is cheaper to go by hotel boat than to hire a boat.) I’ve seen the charming historic buildings of Bradford on Avon and the Georgian architecture of Bath on weekend visits before, but that is fleetingly, by car.

Exploring by narrowboat is a slower pace of life, more connected with nature. In a city we are surrounded by man-made creations. But travelling through England’s countryside on the water I feel more connected with real life.

“What is this life if, full of care,
 We have no time to stand and stare.”
(From the poem ‘Leisure’ by William Henry Davies.)

So one day, I will let the Kennet and Avon take me slowly back west. Where will it take you? Read more about the highlights of the Kennet and Avon on the Devizes to Newbury cruise or the Bath to Devizes via Bristol journey. Or read more about why Devizes is high on my list of places to visit by boat.

Disclosure: I was paid to write this post on the Canal Voyagers blog. I re-published it here because it tells a little about me, my narrowboat life and my dreams.

Canal Voyagers are currently offering a £50 discount on the first 12 cruises of the year.

What’s so good about the Grand Union Canal?

When you live and travel on a boat it feels like you have several areas that you could call ‘home’. You might even feel at home on a whole stretch of canal and for me that stretch would be the southern Grand Union.

I’ve travelled from Blisworth to London and often settled myself comfortably on a winter mooring in Angel, Islington. When we finally decided to settle for good so that our eldest daughter could start school we were lucky enough to find a residential mooring in Marsworth. This is a tiny rural community, with a little church, two cosy pubs and many colourful moored boats lining the centre of the village. The loveliest thing about the area though is the three reservoirs that feed the canal. A favourite with families, dog walkers, fishermen and photographers the views are stunning. It is quite an unusual sight to see a vast expanse of water right next to the canal.

Rising up the flight of seven locks you then arrive at Bulbourne, a little hamlet which was once a hub of traditional lockgate making. The old British Waterways workshops can still be seen beside the canal. Drifting onwards the Tring summit level takes us through a leafy canal cutting down to Cowroast. Originally known as ‘cows rest’ because farmers would rest their cows here on the way to market in London, the local pub and boatyard now take on the name. The English countryside remains green and beautiful as we travel towards Berkhamsted, a charming historic town featuring an olde worlde sweet shop, a multitude of lovely restaurants and an ancient ruined castle. Travelling through Hemel Hempstead you see nothing of the concrete town centre, instead chugging past the ancient Three Horseshoes pub (1535), through the swing bridge and the spacious urban parkland known as Boxmoor.

Other highlights for me on the journey are the fields around Rickmansworth where Black Beauty was filmed, the quiet of Cassiobury Park, the lakes of Harefield and the woodland of Denham Country Park. This is followed by the Swan and Bottle pub in Uxbridge, full of wooden beams, real ale and memories of my old boating friends who have long since moved on. Then turning left at Bulls Bridge we head into London still travelling quietly through parkland such as Horsenden Hill and Perivale Wood before briefly flirting with the modern world as we drift over the north circular aqueduct.

The only way to end a cruise like this would be to moor up in one of the boatiest places in London: Little Venice. Here you can remain with the quiet English pub vibe (try the Warwick Castle) or eat at somewhere swanky and modern in Sheldon Square. You’ll also be a short walk from Paddington so could simply head off to see the famous sights of London.

I love this whole stretch of canal and can’t believe Neil and Corinne are offering a £50 discount on what must be one of the best boat journeys you can do!

See more details and check availability on the Leighton Buzzard to London (Little Venice) narrowboat hotel cruise.

Remember: If you are single or a couple, it is much cheaper to come hotel boating than to hire a boat, and you don't have to do the cooking and washing up!

Disclosure: I was paid to write this post for the Canal Voyagers Hotel Boats blog. It was my choice to republish it here as it tells a little bit about my own narrowboat life. 

The day I fell in love with canals

Stoke Bruerne in Spring

Blisworth has a special meaning for me, because it was here that I met my first true love: a little red narrowboat called Emily Rose. In my late twenties she became an inexpensive first home for a girl who couldn’t afford a mortgage on a London flat.

Aptly enough, it was Independence Day (4^th July) when I took ownership of my first boat and left the brokerage in Bugbrook.   I enlisted the help of a friend who knew how to steer a narrowboat and headed south down the Grand Union towards London.

Before long we arrived at the Blisworth tunnel, and dizzy with the excitement of my first big canal adventure I wrote a bad poem in its honour; “It’s a mile and three quarter, And dripping with water…”
 Originally boats were legged through this tunnel and the leggers hut can still be seen on the bank at the southern end. There is no towpath but the tunnel is wide enough for boats travelling in opposite directions to pass one another. As we chugged through the darkness my steering friend re-told the ghost story of some poor souls who were crushed during the building of the tunnel. They do say that sometimes you may see an alternative tunnel branching off from the current route. This ghostly tunnel is lit by candlelight, as it would have been when the navvies were building it before the tragedy happened…

At the southern end of the tunnel we emerged into the leafy cutting of Stoke Bruerne and moored up for the night. Stoke Bruerne is a charming canal side village full of waterways history. In the days of working boats Sister Mary Ward lived beside the canal offering healthcare to the working boaters and their families. Of course there is a waterside pub to visit, plus boat scales, a double arched bridge, and a series of locks. The waterways museum is in an old corn mill and exhibits include a traditional narrowboat and a reconstruction of a butty boat cabin. You will see steam and diesel engines, historical clothing, cabinware, brasses, paintings and photographs. The museum shop sells books, postcards and other souvenirs. In Stoke Bruerne you can really immerse yourself in the rose-painted nostalgia of the canal era. By this point, and only one day into my first journey I was already in love with the whole lifestyle.

The next day we carried on to visit a church in the village of Cosgrove and then cruised quietly through idyllic rural landscapes. Even at Milton Keynes the canal misses the city centre, instead meandering around the edges giving you a completely different perspective to what you might expect. There was so much open country on our journey and we travelled undisturbed by the sounds of modern traffic, interrupted only by occasional sleepy villages. I felt that I was seeing England in a completely different way.

If you’d like to see the same stretch, not only with your own steerer, but also someone to cook and wash up for you, you may like the Canal Voyagers Hotel Boats Market Harborough to Leighton Buzzard cruise departing on Friday 3rd May 2013.

They are now offering a £50 discount on the first 12 cruises of the year! Click here to get the Late Availability Voucher. 

Disclosure: I was paid to write this post on the Canal Voyagers blog. It was my choice to re-publish it here to offer my readers the discount voucher.

All Hallows Eve on the Cut

Once upon a time, I can imagine that working boatmen may have gathered their families around the cabin stove on All Hallow’s Eve, and told ghostly stories by lamp light. 

Today my boat is moored beside this haunted bridge in Bulbourne, near Tring, in Hertfordshire. I thought I had read about some ghostly Roman soldiers being sighted somewhere near this bridge. I went to the library to borrow Ghosts of Tring again and yet when I searched the book the story was mysteriously nowhere to be found. (The book also puzzlingly has no accredited author, editor or publisher, having been bound by a short-run printer.)  I did however find a few other canal related ghost stories.

By the canal at Marsworth, the book reports a child was walking along with her grandmother “off the barges”.

“The child was tugging her hand; the grandmother turned to look. At the little girl’s other hand was a character half-man, half-goat.”

In the blackout during the Second World War children often saw lights on the dry canal bank above Wilstone reservoir. “Spies!” they called them.  Also near Wilstone reservoir a young man was approached by two grey shapes near the cemetery, eerily waving their arms. It turned out to be two swans.

On the Aylesbury canal arm one night a niece and her uncle were travelling in their carriage over the Dixon’s gap bridge. The horses shied and the niece saw four men carrying a coffin over the bridge. The uncle however saw nothing…

A perhaps more famous ghost story on the canals is that of the Blisworth Tunnel. This tunnel, on the Grand Union at Stoke Bruerne, is a mile and three quarters long. During its construction the tunnel caved in and fourteen men died. People claim to have seen the shadowy ghosts of these poor navvies and even some say, that when travelling through by boat you may see an alternative tunnel (the one that collapsed) leading off at a tangent; invitingly lit by candlelight.

However Standedge Tunnel in Yorkshire is the longest, highest and deepest canal tunnel on the network. Considered to be one of the seven wonders of the waterways, boating passages must be booked in advance. Next week you can enjoy a spooky boat ride or a witches brew in the café as the Standedge Visitor Centre takes on a Halloween theme.

Apparently The Montgomery Canal in Wales is haunted by a Welsh Princess who was buried alive as punishment for running away with her lover. At Rugeley on the Trent and Mersey Canal a blood stain sometimes reappears from a murder in 1839.

With so many poor souls killed in the building and working of the canals I expect there are many tales to be told. Do you know a canal ghost story?

Disclosure: I wrote this article for Canal Voyagers Hotel Boats. They'll be haunting most of these places next year on their 2013 cruises.

How to Get Fit on the Canals

I wrote this article for Canal Voyagers hotel boats, but I quite liked it and thought I'd share it here. I wanted to show that narrowboating can be quite active, contrary to the popular image of drifting lazily along on a summer afternoon...

Canal Boating is Not an Olympic Sport!

Did you see that picture in the Guardian of the narrowboat-shaped water jump as part of an Olympic equestrian event?! That may be as close as a canal boat has got to being involved with a sporting event this summer.

A few months ago I asked the wisdom of Twitter, what are the best things about the canals? Of course people mentioned peaceful moorings, a sense of calm, the sound of water running through a lock and the sun reflecting the pattern of the water on to the ceiling.  So I then wrote an article that described the freedom, tranquillity and closeness to nature that attracts me to the waterways.

However, an even better kept secret of the canals is that they have a wild side!

Here are seven ways to get active on the cut.

Working the locks. As you approach a lock as part of a crew you may be the one to leap to the bank holding a rope and haul the boat in, then tie to a bollard. To fill or empty the lock you will need to wind paddles with a simple device called a windlass, and some of these mechanisms can be quite stiff! Then there is opening the lock gates by pushing the balance beam. Some can be quite heavy and require you to put your back into it.

Lock wheeling. Traditionally this meant going ahead of the working boats, up the towpath to set and prepare the next lock ready for the boats’ arrival. This was often done on a bicycle but some people still call it lock wheeling if you charge ahead on foot.

Bow hauling. Not something that is often done these days unless you have a butty (a boat without a motor). Hotel boats usually travel as a pair; motor and butty. Occasionally manoeuvring the boats requires pulling the butty by hand, on a rope, to get in or out of a lock for example.

Walking. Take a picnic and ramble away from the beaten track (towpath) across buttercup meadows to discover ancient villages. Or stay alongside the boat and hop back on for tea and cakes when you need to refuel.

Jogging on the towpath. The towpath is such a picturesque running track, usually far from any noisy traffic sounds. If there are a lot of locks you may find yourself well ahead of the boats and need to wait a while with a cool drink in a canal side pub.

Mooring up. As well as leaping off with a rope and hauling the boat towards the bank, this can often involve using a mallet to bang mooring pegs into hard ground. Great for releasing any repressed anger by bashing that peg on the head!  

Barge poling off the bottom. Again, not so common if the canal is deep enough, but you may occasionally get caught on an underwater obstruction and need to push the boat off using a barge pole. This is done by standing on the roof of the boat.

Several of these perhaps should not be attempted for the first time without supervision. That’s where the secret of hotel boats is really revealed. Our skipper and crew have years of experience between them and are more than willing to show enthusiasts the ropes, if guests want to get involved.

So if you’re looking for an active holiday with a difference, this could be what you are looking for!

We are currently finalising and publishing our routes for 2013. Will you join us on an adventure?

PS. I also saw a bloke rowing on the canal last week, the whole length of the Grand Union (Birmingham to London). That'll get you fit! Rowing the Grand Union? Yes Really!

The Real Continuous Cruisers!

What do a peg doll, some fancy cheese, a fancy generator, painted roses, and Peter Froud have in common?

They're all part of my real life adventure when I met my clients Neil and Corinne Thomsett for the first time last week. As I'm a virtual assistant and blogger it is quite usual that I don't always meet my clients in person. But if your business is a floating hotel you can always cruise down the Grand Union to meet me on my boat!

Read the full story on the Canal Voyagers blog today. The Day I Met the Hotel Boats.

Disclosure: I am paid to write the Canal Voyagers blog. It was my choice to mention this article here as this particular episode crosses over with the real life of a narrowboat wife!

Things I Love About Little Venice

I’m not sure if this is true but I feel like everybody has heard of Little Venice. Maybe they’ve just heard of Venice?

I lived in London for many years but because most of that time was on a boat I was well aware of Little Venice. I decided to write my top five things that I like about Little Venice but once I got started I couldn’t stop!

Here you’ll find the meeting of three canals; the Grand Union, the Regents Canal and the Paddington basin part of the Grand Union. Their meeting point is a large pool which is an oasis of calm among the trees, tall elegant houses and colourful moored boats. One of these boats is the Cascade Art Gallery.

When we moored in Little Venice I liked to meet a friend for breakfast or lunch in The Floating Boater; a wide-beam café boat there in the pool. Brownings Pool and Browning’s island are named after the poet, and the island is now home to a gang of occasionally noisy geese. Apparently rather than Browning it was actually Lord Byron who called the place ‘dirty Venice’ in the days when the island was known as ‘Rat’s Island’. It’s cleaned up its act now and is a rather lovely place to be. Try having a picnic in the peaceful Rembrandt Gardens from which you can watch the comings and goings in the pool of boats and birds.

The Canal Café Theatre above The Bridge House pub is one of those secrets of London you get to discover when you live there. It’s a thriving comedy and new writing venue, and home to the Guinness World Record holders: NewsRevue. ("Longest running live comedy show"). I’ve seen the NewsRevue a few times and it’s always brilliant. Unlike a traditional theatre it’s one of those venues where you get to sit around a table and have a drink while you watch. The theatre can host over 14 shows per week and it’s advisable to book.

Then there’s the local pubs and restaurants and the places you can walk to; no need for buses and tubes when you’re so central. Visit the Canal Voyagers blog today where I’ve written in more detail about things to see in London’s Little Venice.

Between Thursday 26th July and Monday 13th August you can book bed and breakfast on board hotel boats Snipe and Taurus (the only VisitBritain hotel boats in the city during this special time.) Have you ever stayed on a narrowboat hotel? There’s a first time for everything!

Contact Neil and Corrine at Canal Voyagers for more information. 

Disclosure: I wrote this post for Neil and Corrine to promote their business. But they are lovely people and I genuinely think staying on a narrowboat in Little Venice would be brilliant!

Hotel Boats to Tackle Stairway to Heaven

Sometimes when you work at a computer it’s nice to watch a leisurely relaxing video, and when I stumbled across this hotel boats video this week I enjoyed a virtual journey around the English canals and rivers. Right now the hotel boats Snipe and Taurus are in Burton Upon Trent. They are about to begin Cruise 12 and will be thinking about tackling the Hatton Flight later this week: That’s 21 locks over less than two miles, rising 148 feet. If you talked to a working boater back in the day, you might find out that the flight was then known as the “stairway to heaven”. Working the flight is pretty hard work so they would have their sights set on the heavenly easier journey to Camp Hill to receive their wages. As we now know, it later inspired Led Zeppelin to compose a certain legendary acoustic-turns-rock track. (Just kidding.)

Read the whole article.

Disclosure: I wrote this post for my client Canal Voyagers Hotel Boats.

Olympic Flame to Navigate the Waterways!

So, you must have noticed that the Olympic flame has now arrived in the UK and is travelling around England and Wales slightly faster than a hotel narrowboat! There are a number of places where the torch bearers will be coming into contact with the British canals and rivers.

The torch was lit from the sun's rays at the Temple of Hera in Olympia, Greece. The flame stands for peace, unity and friendship and there are going to be 8000 torch bearers carrying it around the UK.

On day four of the Olympic Torch relay Judith Gaden took the torch onto a canal boat to travel along the River Tone through Taunton. The Olympic torch will also be cruising across The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct  and visiting Foxton Locks and the Norfolk Broads to name but a few watery locations. It will arrive at the Black Country Living Museum on the museum’s narrowboat Stour.

The torch is usually followed by a convoy of vehicles and the long journey to the Games will take 70 days covering around 8,000 miles. The torch is going to pass through 1019 communities before arriving at the Olympic Stadium for the opening ceremony on 27th July. Here, the last Torchbearer will light the Cauldron to mark the official opening of the Olympic Games. It will continue to burn thought the Games until the day of the Closing Ceremony.

By that time, hotel boats Snipe and Taurus will have completed their own lengthy journey around the UK and arrived at their summer mooring in Little Venice. This is only thirty minutes from the Olympic Park.  I’ve moored there many times; and it’s hard to believe you’re only a five minute walk from Paddington when you’re watching the quiet swans, ducks and geese drift across Browning’s Pool. There’s a lot going on in London this summer, and yet if you’re on a canal boat you’ll have a peacefully safe haven to retreat to at the end of the day.

Bed and Breakfast in Little Venice, London

London's waterways are subject to cruising restrictions during this summer so the boats will not be cruising between Thursday 26th July and Monday 13th August 2012. Canal Voyagers are therefore offering a unique B&B experience while moored in Little Venice. Booking early will give you the chance to secure the dates and cabin of your choice.

 

So, B&B on a four star narrowboat hotel in London during the summer of 2012: Kind of a once in a lifetime opportunity don’t you think?

Disclosure: I wrote this article for Neil and  Corrine on their Canal Voyagers blog. It was my choice to republish it here. I write something every week for their hotel boats website, usually revealing some quirky or unusual place to visit on England's canals. I'd love it if you'd join me over there by subscribing to their blog: there's a sign up box at the top of the page. You'll also get real life stories from their cruises so that you can follow their adventures as they travel around.

To follow the further adventures of narrowboats Snipe and Taurus: subscribe to their blog!

The Best Thing About the Canals is...

I’ve been thinking about the alternative wonders of the English waterways. What is the best thing about the British canals and rivers? Why do I live on a narrowboat? Why have Corrine and Neil chosen to live, work and travel on canal hotel boats? What are people looking for in a canal narrowboat holiday?

People sometimes ask me, "do you think you might ever move into a house?" When the engine breaks down, or the diesel stove is dodgy*, when the washing machine won’t work or the local tap is frozen in winter, then yes, I do think that a house would be easier. But I’ve been living on the canals for twelve years now, so what makes me stay? Many live-aboard boaters say that it’s all about the freedom: Freedom to explore England in a peaceful, unhurried way. Cruising through a variety of diverse landscapes; from historic streets to unspoilt countryside, discovering canal side villages and quaint tumbled-down buildings appeals to my sense of adventure. I like working the locks on a silent summer’s day, taking in a deep breath of fresh air that comes across the open space and green fields all around me. I like to spy a lonely farmhouse in the distance and discover an ancient waterside pub up close. I love the illusion of being away from modern life, yet travelling along knowing that I have all of my home comforts with me indoors. I am exploring new places, stood at the tiller with my own mug of coffee in my hand.

I never get tired of coming out onto the front deck in the haste of a Monday morning, and suddenly finding the time to pause as I notice the swans drifting towards my bow looking for some bread. The moorhens and coots are across the cut, perhaps repairing their nests and a heron stands silent and watchful on the opposite bank; waiting for a fish to catch. I hear ducks and geese in the morning, ropes creaking when I’m in bed at night, and rain on the roof when it’s stormy. It’s no wonder that small and intimate hotel boats like Snipe and Taurus are so inspiring for photographers, artists and writers. So what have I found, by choosing to live on the canals? It’s the freedom, the tranquillity and the closeness to nature that have brought me here.

 This is England: So alive and yet undisturbed. What do you like best about the waterways?

Disclosure: I wrote this post for Canal Voyagers Hotel Boats.

How Many Miles ‘Till Braunston?

Image credit:Braunston Village Website

Have you ever played that game, How Many Miles ‘Till Braunston? Probably not because, 1) I made it up, and 2) it’s a bit silly. Whenever we’re travelling on the Grand Union Canal and there’s a pause in the conversation I like to ask my husband,

“So, how far do you think it is to Braunston now?”

He’ll smile. This is a test. Did he notice the little black knee-high signpost that we just passed?

“Oh,” he’ll say, as if pondering an estimate.

“About fifty-eight I reckon.” He did see the sign! We both grin. We’re not going to Braunston but at one time Braunston was the hub of the English canals network, and many a working boatman needed to know how much further there was to go.  This little village is at the site of the old waterways depot, where the Grand Junction Canal joins the Oxford Canal. 

The village is on the hill above the canal, and prospered for over 150 years when the British canals were essential to industry. It still has the busiest flight of locks anywhere in the country. The marina hosts many small boating businesses, and “The Stop House" on the towpath is where tolls were once collected from the working boats. The current village church dates from 1849 but a church has been on this site since Norman times.

The canal-side shop near the bottom lock sells souvenirs, food and ice-cream. The canal side pubs are the Boathouse or The Admiral Nelson and in the village you will find The Old Plough, the Wheatsheaf and a Tea Room. For more information visit the Braunston Village Website.

Or why not join our canal hotel boats from Warwick to Leighton Buzzard this summer? We will travel along the northern half of the Grand Union Canal, with two of the longest canal tunnels in the country at Braunston and Blisworth, the Stoke Bruerne Canal Museum and Bletchley Park to explore.

Don’t you just love visiting those tiny canal-side villages and imagining the hustle and bustle of times gone by? What’s your local waterside village or town? Have you ever been on a hotel boat? Where have you dreamed of visiting? Leave us a comment below. We’d love to hear what you think.

Disclosure: I wrote this post for Neil and Corrine at Canal Voyagers Hotel Boats. To follow their blog visit narrowboat hotel boats Snipe and Taurus.

Fancy a Happy Easter at Ellesmere Port?

Nb: Ferret. Image credit: The National Waterways Museum

The National Waterways Museum covers a seven acre site that was once a busy canal dock at Ellesmere Port, in Cheshire. The indoor displays are housed in charming Victorian buildings and while there are some boats inside, the majority of historical boats are outside in the canal docks. The docks were still in use in the 1950s, and today you can walk around the locks and warehouses and see the forge, stables and workers cottages. When I think of the heritage of the inland waterways I think of the traditional working narrowboats, but at this museum you can also see a 1,000 year old log boat, a concrete barge, a coracle and a steam powered dredger. At The Heritage Boatyard a dedicated team of volunteers and young trainees work to maintain and restore these historical boats. Several of the boats are listed on the Historic Boat Register.

The indoor exhibitions tell the story of Britain’s canals and waterways and the Inland Waterways collection is designated as being of national and international importance.

The Waterways Archive holds a fascinating collection of boat building plans, working records, accounts and letters. There are photographs by Robert Aickman, Michael Ware and Eric de Mare.

The museum also holds the archives of British Waterways and the early canal companies, a rich source of information, some of it dating back to the 17th century. I would love to engross myself in this archive and their books and periodicals about canal history: Access can be arranged by booking at least 24 hours in advance.

I’d also like to explore inside the motor narrowboat Ferret and imagine the lives of the boat families that once lived within. She was built by WJ Yarwoods of Northwich in 1926 and worked as part of a Fellows, Morton and Clayton pair on the Birmingham Canal Navigations.

If you share my enthusiasm for the history of the waterways you may enjoy the Nantwich to Chester cruise on Snipe and Taurus this Easter. The museum at Ellesmere port is just one of the places the hotel boats will visit. Imagine finishing your day being tucked up in your own charming narrowboat cabin dreaming of bygone days.

Read more: Nantwich to Chester via Ellesmere Port Boat Museum

Stop Press: Join British Waterways at the museum on Sunday 4 March for a unique behind the scenes look at the locks. British Waterways teams will lead tours around the works, answering your questions about how lock gates are hand-crafted.


Disclosure: I wrote this post for Canal Voyagers Hotel Boats.
For business blogging and other services visit http://www.peggymelmoth.wordpress.com/

Tom Rolt on the Shropshire Union

I’ve just finished reading the classic and legendary book ‘Narrow Boat’ by LTC Rolt. It was first published in 1944 and is believed to have a played a key part in the revival of the waterways as a leisure resource. He and his wife Angela fitted out the boat and then travelled the waterways enjoying the timeless nature of the English countryside.

As Tom travels he rejoices in finding rural remnants of times gone by, and deplores the sometimes ugly face of ‘progress’. Nostalgically at Nantwich he notes that the atmosphere of an old market town, catering soley for the needs of an agricultural area is preserved.

“The countrymen of Cheshire do not live out of tins and refuse to accept inferior imported foods. To ask a Nantwich butcher for foreign meat would constitute a personal insult, and during our stay in Cheshire we had home-killed joints that in their tenderness and flavour rivalled the famous roasts of Simpsons in the Strand.”

Here Tom and Angela enjoyed chorley cakes, pikelets, local oatcakes and Cheshire cheese. At that time Audlem was a “sleepy group of old houses, inns and shops clustering about a church perched upon a mound.”

They made light work of the Audlem flight, and enjoyed the rolling wooded country at the summit. They soon arrived at ‘Dirty Fair’ in Market Drayton and this is one of my favourite parts of the book. Tom describes the cattle market and gypsies in lyrical detail and tells a charming anecdote of horse trading, featuring a “plausible rogue”; a “picturesque characterful figure.”

I wonder if The Wharf Inn at Goldstone Common is still there with a cheerful fire blazing in the bar parlour? I’d like to travel the densely wooded cuttings of the Shropshire Union which even then was “uncommonly well supplied” with canal side inns. The Wrekin dominates the landscape here; part of the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Shropshire Canal terminates at Autherley stop lock and the working boatmen used to call this ‘Cut End’. The Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal down to Stourport was commonly known as the ‘Stour Cut’.

If you haven’t yet read this book it would be the perfect companion to take on the Canal Voyagers Stourport to Nantwich cruise. From Autherley to Nantwich Taurus and Snipe will be retracing the waterways cruised by Tom and Angela in 1939 and you can see for yourself what’s changed and what hasn’t. The Staffs & Worcester is Corinne's favourite canal and The Shropshire Union is one of Neil's favourites. Take your camera, because the views are amazing!

Find out more and check availability at http://www.canalvoyagers.com/cruises/sto-nan.html


Disclosure: I wrote this post for Neil and Corinne at Canal Voyagers. Follow the link to subscribe to their blog. Visit http://www.peggymelmoth.wordpress.com/ for business blogging, social media services and freelance writing commissions. This post contains an affiliate link to Amazon.