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For crews that have never been on a narrowboat
holiday before, we realise that there is an awful lot of information
to take in, both before and at the start of the holiday itself.
To help make things a little easier we have
put together some sample trips. The idea
is simply to give you a route that we know you will enjoy
and to try to take away some of the uncertainty on your first
trip. Click here to view.
One of the great attractions of this type
of holiday is the complete freedom it offers. You can choose
to eat out in pubs and restaurants, or eat on board. You can
moor up in towns and villages, or out in the middle of nowhere.
For our guides we have assumed that you will want to eat out
at all times, but you can of course make adjustments to suit
yourselves. If you are planning to eat aboard at all, you
should think ahead about your shopping as shops can be pretty
thin on the ground away from the towns! We have tried to highlight
shopping opportunities to assist you, since although there
is storage space on board, you will need to remember that
this space is limited by the physical size (or lack of it)
of the boat. We have also given phone numbers for certain
recommended pubs etc. as you may wish to call ahead to ensure
that they are serving food at the times you require. There
may also be days on which they do not serve food at all!
These journey plans are based on a small
crew, perhaps just the two of you, or even Mum, Dad and two
young children, and are therefore deliberately 'easy'. We
have set easy days that do not involve too many locks or too
many hours actual cruising. You may find, once you get into
things, that you want to cruise for more hours each day and
cover more ground. That is of course fine, but you just
need to remember to plan the timings to allow you to return
to the base on time.
We absolutely recommend that you use our
Viking guide notes in conjunction
with the excellent Canal
Companion Guides published by Pearson's. A copies can
be purchased from our booking office (01905 610660), or at
the hire base on your arrival. Click here
to view Peason's Guides.
The canals are a 200 year old, man-made navigation
system and you should always bear in mind that minor things
can go wrong from time to time! Delays can occur for any number
of reasons and so you should consider setting out on each
leg of your journey in good time to avoid any problems towards
the end of the day. We must remind you that cruising after
dusk is not allowed under the terms of our insurance.
Finally, the waterways are a resource to
be enjoyed by everyone and we would ask you to respect other
users. Please slow down when going past other boats, particularly
when they are moored, otherwise you may pull out their mooring
pins or cause the occupants to have an accident. Fishermen
generally prefer you to slow down when going past them, but
it is important to try to stay in the centre of the canal
where the water is deepest. By all means smile and wave hello
to them, but they may not reciprocate! Fellow boaters on the
other hand will nearly always respond cheerfully and if you
get into difficulties, don't be too proud to ask for advice.
We hope that you find our in-house
cruising guides helpful and we would really welcome any
feedback you may have afterwards, so that we can incorporate
it into our guides for the benefit of future customers.
Have a great holiday.
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