Canal boat / narrow boat hire

wallbash

Nice idea , will give it some thought ,many thanks for the advice.

Have in the past done the Cheshire ring. also another circular route , but cant remember the name. ( partly on the Avon??) Loved the Hatton flight.
Went with a large number of fellow enthusiasts, so it was the 70 ft boats.

Never done the Kennet

Will admit steering more with the aid of the CAMRA book rather than the standard guides.

Wonder wot you meant by quote watch the fun :rolleyes:

Liz_the_Whizz

wallbash,

What a coincidence - I've done the Cheshire Ring too - in one week, not for the faint-hearted, especially with such joys as abandoned cars in the canal at Hyde. But we were spurred on by plenty of real ale :beer: .

Also been on Leeds-Liverpool (Wigan to Skipton), Llangollen, Shroppie, Grand Union, Trent & Mersey, plus lots round Ely. Was lucky as my brother in law built his own canal boat from just a hull in his back garden, so as he travelled round the whole UK canal network, we joined him whenever we could. Happy times.

Never been on the Kennet & Avon either though lived nearby for a while. Perhaps we could get a crew together from this thread?

One thing I love about MSE is how generous people are in sharing their experiences with others.

Happy holiday, Niki.

rh1_3

Happy_saver wrote: »

You really worry me ! You state " I dont really know much about boats so please excuse me!!!" Then you want to hire one.

Without being too dramatic do you realise people get killed each year because they ' don't know much' and make silly mistakes due to ignorance when using narrow boats. Principally it's when they're locking down and they have the stern resting on the lock cill. This can sink the boat and drown the people on board.

.

This is way over the top. Please can you substatiate this nonsense of deaths in locks with some hard facts and figures.

We have hired a number of times and always had fantastic training and thankfully are all still alive.

If it wasn't for people trying out canal boating as hirers, there would be less people converting to buying boats for pleasure or living on.

Indeed, at least hirers should have had some training whereas a private boater can simply buy a boat and head off into the sunset.

knightstyle

We are hiring one for just two hours next week, from the Chesterfield Canal Trust at Retford 01246280660. They provide a volunteer crew and may do hires for a few days. It is a charity and all profits go to restoring the canal.

horsewidow

You can use your Tesco club card points too at a few yards. And woah!!! Hope you weren't put off by the posting, you don't worry me, I am sure that just like the rest of us you will listen and pick it up fine. My dumbest moment? Communication issue, we left both sets of paddles open and this was on our fourth holiday. Best moment? The frienliness of everyone. Norfolk Broads is great too. In fact if you ever wondered what Norfolk was like in the 70's,..... go there now. Only joking, its great. pubs are good too, especially those with live music.