Cruising gently through the countryside, canal boat holiday-makers can enjoy spotting a variety of wildlife. From ducks, moorhens, swans and dragonflies, to kingfishers, otters, bats and water voles. And even in city centres, waterways provide safe havens for a wide variety of plants and animals. Drifters offers over 550 boats for hire from 45 locations […]
The Forth & Clyde Canal links the Irish Sea with the North Sea, running from Bowling on the Clyde Estuary, to Grangemouth and the magnificent Kelpies on the Firth of Forth. The Union Canal is linked to the Forth & Clyde Canal at Falkirk by the Falkirk Wheel, the world’s first rotating boat lift. At […]
by Mark Whitley, editor of The Countryman magazine Friday It’s a sunny afternoon at Drifters’ Rugby Wharf narrowboat hire base, as I meet up with friends Jude, and John & Lynne. We’re here for a week-long exploration of the local canal network – our ultimate destination, the Ashby Canal. But first, an introduction to our […]
With a thriving 3,000-mile network of navigable inland waterways, the health benefits of spending time by the water proven and the merits of a lower carbon staycation, UK narrowboat holidays offer a great holiday experience. A licence isn’t required to steer a canal boat and all our operators provide boat steering tuition as part of […]
Stretching from Ellesmere Port in Cheshire the North to Autherley Junction near Wolverhampton in the South, the 77-mile long largely rural Shropshire Union Canal is often simply called ‘The Shroppie’. There are 47 locks along the main line, four along the Middlewich Branch and three on the River Dee Branch. With long stretches of pure […]
With quiet canals, frosty towpaths, historic waterside pubs and festive waterside destinations to enjoy, a holiday on Britain’s peaceful canal network is a great way to get away this Christmas. Drifters offers winter cruising* from a number of its bases, with boats ranging from snug narrowboats for two to family vessels for twelve. It’s free […]
Climb the Octagon Tower at Ely Cathedral – dating back to 1083, architecturally Ely Cathedral is outstanding due to its beauty, scale and famous central Octagon Tower with a lantern. It is the only UK building to be listed as one of the ‘Seven Wonders of the Medieval World’, and visible for miles around, the […]
Here’s a guide to Drifters’ spookiest destinations for Halloween 2019: Hear echoes of a killing at Kidsgrove – the Trent & Mersey Canal’s spooky 2,676-metre long Harecastle Tunnel at Kidsgrove is said to be home to a shrieking boggart – the ghost of Kit Crewbucket who was murdered and his headless corpse was dumped in […]
Stretching for 41 miles, the Llangollen Canal crosses the border between England and Wales, and links the Eisteddfod town of Llangollen in Denbighshire with the Shropshire Union Canal, just north of Nantwich in Cheshire. The waterway offers breath-taking views, iconic canal structures, and a series of historic market towns and nature reserves to explore. Its […]
The 93-mile long Trent & Mersey Canal begins close to the River Mersey near Runcorn and finishes at its junction with the River Trent in Derbyshire. It has 73 locks and several feats of canal engineering, including the magnificent Anderton Boat Lift, which raises or lowers boats 15 metres between the River Weaver and the […]