You don’t need a licence to hire a canal boat and we provide tuition Each year around one fifth of narrowboat hirers are new to the waterways, and tuition is included in our canal boat holiday hire. To help you get the most out of your first canal boat holiday, we’ve listed 10 top tips […]
There are hundreds of lovely canal and riverside pubs to enjoy across Britain It’s great to be by the water in the summer time, so we’ve published a guide to the best canal and riverside pubs, with our nearest canal boat hire bases: 1. The Bridge Inn, Chirk Bank in Shropshire You can reach this […]
Reach Sir Titus Salt’s fascinating model town at Saltaire by canal boat On a short break canal boat holiday from our Silsden base, you can visit Saltaire and The Hockney Gallery at Salts Mill to see David Hockney’s and new ’20 Flowers for 2025′ exhibition. The exhibition will run throughout 2025, celebrating Bradford’s year as […]
Britain’s canals and rivers host hundreds of exciting waterside events each year Here’s our pick of the best canalside events in 2025 to head to on a canal boat holiday: 1. Easter Boat Gathering, 18-21 April The annual Easter Boat Gathering at the National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port marks the official start of the […]
Britain’s beautiful inland waterways are a great place to visit in the spring time, when the countryside is bursting with new life. As you cruise gently along on a narrowboat holiday, you’ll see blossom on the hedges and waterside trees, birds busy rearing their young, spring lambs playing in the fields and bluebells in waterside […]
Easter is a great time to take a narrowboat holiday in England, Scotland and Wales We’ve published a guide to our top 8 Easter canal boat holidays in 2025. Canal boat holidays are fantastic for families, offering the chance to set off on an adventure together. Everyone can enjoy learning how to work the locks, […]
The most iconic sites to experience on a canal boat holiday Our canal boat holiday ‘bucket list’ guide is based on Robert Aickman’s ‘Seven Wonders of the Waterways’ list, compiled over 70 years ago. Aickman co-founded the Inland Waterways Association. We’ve added the Falkirk Wheel in Scotland (which opened in 2002) to create the perfect […]
Canal boat hire on the Scottish Lowland canals from Falkirk Drifters offers canal boat hire from Falkirk and we’ve published a guide to the best narrowboat holidays on the Scottish Lowland canals. What are the Scottish Lowland canals? The Forth & Clyde Canal links the Irish Sea with the North Sea, running from Bowling on […]
Here at Drifters we offers some of the best narrowboat holidays for wildlife spotting. Cruising gently through the countryside, there’s so much wildlife to see. From ducks, moorhens, swans and dragonflies, to kingfishers, otters, bats and water voles. Even in city centres, waterways provide safe havens for a wide variety of plants and animals. Here’s […]
Canal boats provide a floating holiday home, so it’s possible to take all sorts of pets Our holidays are pet friendly, and as well as dogs we’ve accommodated rabbits, hamsters, caged birds, goldfish, cats, lizards and tortoises. Seven reasons why our holidays are pet friendly: 1. The majority of canal boats for hire allow up […]