Greener Holidays – Swap your car for a boat for a lower carbon holiday
Canal boat holidays are the ultimate slow travel get away, and consequently offer a lower carbon holiday option and greener holiday.
When you swap your car for a boat, you’ll likely to be using around a third of the fuel, and enjoying a holiday that has a 20 times smaller carbon footprint than a two-hour flight*.
Today’s canal boats have cleaner engines and Drifters’ latest boats have energy saving LED lighting.
Once afloat, you can further reduce your carbon footprint by shopping locally and buying local produce. Many waterside towns have regular markets, including Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, Market Drayton in Shropshire, Llangollen in North Wales, Stone in Staffordshire, Todmorden on the border between Lancashire and Yorkshire and Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire. And many of the waterway network’s historic canalside pubs serve food sourced from locally grown ingredients.
Local Produce
Once afloat, you can further reduce your carbon footprint by shopping locally and buying local produce. Many waterside towns have regular markets, including Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, Market Drayton in Shropshire, Llangollen in North Wales, Stone in Staffordshire, Todmorden on the border between Lancashire and Yorkshire and Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire. And many of the waterway network’s historic canalside pubs serve food sourced from locally grown ingredients.
Watch out for wildlife
Britain’s canals and rivers are lined with trees, hedgerows and water plants, providing important ‘green corridors’ of habitat for many types of birds, fish, insects and animals.
To celebrate the biodiversity of the canal network, we’ve listed our Top 5 canal boat holidays for wildlife spotting.
*Based on flying a family of four to an average European location compared to a family of four taking an average hire boat holiday
