Step off the grid for a mindfulness break
Step off the grid for a mindfulness break on Britain’s inland waterways
Travelling at just 4 miles per hour on a canal boat is the chance to step off the grid for a mindfulness break.
Research by Canal & River Trust, the charity that cares for the nation’s 2,000 miles of canals and rivers, shows spending time by the waterways can lower levels of anxiety and make you happier*.
Waterways are described as ‘great places to relax and de-stress’ and canal boat holidays are often said to be ‘the fastest way to slow down’.
Britain’s canals and rivers are an important place for biodiversity, with over 1,000 wildlife conservation sites. Getting close to nature is widely recognised to benefit our mental and physical health and wellbeing.
Here are some insights into the relaxing effect of a narrowboat holiday, described by journalists who have enjoyed the experience:
Step back in time to a slower era
Paul Miles lives on a boat and says, ‘Holidaying on the inland waterways is to step back in time to a slower era. Grooves on bridges worn by ropes are a visible reminder of the days when life proceeded at the walking pace of a horse, 4mph, still the speed limit today.’
The Telegraph, ‘Britain’s best and most underrated canals to explore this summer‘, 8 May 2025
A slow boat to happiness in Wiltshire
Annabel Abbs reviewed her family holiday on the Kennet & Avon Canal in the Guardian, and said ‘the gentle, soothing monotony of a canal had taken away all desire to show and share on social media’ and everyone’s ‘phones showed an average 70% drop in useage.
The Guardian online, ‘A slow boat to happiness: our family holiday on Wiltshire’s Kennet & Avon Canal‘, 18 May 2025
Off grid on the Grand Union Canal in Warwickshire
Angela Riches of H&N Magazine holidayed on the Grand Union Canal and said, ‘It’s been a long time since we were so completely off grid but this slow pace of life gave us a complete reset.’
H&N Magazine, ‘Heaven is going totally off grid on a canal barge‘, 22 May 2025
The perfect antidote in Shropshire
Dan Sanderson described his family holiday on the Shropshire Union Canal as ‘the perfect antidote to the stresses of modern city life’ and said ‘chugging along at an average speed of just 2mph…time and distance become an obscure concept and you are left with little option than to sit back and enjoy the view’.
The Mailonline, ‘Ready, steady…slow!’, 8 July 2023
A Wiltshire retreat
Paul Miles, while on the Kennet & Avon Canal, explained: “Life in the slow lane is the norm on the canals. It heightens my sense of observation.’
The Telegraph, ‘I’ve been in happy self-isolation for the last 10 years’, 20 March 2020
Northamptonshire slow zone
Fiona Whitty enjoyed a narrowboat holiday on the Grand Union Canal and said: “As an antidote to fast living, travel is all about going slow nowadays – and you don’t get much slower than a canal boat with a speed of 4mph.”
Sunday Mirror, ‘Slow-go zone’, 27 March 2022
A Shropshire escape
In his review of a Drifters’ canal boat holiday on the Shropshire Union Canal, Dixe Wills says: “The sedateness of our progress up to Shropshire, coupled with an almost complete absence of intrusions from the modern world, created a bubble that we were reluctant to burst.”
The Guardian, ‘The ripple effect: a leisurely boating break in Shropshire’, 29 July 2020
Putting the brakes on in Leicestershire
Gareth Butterfield reviewed a holiday on the Ashby Canal saying: “there’s something incredibly cathartic about slowing yourself down to canal pace…a week at walking pace is just the tonic for people who need to put the brakes on from time to time.”
Manchester Evening News, ‘I raise eyebrows taking a big lizard on a narrowboat trip along the Ashby canal’, 17 April 2022
Meandering into North Wales
Mary Novakovich, who took a narrowboat holiday on the Llangollen Canal, setting out from Chirk, said “Meandering along at a languid 3mph – slower than my walking pace – we had plenty of time to absorb our surroundings as we spotted herons and steered under pretty arched bridges.”
The Independent, ‘Knot Too Shabby’, 16 May 2021
A break from modern life in Yorkshire
Jaymi McCann enjoyed a holiday on the Leeds & Liverpool and said: “The canal remains unchanged over its two centuries but its purpose has been transformed: coal barges have given way to leisure boaters. Its engineers could have little envisaged its current use but the languid pace is what makes it such a break from modern life.”
Sunday Express, ‘A Slow Boat To Yorkshire’ 22 May 2016
Bucolic scenes in Warwickshire
Lyn Hughes describes her journey along the Grand Union Canal from Napton, observing “bucolic scenes of gently rolling farmland, dotted with grazing cows and sheep. The bank was thick with overhanging willows, bulrushes, rosebay willowherb and purple loosestrife. Dragonflies buzzed past, and clouds of butterflies danced over the wildflowers.”
Wanderlust, ‘Tales from the Riverbank’, November 2020
A balming power
Richard Morrison says: “I do believe that today the canals have a mysterious, balming power that is without equal in Britain – not just because they trundle holidaymakers through glorious landscapes at a maximum of 4mph, but also because they stealthily, almost secretly, carry the peace of rural England into the heart of frenetic cities.”
The Times, ‘Canals – a calming, beautiful antidote to modern life’, 5 February 2007
*’Assessing the wellbeing impacts of waterways usage in England and Wales’, 2018
