Tips for narrowboat holiday-makers, come rain or shine
Nigel and Kathryn Crawford of MrandMrs50Plus.com recently enjoyed a Drifters narrowboat holiday, setting off from our canal boat hire base at Worcester.
The UK weather is a fickle thing. A May weekend on the canals can throw just about everything at you in just three days. On our recent Drifters narrowboat holiday we bounced from blazing hot sunshine to driving rain and hail within hours.
A canal holiday, however, is beautifully versatile. All Drifters narrowboats have central heating, little sun decks at the bow, and many are equipped with umbrellas and waterproof clothing. Despite everything the weather threw at us, it didn’t in any way spoil what was a thoroughly enjoyable few days.
Narrowboats are homely and well-equipped
There’s even something quite tranquil and relaxing about pottering along the canal in the pouring rain. It’s a totally different take on the waterway environment. It’s important to remember to close the cabin door when it’s like that though, to make sure your duvet doesn’t get wet on the bed below! Notwithstanding the meteorological challenges, the boats are comfy, homely and well-equipped.
Planning ahead
As experienced boaters we had planned our little trip before arriving at the Worcester Marina base. We bore in mind the location of public moorings, water points, winding points (turning areas) and how many locks we’d encounter on our route. In our earliest narrowboat escapades, I think in retrospect we were a little over-eager in our planning. On more than one occasion we ended up having to cover unnecessarily long distances to get back to base on time. Nowadays, we’re far more conservative, focusing just as much on the moored-up time as on the canal transit.
The Importance of Maps
We can’t stress how important having a good detailed canal map can be. It really helps you to plan ahead and avoids stressful twilight searches for suitable mooring places or watering points. We always buy and download digital pdf maps that we can view on pretty much any device. We particularly like those from waterwayroutes.co.uk. They’re an invaluable part of any waterways holiday nowadays.
Make space for chill time
We found a lovely mooring near The Bridge pub at Tibberton and found lots to see and do up around Droitwich Spa. One possibility that we had considered was doing the ‘Droitwich Ring’ but we decided that it was an optimistic challenge for a weekend hire. We decided instead to re-trace our steps back down the Worcester & Birmingham Canal to give us more ‘chill time’. It was a short, but memorable weekend to keep the narrowboating flame burning.
Find out more about Kathryn and Nigel’s adventures afloat here https://mrandmrs50plus.com/narrowboating-with-drifters/
