Top 5 half term holidays afloat

Canal boat holidays are great for families – take off together on a micro-adventure afloat, learning how to work the locks and speak the boating lingo, as well as spotting wildlife, exploring traffic-free towpaths and visiting waterside attractions along the way.

It’s easy to learn how to steer a narrowboat and you don’t need a licence.  Tuition is included as part of all our holiday packages.

All our boats are modern narrowboats with heating, well-equipped kitchens, quality furnishings, flushing toilets, hot water, showers, TVs and DVD players, and many now have WiFi on board too.

Many of our boats are now discounted for the approaching May half term holiday, so take a look at our top five holidays for families for inspiration:

1. Glide through the Breacon Beacons – isolated from the main canal network, the beautiful Monmouth & Brecon Canal runs through the Brecon Beacons National Park. This quiet waterway, with very few locks, offers canal boat holiday-makers incredible mountain views and some of our best night skies for star gazing.  From our base at Goytre Wharf, near Abergavenny, on a short break (three or four nights) boaters can cruise to Talybont-on-Usk and back, with wonderful walks to the waterfalls at Blaen y Glyn and passing through Georgian Crickhowell, with its fascinating 13^th century castle and a series of villages with canalside pubs along the way.  On a week’s break, canal boat holiday-makers can continue on to Brecon, to visit its cathedral, theatre, cinema, castle ruins and stunning Georgian architecture.
2. Boat lock-free to Birmingham and back – boasting more canals than Venice, Birmingham simply has to be visited by water. And with no locks between Drifters’ base at Alvechurch on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal near Bromsgrove, and moorings Gas Street Basin in Birmingham City Centre, it’s a great trip for newcomers to canal boat holidays.  It takes just five hours to reach Birmingham, passing through four tunnels and past Cadbury World along the way. On a week’s holiday, boaters can complete the Black Country Ring, travelling through 80 locks and passing the Black Country Living Museum and Dudley Tunnel & Limestone Mines, as well as through a series of pretty canalside villages, with country pubs and walks to enjoy along the way.
3. Potter through the Peak District – from our Peak District canal boat hire base at the junction of the Caldon and Trent & Mersey canals, near Stoke on Trent, a journey along the peaceful Caldon Canal offers a fantastic way to experience this beautiful National Park in the heart of England and an easy introduction to canal boating for beginners. Starting at the National Garden Festival site, home of the industrial potteries, the gentle 12-hour cruise along the Caldon Canal to Froghall Basin back is a perfect a short break.
4. Travel across soaring aqueducts to Georgian Bath – from our canal boat hire base at Hilperton on the Kennet & Avon Canal in Wiltshire, the World Heritage Status City of Bath is a six-hour, one-lock cruise away. The route passes through Bradford upon Avon with its stunning 14^th century Tithe Barn and over two soaring Bath stone aqueducts and past a series of historic waterside pubs, including The Cross Guns at Avoncliffe and the George at Bathampton.  Once there, canal boat holiday makers can moor up close to Sydney Gardens and use their canal boat as a base to enjoy all that the World Heritage Status City of Bath has to offer, including the Roman Baths, Jane Austen Museum, shops and restaurants.
5. Take a rural cruise to Braunston & back – from our boatyard at Gayton on the Grand Union Canal near Northampton, the pretty canal village of Braunston is a peaceful 17-mile cruise away, passing through the quiet Northamptonshire countryside with 13 locks and a series of villages with family-friendly pubs along the way, including Bugbrooke and Weedon. On a week’s holiday, canal boat holiday-makers can continue on to Warwick to enjoy a visit to the town’s incredible Castle, said to be Britain’s greatest medieval experience.  This journey travels 36 miles and passes through 38 locks.