Anyone hired a narrowboat?

[swee'pea99]

Thanks all! 'tis booked! Me & she the girls make...er...four. Plus the hound. Pub-crawl on water - sounds like my kind of holiday!

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Even Birmingham (and this is 15 years ago, before most of the regeneration) looked good from the canals.

We went into Birmingham on my boat for my then girlfriend's birthday. We moored up in Gas Street basin and, hey presto, there we were right in the centre of Birmingham, complete with free accommodation and no parking charges. Only problem was that it took us around nine hours to get there from Wiolverhampton, as opposed to maybe 45 minutes in the car.

 

[Black Sheep]

I've always wanted, but my wife has a dislike of boats so, coupled with the cost, might not manage to get her on one.

have been wondering about perhaps a weekend so that there is only another night to endure if she's struggling to sleep onboard.

being in coventry we'd probably just go for a pootle on the warwickshire canals

 

[Norm]

I've always wanted, but my wife has a dislike of boats so, coupled with the cost, might not manage to get her on one.

Mrs Norm also hates boats, but she loved the canal boat. There is very little feeling of being on a boat on a narrowboat.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Mrs Norm also hates boats, but she loved the canal boat. There is very little feeling of being on a boat on a narrowboat.

Yes, it's more like being in a tin can floating in a ditch.

 

[Norm]

Iron can but yeah, you aren't wrong.

 

[Ian H]

A friend lives on one, a full-length old working boat conversion that he's renovated to reinstate the original living quarters behind the engine, this now being the main bedroom. Forward of the engine room is remarkably spacious living space with solid fuel heating. Mind you, a seventy-footer with a two-cylinder Lister diesel is quite a handful; you have to think ahead. Some of the best pubs back on to canals.

 

[ufkacbln]

My tip about pubs is to avoid them!

Not really - simply don't berth at the pubs as it can be noisy and you get people knocking into the boat as they try and berth in increasingly small spaces. We always berth up about a quarter of a mile away and walk in. A pleasant evening stroll back to the boat after a couple of pints and a meal is a lovely end to the evening.

 

[Dayvo]

Never done it, but always wanted to.

My brother did and said it was the best holiday of his life.

Devizes will be a challenge for you!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Caen.hill.locks.in.devizes.arp.jpg