Narrow Boat Week

We have just spent a narrow boat, gently taking in the delights of the Stratford and Warwick sections of the English canal network. For those of you who don't know much about narrow boats, they are very long (ours was nearly 70 feet) and very, well......narrow (less than 6 foot wide I would guess). They were originally built for moving cargo but today are generally pleasure craft, hired for holidays or owned like a mobile second home. If you are very interested, have a look here. This was our narrow boat.

It is slow going. There is no point even trying if you want to do something fast. Speeds are 2-5 mph (max), and what with having to negotiate the locks it is quicker to walk if you want to go any distance! Our longest day we did probably 5 miles including 17 locks. Here is a short 'flight' of them.

It is a great holiday for taking things very slow, and doing very little, though you need to keep your eye on the steering, as the canals are often narrow, the locks and bridges really tight and the bridges very low.

We chugged through some lovely English countryside, the stuff you forget about caught in the endless commuter existence.

 

We ate at some good pubs and saw some lovely village houses.

Including where Shakespeare's mother, Mary Arden, supposedly lived as a child.

We also went to Stratford-upon-Avon, home of Shakespeare.

And the castle at Warwick.

I will put the entire collection of pix up on flickr, hopefully, before too long.