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Navigating The Waterways.

© Elizabeth Batt

It might sound a little strange to some people, after all, the idea of a vacation in today's modern age, often reflects the desire to get there as quickly as possible, and then relax at leisure. Hiring a narrowboat means trundling along, opening locks, waiting for the water level to equalize, closing the lock, opening another lock…etc. etc. etc. But British people actually enjoy this type of vacation, and I'm one of them!

Okay, so I was a child on a school trip with nine other children and two teachers. The duration of the trip was for one week, and in that week, we traveled an immense 15 miles!! It was one of the most memorable vacations I have ever had! As kids, we had a blast, jumping off the boat, opening the locks, running to the next lock and on and on and on. We couldn't wait for the next set of locks, and whenever we encountered a staircase set, ahhhh Heaven!

The remainder of the time we'd just cruise along, we could get off when we wanted, we didn't have the worry of the boat getting too far ahead! At night's we'd all sit together and tell ghost stories and even the little bunks we slept in were unique. Everything was just perfect, well, it was until I missed my step and took a little swim, but I even laugh at that now!!

Leicestershire has canals galore on which to navigate. Perhaps the most famous is the Grand Union Canal. Although it runs from Brentford to Birmingham, sixty-six miles of it traverse Leicestershire and of those 66 miles there are 59 locks to pass through.

These man-made waterways were originally constructed for transportation purposes. With the advent of faster, more convenient transport, the canal system became redundant, however it did leave in it's wake a functional history of it's life, and a tourist attraction that is pretty unique. I'd recommend this type of vacation to anyone who really doesn't want to get anywhere! And, I think that is one of the most charming aspects of this kind of vacation. You really can lose yourself in time. The narrowboat just cruises along, you're surrounded by beautiful country scenery and more importantly, you're your own boss! What more could you ask for?

As for the kids, this is definitely a family vacation! Every child who ever lived near a canal, will no doubt recall the attraction of the locks. Although most of the sets couldn't be opened because of a difference in water levels, there was always one set that you could push, sit on and ride. And the ones that didn't open? Well, we used those to cross to the other side of course!