Cruising the English Countryside with Granny Buttons

Posted by Alan Sorum Aug 12, 2006

England has a network of inland boating canals originally constructed during the industrial revolution some 200 years ago. More than 2,000 miles of navigable water is operated by an organization called British Waterways (BW). Visitors and boaters ply the waters in traditional canal narrowboats and other craft. The canals offer a number of outdoor recreational activities including boating, fishing, walking, and cycling experiences. Many of the canal boats serve as restaurants, providing dinner cruises to their customers.

So how did I decide to mention this? While looking at Boating Blogs, I came across Andrew Denny's site Granny Buttons. Granny Buttons is the name of Andrew's canal narrowboat. His blog is a rich experience, loaded with great photos and stories of life and boaters on the canals. There is even a photo cruising log and numerous links to other canal boat sites.

The first thing that Andrew told me was that it would be interesting to see if I could make heads or tails of the canal boating scene in England. I will admit to still being a little fuzzy, but it looks like an outstanding way to go cruising in a boat and seeing the countryside. The canal system covers both urban and rural areas, providing a varied landscape for the travelers. It also sounds like the boaters need to work for the experience opening and closing the many locks. The canal boats are colorful and diverse, serving as restaurants, charter boats, and homes. The names and descriptions of the boats and the stories of the boaters presented by Andrew will bring this life for you.

By the sounds of it, narrowboating the BW system has to be awesome experience for any boater. Reading through the pages, I do hope the water levels in England hold for these unique craft, they have been having a draught. Thank you Andrew Denny and Granny Buttons for the great web experience!

Links of interest:

Waterscape.com is the webpage published by British Waterways describing the canal system and recreational opportunities available on them.

British Waterways is the government agency responsible for maintaining the extensive canal system.

Granny Buttons. Granny Buttons' and Andrew Denny's homepage on the web.