Me and Canals |
| My first contact with canals was at the age of
about four, when I was taken by my parents to visit the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch
Railway.Its Hythe terminus is alongside my local canal - The Royal Military Canal and the
rowing boats for hire here were my only experience of the Inland Waterways for many years.
This canal as you may well know, was built during the Napoleonic period to act as a defensive barrier to invading troops, and to speed transfer of troops along its course. It was never called into service and now is used mainly for drainage, although a few rowing boats are still available for hire in Hythe. My first real canal experience occurred in June 1984, when a friend asked if I would like to join him on a holiday with his younger brother and Some of his friends from university. The holiday was advertised as a "Beer cruise" and so I accepted and my life changed for ever. Eight of us picked up Western Constellation a 70ft narrowboat at a now defunct boatyard a little north of Stratford-on -Avon and almost literally within minutes I realised that I had been born to cruise the Inland Waterways. There seemed to be a magic about the whole thing. Peace and tranquillity coupled with bursts of activity as locks came and went. Scenery to die for, and a wealth of history, local, industrial and natural to learn about. To cap it all, just when it was time to moor, there was a pub! The holiday continued in this vein for the whole week, we completed the Avon Ring in a leisurely fashion, and I couldn't wait to go on another boating holiday. Winter was spent reading Nicholsons guides and Hire company brochures, and indeed a holiday was booked for the following June So the pattern was set, the Cheshire Ring, the Four Counties Ring and then horror! Not enough people to hire a boat. So 1987 was a no boat holiday, but the bug had bit so firmly that I toured the midlands by car, visiting various canals. The following year saw the Warwick Ring completed, 1989 my first fortnights holiday afloat. Numbers of willing boaters was dwindling, but the urge that I felt to cruise was such, that as long as a couple of people were game, we would cruise.1990 was again a fortnights cruise, this time on the Leeds-Liverpool and Calder and Hebble. Following this we decided to book two one week holidays the following year, the first to Llangollen, followed by a week in the autumn on the Southern Oxford. |
Our plans were soon to be thrown into chaos by a chance encounter with a man called Allen Matthews at the Braunston boat show.He had just set up a scheme to sell shares in narrowboats - OwnerShips - and Andrew (a friend who was as much a canalaholic as me, and who had been on all but one of my boat holidays) and I decided that it was what we had been looking for! It would allow us to have at least 3 weeks holiday a year for about the cost of one weeks hire. We bought a share in Osprey, and had a further fortnights holiday on her that year. For this we were limited by the winter closures to an area round Braunston. Luckily enough there was just enough canal open for a leisurely fortnight of out and backs in each of the directions available without having to repeat ourselves. From 1992 onwards we have always had a "main" fortnights holiday and at least one other week, more usually two on Osprey, and have covered a variety of waterways as Osprey has been moved around the cut. Each year we try to include at least one part of the waterways which is off the usual routes. There are many reasons for this, but the two main ones are to provide a variety to our cruises and to quote an old axiom "Use 'em or lose 'em" Something which very nearly happened in the 60's and 70's and could all too easily happen again. These principles have led us to visit Bishops Stortford, Hertford and London in 1992, Sharpness in 1993, The Dog in a Doublet, Cromwell lock and Langley Mill in 1994, Ellesmere Port, Leek and as close to Froghall as size allowed in 1995, Liverpool in 1996, and Littlebrough and Sheffield in 1997. For 1998, our plans to cruise the Erewash were disrupted by the Easter floods and an accident which incapacitated me for 3 weeks. It is not however just the cruising which occupies your time once hooked. Reading about the canals and their history, planning your next cruise, visiting canals by road, writing to your M.P. and so on to put forward your views on funding and road building plans which will disrupt future restoration plans. All these activities fill your time, and extend the pleasure of that first ten minutes on the canals to fill a lifetime with pleasure. So beware!! If you are reading this and wondering if the canals are for you, you may just discover that they are....for ever!!
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