Hiring a barge and venturing out down the canals, having a go at operating the locks and seeing where our travels could take us (with a few pub stops enroute) had always been something I fancied doing.   So when invited along with a group of friends for a family fun canal boating weekend I jumped at it! 

Convincing my other half that missing his tradition of the annual V Festival trip and instead taking our two little girls on a boating holiday along the Avon waterways along with another 12 people and 2 dogs, was actually an easier task than I had anticipated.  

Preparing to go? 

We rented our barge through Foxhangers in Devises, England. Not too far from Bath.  This organisation has you whipped into shape from the off with sending you a DVD to watch to learn the etiquette of boating, how to manoeuvre the beast of a boat and how to operate the locks (which looked far more too it than I had given credit to!) 

The one reassuring thing I took away from this DVD tutorial was that if I fell in, I would probably be able to stand up! Phew

What to Pack

Our boat came with a whole host of things and a handy equipment list of what we could expect on the boat was sent out to us beforehand. 

We had bedding and towels provided which is a huge help, but a few things that are handy to bring: 

Paper plates, plastic cups & cutlery (you don’t want to be spending your weekend washing up!)

Extra bin bags & toilet rolls 

Toiletries: these boats have bathrooms (2 in fact on our boat) and hot water and showers, yes you can wash and keep clean! It’s beaten camping for me already! 

Flip flops for inside the boat. Your shoes can can muddy on the banks 

Munchies! Although you can have your main meals in the pub, it’s great to sit out on the deck chomping on crisps, dips, olives, etc and a glass or two of wine. Arrrh this is the life! 

Food for breakfast: with the chaos of three children and four adults in our boat to get showered and ready each morning it was just easier to have breakfast on the boat.  Bacon rolls all round went down a storm! 

Brut strength: prepare yourself to need to use those core muscles. These locks, bridges and pushing off the bank is a tough days work. 

Life Vests for the little ones: although they will provide you with the standard type, I wanted one I thought my little one would feel comfortable to wear all weekend. 

Setting sail! 

After what seemed like a never ending briefing (all useful information of course) we finally were given the all clear to set off on our own down the canal.  With one blast of the engineer we were out of the gates and away! 

Steering this 62ft long boat is far harder than I had given credit to. My tip is to put your tallest person in your party at the helm and make them the captain.  Height is definitely helpful when tackling the manoeuvring of the boat. 

Within minutes of being out on the river we come across two swing bridges to work out. Not too challanging and then comes our first lock …. thank goodness for a helpful ‘old timer’ on hand to talk us through it.  

With no one over board, the boat still upright and water tight we’ve cracked it and onwards we go to …. another 7 locks, back to back until we reach our mooring point for the night. 

What fun we had. The weather went from sunshine to rain within seconds and back to sunshine again, whatever to wear! 

This is certainly not for the glamour-pusses out there. 

Regular pubs to stop at, ducks to feed and the trials and tribulations to overcome from what’s know as the ‘Towpath Telegraph’. You will here wise words of warning and stories of locks breaking and boats sinking ahead and to turn back, but in reality if you find the courage after all of these stories to continue, you actually find a boat just run aground and some half-wits operating the lock all wrong.  Drama over 

We survived the trip with no men or ladies or even children overboard! But we did have a pair of rather expenses sunglasses go in as well as a pampered pouch taking an unexpected dip! 

For a long weekend this is definitely something different to enjoy with the family or a group of friends. We found parks and pretty towns to stroll to along the route, fed copious amounts of ducks, marvelled at herons and horses and spotted the old bit of river road kill floating along. 

Having gone through the full experience of life on the river. Realising in actual fact you can have a TV, hot water, showers, central heating and cooking facilities you can see why some people chose to make this their perminent address and way of life.  

Would I? At a cost of at least £48,000 (we saw an old tatty boat up for sale) I can’t say this river life is going to draw me away from the rat race just yet. 

I can’t help but to wonder though, all these people that choose to get away from it all and live a slow and somewhat sheltered life as river folk; two years on do they really believe it’s still all they desire from life? Does anyone in their 20’s or 30’s chose to take this path?  

It’s a whole different world on the river and I’m just content to dip in for a weekend here and there!