Locky stars
GET boating and enter a slow-paced world with so much fresh air that all thoughts of viruses are blown away.
Canal boating
Narrow boats have a charm all of their own – the traditional roses and castles paintwork, the ingenuity of their interiors and the whole history of the waterways on which they travel.
Once upon a time the canal network provided the heavy haulage of the industrial revolution. Embark today and you will find little has changed for a hundred years, except it is all for pleasure. And there is nothing quite like being lulled asleep by a gentle ripple under the hull, and being woken by an early-morning coot hoping for a croissant.
Drift through the Pennines
Cruise the leafy Calder and Hebble Navigation from Sowerby Bridge to Brighouse and back.
This historic town, famous for its Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band, offers glorious Pennine walks and places to eat. Along the way, boaters pass through the market town of Elland and the village of Mirfield, with its medieval stocks and ducking stool, plus Dumb Steeple, a landmark to guide travellers across the moor.
Narrowboats for two to six people are available from £508 for three-night breaks from the end of August. See drifters.co.uk.
Along the Welsh borders
The Shropshire Union Canal is a charmingly rural and isolated waterway. On some stretches there are no towns for miles, and it connects neatly with the equally rural Llangollen canal which winds into the Welsh hills, helped by famous aqueducts.
Llangollen itself, with its tea houses and steam railway, is a ten-minute walk from moorings.
A late August week on a boat for four starting from the port of Trevor costs £1,510. See waterwaysholidays.com.
Ring around Brum Bath time Rivers, lochs and creeks Broad sailing
TOP STOP-OFF: Sowerby Bridge
An ideal family trip with lots of excursions starts at Stoke Prior in Worcestershire and follows the Stourport Ring past Birmingham and through the Severn Valley. Along the way, find the UK’S longest flight of locks at Tardebigge, a two-mile long tunnel, and experience river cruising on the Severn.
Canalside attractions include Cadbury World and the National Sea Life Centre and there is time to visit Birmingham city centre too.
Seven nights on a boat for four costs from £1,499. See black-prince.com.
Britain’s southernmost navigable canal, the Kennet and Avon, runs through the sumptuous countryside of Wiltshire and the Cotswolds, and the tranquil Vale of Pewsey.
It tackles one of Britain’s most spectacular flights of locks at Caen Hill, outside Devizes, before merging with the Avon into Bath and meander past its elegant Georgian crescents.
Sally Narrowboats at Bradford on Avon has a September week on a boat that sleeps six for £1,602. See sallynarrowboats.co.uk.
The 125 miles of navigable waterways and 63 shallow lakes of the Norfolk Broads have long been a part of the traditional staycation. This
LONGEST: Tardebigge
BOB OVER: Caen Hill flight of locks reed-fringed re mosaic of marshland, river and lake la is barely visible until you are right on top of it. But its grassy moorings and the waterside pubs in the likes of Bure and Horning can be very e popular in season, thanks to day-boat hire w when the sun shines.
It is generally quieter on the more refined no northeastern Broads around Hickling, but for th that you need to get through low-headroom Po Potter Heigham bridge.
A three-night break from Potter Heigham is av available at the beginning of September on a cr cruiser that sleeps up to eight, for £618. See he herbertwoods.co.uk.
Thames T hire
England’s En most famous river is definitely the glamour g end of British boating.
The riverbanks between Henley and Marlow an and onwards to Windsor are decorated with
aristocratic houses, some of which have since been taken over by celebrities –
George and Amal
Clooney have a mansion at Sonning.
But even though the river runs through the busy southeast, it remains ains a ribbon of peace for much ch of its journey.
Wealthy owners along the bank keep it very well tended and surprisingly unspoiled.
A five-berth cruiser based at Reading costs you from £615 for three nights in September. See hoseasons.co.uk.
This is also the stretch of water that hosts full-service hotel boats such as the Kailani, which is equipped for a maximum of just four guests.
The boat still has limited availability this
SMOOTH: Find Fort Augustus summer, su and a five-night journey costs from £980pp. £9 See hotelboatkailani.com.
The T Great Glen
TRADITIONAL: Norfolk Broads
A giant geological fault that runs diagonally across Sc Scotland, the Great Glen became host to the Ca Caledonian Canal 200 years ago after hundreds of na navvies dug connections between its lochs. So bo boats can cross from one coast to the ot other without having to go around und th the wild and windy north.
Mind you, there is plenty of wilderness here too, particularly on the deep waters of Loch Ness. But there are also elegant towns such as
Fort Augustus, with its flight of lochs, and Inverness itself.
Cruisers are rentable at
Laggan, the mid-point of the canal, nal, so you can also head south and discover Fort William and Ben Nevis, our highest mountain.
A one-week break available at the end of August starts from £1,303 for a boat that sleeps five. See leboat.co.uk.
Another good way of seeing the canal is on board the 12-guest barge Fingal, with all sorts of side trips and facilities, but she is very popular right now, so you would have to be lucky with a
cancella cancellation. See caledonian-discovery.co.uk.
SUMMER SAIL: Cornwall trips
Salty Sa stuff
MOORE FOR LESS: Discover Llangollen
Fin Finally, you can explore the smuggler’s cr creeks and bays of Devon and Cornwall un under sail as part of a small group on a ch cherished wooden boat with an expert ski skipper with Classic Sailing.
P Pilot Cutter Moosk has berths on a week week’s itinerary at the end of September from £79 £795. See classic-sailing.co.uk.