Tiller instinct
Ben Rankin swaps sun and sangria for life in the slow lane on a canal boat
Even Indiana Jones would have doffed his trademark fedora to a job well done. Just a few miles into our maiden canal boat holiday and the unforgettably named New Marton Bottom lock – the first of the trip – was approaching fast.
Getting our 66ft narrowboat in and out of the two huge wooden gates in one piece seemed very unlikely. But by some miracle, just 20 minutes later we were through unscathed. Not bad for six 40-something city slicker types with a one-hour boating tutorial and next to no ‘water’ hours between us.
Some years ago the Indy himself – well, Harrison Ford – spent a few days touring the same stretch of the Llangollen Canal in Shropshire.
One lock would, no doubt, have been little trouble for the swashbuckling archaeologist but to us just the thought of it was like being chased by the big boulder in Raiders Of The Lost Ark. And as
we were to find out, like with any good Indiana Jones film, even bigger challenges lurked just around the corner…
With Covid causing havoc for foreign holidays, my friends and I decided to stay closer to home and book an end-ofsummer canal boat adventure.
In all the years we’ve known each other – close to three decades – no one had ever suggested it and it was a very different kind of getaway to the sun, sea and sangria we were used to enjoying.
To say there were some nerves leading up to it is an understate