Nothing tops chugging along our canals

A narrowboat transports you to a secret world far removed from the frenetic and noisy 21st century

Usually at this time of the year we are entering the silly season for news. Parliament has risen and David Cameron is off on holiday. But one item deserves our serious attention: the fact that the British canal network is enjoying its most successful year since the heyday of the industrial revolution.

Of course, the success of the canals can no longer be measured in terms of thousands of tons of raw materials delivered, or the number of miles covered by horses pulling canal boats. It is the railways and the motorways that are now the vital arteries of the British economy. But the system built out of necessity 200 years ago is rightly enjoying a new lease of life.

Over the past year, according to a survey supplied by the River and Canal Trust, the number of visits people have made to their local canals is up from just over 350 million to 400 million, an astonishing increase of 14 per cent. It was the chief executive of the trust, Richard Parry, who claimed this week that there was more interest in canals than since the industrial revolution.

There is no doubt that the trust has played an important part in this renaissance. Three years ago, it took over from an offshoot of the government, British Waterways, which at the whim of politicians could decide how much effort should be put into a transport system out of fashion for more than 100 years.

Now established as a charitable trust, with a fixed grant from Whitehall, it can attract lottery money and individual gifts, as well as hundreds of volunteers who might not be so keen on a stick-in-the-mud public body. A system born to answer the economic needs of the 18th century has found a new place in the leisure industry of today.

I have begun filming a new series of ITV programmes, Barging Round

Britain, first broadcast earlier this year. There was a certain amount of “tut-tutting” from purists who objected to the title. (Surely I knew the difference between a narrowboat and a barge?)

But the audience seemed to love it. To the surprise of ITV, more than three million tuned in every week for eight weeks. The new series will be broadcast next year.

Last week I was at the tiller of a narrowboat trying to find opening words to introduce a trip on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. We were in a suburb of Wolverhampton and perhaps surprisingly my chosen words were: “It’s so beautiful.” This is one of the many reasons why people are increasingly attracted to the canal network. Much of these 2,000 miles of waterways, with their footpaths and ancient bridges, are extremely attractive, perfect for running and cycling. They are more like parklands than sites of industrial archaeology.

To take a holiday on a narrowboat can be a way of entering a secret world. And the more it is explained in terms of the endeavour and determination of the canal pioneers, the more beguiling it becomes. The best kind of holiday involves a break away from everyday cares – the greater the distraction involved, the better the holiday. It may look simple to steer but if your mind wanders the boat will too, and you can easily go aground.

Perhaps there is another reason why canals are enjoying a boom. It is easy to understand how they work, and why they were soon overtaken by railways and eventually by motorways. We are once again living in a period of dramatic change, where advancing technology takes us by surprise. To see how our ancestors struggled to adapt while at the same time leading the world may give us strength, or at least something to think about.

Then there is perhaps the overriding reason why we are increasingly drawn to these waterways. They represent a slower pace of life. If you are roaring along a motorway, you might give a dismissive glance to the narrowboat chugging through the landscape at a stately four miles an hour.

But you can rest assured that those on board are in no doubt that it is they and not you who have made the right transport choice. They have put the clock back. You are still grimly trying to keep pace with the 21st century.