Looking forward to the season ahead
Cheryl Howes of Kate Boats continues the series from Drifters – a consortium of independent self-drive hire boat companies set up to promote enjoyment of canal holidays.
ALTHOUGH some offer boating holidays all year round, as spring approaches we are looking forward to the start of the main boating season.
Every year Drifters members add dozens of new hire boats to their fleets. Here at Kate Boats, we are waiting for the completion of our new 70ft narrowboat for up to eight people, Louisa. She should be operating from our Stockton canal boat hire base on the Grand Union Canal from next month.
Louisa will offer canal boat holidaymakers either three fixed doubles, or two fixed doubles and two fixed singles, in three cabins, plus two singles in the lounge. She will have two bathrooms, full central heating and a well-equipped galley. On a short break from Stockton, boaters can travel to Warwick and back, or on a week away they can cruise the Warwickshire Ring.
There will also be new boats operating from Gailey on the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal, Wootton Wawen on the Stratford Canal, Oxford on the River Thames, Whitchurch, Whixall and Trevor on the Llangollen, Worcester on the River Severn, Acton Bridge on the Trent & Mersey Canal and Alvechurch on the Worcester & Birmingham Canal.
This year will see a series of canal anniversaries, including the 90th anniversary of the formation of the Grand Union Canal, the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Regent’s Canal and the 250th anniversary of the Act passed authorising the construction of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.
It will also be 250 years since the Limehouse Cut in east London opened and the first sections of the Trent & Mersey Canal.
So far, Drifters’ bookings are looking strong for 2020, perhaps in part the result of the rise in the popularity of staycations in the face of a weak pound. So it looks like there’s lots to look forward to in the season ahead.