Narrowboating - Critical Review

So, how was it? 

The set up. After reading "Three Men in a Boat" by Jerome K. Jerome on the advice of Cameron Graham, he and I started discussing the idea of a vacation in a Thames rowboat, on the Thames. We eventually settled on the idea on a narrowboat on the Avon & Severn river and canal system (old backs and cranky wives being the impetus to make life easier).

The four of us had never travelled together before, and in fact we didn't even all know each other very well. Nancy and I were experienced boaters, but Cameron and Anne were lubbers. It was a classic recipe for disaster.

We selected the route we were to do based on the notion that we only wanted to be moving about 5 hours a day and we wanted a couple breaks in the transit for days off. We regarded locks as exercise, so lots of locks didn't faze us. The Avon Ring, starting in Stoke Prior consisted of 128 locks, two canal systems (Stratford -upon-Avon and Worcester & Birmingham canals) and two rivers (Avon and Severn) over about 109 miles. 

Our boat, the 62' Thin Lizzy, had two beds, two heads, one shower, a sitting area with a TV and stereo and a fully equiped small galley (stove, oven, broiler (for toast English style) sink, and fridge). Everything worked and the boat was spotless. Black Prince, the narrowboat company, provided two sets of bedding for each bed, enough towels for clean ones each after a week, and loads of tea towels. There was only one roll of toilet paper onboard. Lizzy cost £2000 for the two weeks. She was good value.

The boat was designed so that the two bed areas could be turned into two staterooms by latching open the cupboard and head doors effectively dividing the boat up into three private sections. Forward was the living dining area, then a stateroom, then a second stateroom. The forward stateroom could get on and off through the front door and the after stateroom could get on and off through the rear door. This design feature went a long way to keeping peace and good government onboard. (See our video walkthough posted earlier.)

Running the boat was easy. We took turns driving. During periods of intensive locking activity, three people would walk while the fourth drove. Walking between the locks, and opening the sluices and gates is moderately challenging and a perfect license to eat constantly. On the canals it was busy enough that no one was bored. On the rivers there was a well deserved break that allowed some reading. Our biggest day was 33 locks (Tardebigge flight), our fewest was two (Tewkesbury to Worcester).

We ate every breakfast onboard, most lunches onboard, and some suppers onboard. Three times we bought small disposable BBQs and used them on the side of the river (lamb chops, chicken, and steaks) they worked pretty well as long as they weren't overloaded.

Our most vexing problem was water consumption. Despite teaching my travel companions Naval water discipline (Pusser showers) and employing the cottage country technique of "if it's yellow, let it mellow" we still went through water very quickly. We had to look for a water source every second day. Having two real toilets onboard really upped the consumption of water. The boat need more than the claimed 200 gallon tank. Everything else was fine (cooking gas, diesel, and black water tank).

We stopped at every village and small town. We tried to visit every pub and abbey, cathedral, etc. Our oldets pub was 700 years (the ale was still good), and our oldest church was 1200 years (not sure about their ale).

My personal favourite place was Worcester. It seemed to have everything. It was big enough to keep us interested for a two night stop. We could have stayed longer. My least favourite stop was, sadly, Stratford. It was too touristy and I felt like a mark the whole time we were there.

While we were stopped both couples generally went our own way. That gave us some breathing room and prevented too much "togetherness".

The weather was hot and sunny for the entire two weeks. On the last night it clouded over, and it was pouring rain when we drove the last couple miles to return the boat. If it had rained that hard for the two previous weeks, it would have been a very long trip. We were lucky (and luck counts).

All in all, the narrowboat phase rocked. Cam got the World Cup soccer games, Nancy and Anne got naps, and I got lots of helm time (and beer and Scotch lessons). We all got along well, had lots of time, and room, to ourselves. Cam and Anne were good shipmates. Nancy needs a little more work, but she's coming along nicely. It was a great time. We'd do it again in a heartbeat. 

Put a narrowboat on your bucket list.