"This is what the hereafter must be like --              for someone who has been very, very good."                            Laura Murphy, American travel writer

We represent a wide assortment of family-owned and operated self-drive boating companies.   We have met all of the owners and have personally inspected the boats and marinas.  We have cruised many of the waterways and canals.  Some companies specialize in canal boats, some in cruisers.  All of these companies provide spotless, safe, top-of-the-line boats. Boat hire has long been a popular holiday option in Great Britain, Ireland and France where there are hundreds of miles of magnificent inland lakes, canals and rivers.  North Americans are just beginning to learn about the pleasures of cruising from village to village on a self-drive, live-aboard canal boat or cabin cruiser.

These are not houseboats!  Your boat will have the same modern conveniences as your home: central heating, constant hot water, ovens, showers, cupboards, closets, comfortable beds, flush toilets.  Everything you need is included from tea service to mooring spikes.  Radios, television, and cassette decks are standard on most boats.  Some boats have mahogany walls. CANAL BOATS are heavy, steel hulled vessels that are six feet wide and 24 to 60 feet long.  They are steered by a rudder from an open platform at the rear of the boat.  They sleep from 2 to 12 people.  Before railways, canals were the primary trade routes.  Most canal boats were pulled by horses from the tow paths that still exist as pedestrian walkways.  Because population centers grew around the canals, a canal trip offers the opportunity to see many important historical sites.  Because mooring is free and mooring sites are plentiful, it's easy to stop almost anywhere along the route, moor the boat and explore the area.

CABIN CRUISERS are luxury boats sleeping from 4 to 12.  They have the same comforts of the canal boats, but provide more flexibility.  Cruisers can cruise canals, lakes and rivers while canal boats primarily travel canals.  Cruisers are driven from inside the boat using a steering wheel.  Some boats have an additional “flying bridge” which allows the driver to sit on a raised platform above the cabin.

WHAT ARE LOCKS?
 

While not all routes have locks, many do.  This adds interest to your journey and gives a historical perspective.  Locks are the mechanisms used to raise or lower your boat through a gradient  using a lock chamber that has gates (really operable walls) at either end.  After a member of your crew goes ashore to push the balance beams that open the lock chamber, you glide the boat into the chamber through the open gates.  Those gates are then closed and the lock chamber either fills with water or is emptied.  When the chamber has filled (or emptied), your crew member pushes the balance beams to open the second  gates so that the boat can pass through the lock chamber.  Those gates are then closed after you.  This process takes about fifteen minutes–you can't rush the locks.  While this is a very straightforward process, it requires a little physical effort.  Older children will love to help and most people have no difficulty with this process. Some locks are automated; a plastic card is inserted into a slot from the boat and the lock operates.  There is no need for anyone to leave the boat during the process.  Some locks are manned by a lock keeper who operates the lock while you stay in the boat.  Often walkers, with a cheery wave and a smile, will operate the lock for you!

 

Some locks can only accommodate one boat at a time, but others can accommodate two or more boats. Many friendships have been forged between boating parties at locks. Boating is an excellent choice for a couple or a large family holiday.  Age is no barrier: we once moored near the boat of a man of 82 who has been boating every year in the Norfolk Broads since WWII.  Children enjoy boating and become adept mates with a minimum of teaching.  Life jackets are provided for everyone and are mandatory for children under the age of 14.

IS BOATING DIFFICULT?
 

Boating is easy! No licenses or experience are required.  All companies provide a minimum half hour’s teaching which includes a trial run of your boat and a demonstration of working the locks so you’ll feel comfortable.  All boats are equipped with a comprehensive manual, maps, and a Captain’s Log.  All companies have a 24 hour emergency help line which will respond with expert help if necessary.  But it’s mostly other boaters who will offer a hand or advice or a story or four because the boating community is comprised of people who are ardent about this past-time.

The pace is leisurely and peaceful.  The speed limit on waterways is 5-8 mph so there are no fast boats leaving you in their wake or water skiers.  There is time to commune with nature, take photographs, do a little fishing, spend time with people you love. Many boating companies will purchase groceries for you–either a first-day starter pack or, if you prefer, a full trip’s worth of  provisions which you can order before you leave home.  If you don’t want to cook, there are many fine restaurants and pubs near waterways.  All are delighted to see boaters. Most boating companies offer the option of three- or four-night “short breaks” as well as one week, ten days, two weeks or even longer trips.

WHERE CAN I GO?
 

In ENGLAND, almost every inland waterway is home to hire boats.  We’ve twice sailed in the gorgeous Norfolk Broads (Lakes).  The wildlife, beautiful scenery, the fens and the friendly people will always be with us.  In addition, there are many ancient sites and public gardens and houses within walking distance of boat bases.  Old English towns lie along the shores and inns and pubs welcome boaters to moor.

The River Thames has self-drive cabin cruisers on 125 miles of riverway.  Cruise past some of the most famous places in the world.  Moor and visit Hampton Court, Maidenhead, go all the way to Oxford.  This is an entirely different experience from touring on a road. Viking Afloat canal boat company offers a variety of routes that include Worcester, Staffordshire, the Avon Ring, Stratford and an amazing route from Whitchurch, England to Llangollen, Wales that includes two spectacular aqueducts.  The Chirk Aqueduct carries you over the River Ceiriog into Wales, at a height of seventy feet and is followed immediately by a canal tunnel.  Then Thomas Telford's Pontcysyllte Aqueduct carries you 1,000 feet across the Dee Valley at a hight of 120 feet.  This is not a trip for an acrophobe.

Caley Cruisers self-drive cruiser company in SCOTLAND offers routes on the chain of Highland Lochs, Loch Ness, and Loch Lochy, connected by a canal system called the  Caledonian Canal.  The aerial photo at left is of Fort Augustus, where the canal enters Loch Ness.  The rugged shoreline and forested mountains of the Great Glacial Rift are the perfect place for a holiday.  In the soft air of the Highlands, you will fall asleep to the soothing sounds of lapping water and rise to the new experience that each day will bring.

Loch Ness and Great Glen Cruise Company offers an opportunity for up to eight adults to luxuriate on a gourmet hotel barge trip with a captain and crew (including a Cordon Bleu chef).  Golfing is often part of the agenda or you can just lie on the deck and let the captain sail you through the Highlands while he entertains you with stories about sailing and Scotland.  Contact them by e-mail at lochness@kippen.sol.co.uk

IRELAND’s Shannon-Erne Waterway is nearly 300 miles in length, from the south, near the mouth of the River Shannon in the Republic, to the western end of Lower Lough Erne at the town of Beleek in NORTHERN IRELAND.  In 1994, a 40-mile connection between the Shannon and the Erne was completed making this the longest boating waterway in Europe.  This is a glorious route  past  islands with castle ruins including Boyle, a 12th century Cistercian Abbey, parks, little villages, wetlands and birds not seen in North America.  One company, on Lough Erne near Enniskillen, offers nice shore-side cottages with the option of renting a boat for day trips.

 

The IRISH REPUBLIC offers many boating options.  On the Shannon River one can hire a cabin cruiser from a fleet of 40 boats in Athlone and cruise past such major ancient sites as the 6th century monastery, Clonmacnois, which provides mooring so boaters can stop and visit this historic treasure.  From Clonmacnois one can sail north to Lough Ree or south to Lough Derg.  Either way the beauty of the Shannon will surround you in a way you will long remember.

 

Further south, one can rent a canal boat in County Carlow from the family that built the boat and travel the unspoiled rural canals and the River Barrow.  When we were last on the Barrow we met an Englishman who had shipped his own canal boat across the Irish Sea so that he could enjoy this still relatively undiscovered area.

Contact any of the boating companies below and tell them Great Trips Unlimited sent you.

Viking Afloat has excellent canal boats and several bases offering trips through some of the most beautiful countryside in the heart of England and western Wales.

Barrowline Cruisers rents canal boats in Ireland on the River Barrow in southeast Ireland and The Grand Canal which runs from Dublin across Ireland to the River Shannon.

Caley Cruisers offers river cruisers in Scotland on the chain of Highland Lochs, Loch Ness, and Loch Lochy and  the Caledonian Canal.

Erincurrach Cruisers has a very nice base on Lower Lough.  This company has a cruiser equipped for wheel chairs.

Ireland Line Cruisers covers the River Shannon and Upper and Lower Lough Erne from their base on the Shannon in Killaloe.