Canal Boat Hire

If you are tired of the same old thing every single year, perhaps you should consider canal boat hire. Sounds odd, eh? Well after years of package holidays, beach towels and swimming pools, my wife persuaded me to try something different. What was not surprising was that it was a whole lot cheaper, what was a surprise was how enjoyable and peaceful it was to do nothing but sit back, drink a beer and slowly drift along endless canals through the surprisingly beautiful countryside of the apparently grey council estate packed island of Britain.

It turns out that in between all the greyness, Britain actually possesses some very beautiful countryside. I'm not particularly interested in nature, I tend to go to the pub at the weekend as opposed to picnics in the park. However I spend a lot of my life pretty stressed out due to my job and therefore the amount of green fields and hills was actually a refreshing change to city life and I found myself becoming oddly relaxed. Canal boat hire allows you to stop off at numerous country side villages and if you are wise enough to take a bike on board which my wife insisted that we did leads to frankly beautiful bike rides through beautiful scenery and I challenge anyone not to become extremely relaxed when engaging in such an activity.

And bikes are not the only thing that you can take onboard. One thing I always hated about regular package holidays abroad was that I always had to hand my dog into the dreaded kennels. When you hire a canal boat, this is unnecessary. The majority of canal boat hire companies are more than happy for you take your four legged friend on board and if you yourself have a pet, you will undoubtedly be aware that this not only benefits your dog but you also. Let me also say that taking your dog for a walk in the country side is completely different to taking him for a walk in the city.

Another surprise was just how nice country side pubs are. I am used to pubs in the city full of drunken lunatics wanting to kill each other outside of which there is idiots vomiting. In the country you can enjoy a quiet pint with your partner or if alone there are plenty of friendly country folk more than happy to share a pint. And the last and perhaps biggest surprise was that boats are actually pretty easy to handle. I had been imagining tragedy, crashing into the side of the canal or in the very least frequent near misses. This couldn't be further from the truth, canal boats move so slowly that even to a total beginner like me it was as easy as riding a bike. So if you are considering canal boat hire, take it from the type of person that should have hated it, it could turn out to be something that you will never forget.