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Canal Routes and Itineraries Getting Started

How to Navigate Your First Canal Adventure – and Beyond

We’ve previously talked about all you need to know before you move aboard. Now we’re looking at some of the canals you might want to explore…

Starting out on a canal boat is exciting – and a bit daunting. Britain’s waterways stretch for thousands of miles, winding through cities, rolling countryside, historic towns, and tranquil landscapes. But not all canals are created equal – and the experience you have depends hugely on whether you’re hoping to do a holiday hire in a week or cruise slowly over months as a liveaboard.

Holiday Loops: The Classics for First Trips

For short breaks of a week or two, circular routes (“rings”) or straightforward sections are ideal. They let you enjoy scenic cruising without worrying too much about planning every service stop.

• Cheshire Ring – ~97 miles, ~92 locks
A classic holiday hire circuit in the North West that can be done in about 7–10 days at a relaxed pace. It links six canals around Cheshire and Manchester, weaving between rural scenery and historic towns — great for first trips where you want variety and manageable distance.

• Warwickshire Ring – ~106–116 miles, ~105 locks
This popular route around the West Midlands combines peaceful countryside, canal heritage and market towns. Most narrowboat holidays complete it in around 10–14 days — perfect for getting comfortable with locks and navigation.

• Four Counties Ring – ~110 miles, ~94 locks
Another rich loop taking in Cheshire, Staffordshire, Shropshire and the West Midlands, usually completed in about 10–14 days on a leisurely holiday rental – But of course if you’re living aboard then you can take your time. The route blends rural beauty with industrial heritage waterside sights.

Shorter linear sections like Windsor and return on the Kennet & Avon are also popular with holiday hires with a week to enjoy.

In a week or two, planning water points is helpful, but not critical – particularly if you’re mainly following one of these classic rings where facilities are frequent, and navigation is straightforward. Longer term liveaboards have different questions, but there’s plenty of advice available.

Longer Journeys: Exploring Deeply

If you have months to cruise, your experience is very different. For example:

  • The Leeds & Liverpool Canal itself stretches ~127 miles and links Yorkshire to Lancashire. As a longer route, sections of it can take weeks to really explore, and you discover hidden corners, big views, historic features like Foulridge Tunnel and the Bingley Five Rise Locks.
  • Even larger circuits like the Two‑Roses / North Pennine Ring cover ~183 miles, over 200 locks and take multiple weeks to complete comfortably if you want to enjoy every stop rather than race between them.

On a longer liveaboard narrowboat journey you might cover hundreds of miles, enjoying the freedom to moor up in distinctive villages, explore local culture, and take their time getting to know each stretch of water. You learn to pace yourself, settle into seasonal rhythms, and rely on real knowledge about where to find less obvious service points and quiet moorings – skills that don’t show up on a short holiday loop.

Liveaboard Life vs Holiday Rental

For short hire trips, you can worry less about where to fill up water or dispose of waste, but spend weeks or months afloat and you start to think about resource planning. You become intimately aware of:

  • Water use: how long a tank lasts based on showers, cooking and cleaning.
  • Fuel and gas: balancing heating, cooking and charging batteries across cooler months.
  • Waste: choosing between pump‑outs and portable cassettes, and timing services to match where you are.

These small yet constant decisions make you appreciate the psychology of liveaboard life: planning ahead becomes part of the daily rhythm rather than a chore.

Living With Nature and Your Impact

One of the most surprising lessons long‑term canal life teaches is about energy use and environmental impact. On land, many of the “invisible” environmental costs – grid energy, gas, heating oil, water treatment – are hidden behind bills. A canal boat exposes you directly to what you consume: the diesel to move, the gas to run your stove and fridge, the wood to heat the cabin.

That direct experience gives you a profound sense of living with nature rather than insulated from it. You see how weather, daylight and seasons influence your energy choices. You feel the weight of each litre of water because you fill it yourself, and you choose consciously how to manage resources. For many long‑term boaters, this connection fosters a deeper appreciation for conservation and simpler living – and makes you feel like you’re doing a little bit to help the planet, even while enjoying warmth and comfort.

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Getting Started Updates

Relaunching the Blog

We’ve been involved in long-term life on the canals for nearly twenty years. Over that time, we’ve seen people step away from work, test retirement, work remotely from the towpath, take sabbaticals, or pause long enough to reassess what comes next. Some stay longer than planned. Some leave earlier. Most do what they set out to do, then return with a clearer sense of direction.

This blog has been patchy in the past. Boats, like lives, have a way of demanding attention elsewhere. Going forward, we’ll be publishing regularly, focusing on the things people usually only discover once they’re already aboard.

As well as keeping you updated on the business and some reflective pieces, we really want this blog to be about the practical realities of spending three months, six months, or a year on a narrowboat instead of wherever you currently are – Not just romanticising life afloat (even though we love it).

We would love to hear some of your suggestions for topics that we could cover? In the meantime, expect us to roam freely and broadly through all sorts of topics and locations associated with the canals!

We are planning to cover some of our favourite canals and some of the practicalities around route planning: what tends to go wrong; the 14-day continuous cruising rules; what it’s like sharing sixty feet with another person; and what winter living is really like when your heat comes from solid fuel and the canal freezes over.

We’re also planning to cover solo living, busy summer cruising, waterways that see less traffic, and the engineering decisions made two centuries ago that still shape how boats move today. How people deal with it. What living aboard is like while balancing work – remote or otherwise. Why some arrangements work well, and others don’t.

This blog exists to support anyone who is considering extended time on the canals, already doing it, or quietly working out whether it’s the right choice. We have learnt a great deal about what people actually need when they’re living aboard rather than visiting briefly – and it feels like the right time to start writing some of that down.

We’re proud to have helped so many people Escape the Rat Race over the years, operating 26+ boats at different points in the process – This is one way we hope to stay in touch, wherever the journey has taken you since!

We hope you enjoy, and stick around, whether that’s because you love the waterways or are curious about one day living aboard for the long term!

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Life Afloat

Perspectives from the Waterline: The Rhythm of Life Afloat

Living on a canal boat isn’t just a change of address: It’s a change of perspective. Spend weeks or months afloat and you slowly absorb a new rhythm of life, one where patience, adaptability and calm become natural responses rather than aspirations. It’s a pace that stands in contrast to normal commuter‑driven living, yet somehow complements it beautifully. It’s a chance to work in the world and come home to tranquillity at the end of the day.

Living aboard a narrowboat teaches patience the moment you step onto the towpath. Locks don’t hurry. The weather decides when it will rain. Water levels rise and fall with tides and seasons. And you soon realise that pushing for speed only leads to frustration – whether you’re negotiating a busy flight of locks or planning your next mooring. Instead, you learn to settle into a pace that suits both you and the water beneath you.

Resourcefulness becomes second nature. Things you took for granted on land – fill‑ups, storage, heating and even hot showers – suddenly need planning and care. Diesel boats will come by to top up your fuel or gas if you arrange it ahead of time, but you’re responsible for knowing where to find water points, pump‑outs and supplies along the network. A frozen hose in winter or a tangled rope at a lock used to be sources of stress. Now they’re just another part of the learning curve that turns you into someone who solves problems calmly and creatively.

Creativity on board isn’t just about the novelty of cruising the narrowboat – it’s about living in a smaller space more deliberately. Clever storage solutions, practical layouts, and personal touches all work together to make a narrowboat feel like home not a rental. You discover that a cosy boat with a warm wood burner becomes more comfortable than many houses you’ve lived in. That blend of function and comfort makes returning from a workday – or a walk into town – feel like coming back to your own private retreat.

And then there’s the social side of canal life. Mooring up for a pint at a canal‑side pub or passing friendly waves at a lock starts to feel like being part of a community. Living aboard an unbranded boat helps you feel part of it – while those on rental canal holiday boats pass through in a different way. Boaters share advice, tools, and stories – often instantly when you tie up side by side. Whether it’s someone giving pointers on keeping batteries topped up or helping you through a tricky stretch, that camaraderie makes the waterways feel warm and welcoming.

Living afloat also gives you space to reflect on your “normal” life. Many people choose long‑term narrowboat living with jobs they commute to remotely, or as a break between phases – a way to slow down and learn about what’s important without fully stepping away from land‑based work and family. It’s this mix of worlds – the freedom to cruise Britain’s huge canal network at your leisure and the comfort of coming back to your own peaceful floating home – that makes the lifestyle so rewarding.

So if you’re thinking of trying life on the water for a few months, or even longer, expect to learn a lot more than you would on a canal holiday hire. Expect to learn about patience, about independence, and about what makes your heart feel at ease. Because once you’ve mastered a few skills and embraced the slower rhythm of life afloat, you’ll find that the canal doesn’t just show you new places – it shows you a new way of seeing the world.

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Updates

New Boats to Escape on!

Pleased to say that we’ve got a couple of new boats coming aboard – Badger’s Retreat is a lovely 57′ available from early January near Harefield – Pictures coming soon.

We also have added Immanuel – a delightful 50′ semi semi trad and are furthering our widebeam offering as well so with cosy 40′ ers at the other end of scale, we really do have something for everyone!

As usual, we’re setting them up with everything you need to have a comfortable narrowboat escape – building on our 19 years of experience on the Waterways.

Whether you’re looking for a short escape or considering a full-time liveaboard lifestyle, now could be the perfect moment to make it happen. Our clients come from all walks of life – some are newly retired, others are expats returning home after years abroad. Cruising the canals is a wonderful way to see the country at your own pace, catch up with friends, and discover hidden corners of England and Wales, all while enjoying the freedom of life on the water.

There’s truly something for everyone along the waterways. Whether you’re planning a brief canal holiday or dreaming of a long-term lifestyle change, we’re here to guide you every step of the way!

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History and Culture

Remarkable Waterways Engineering

This article from the Guardian showcases a remarkable aspect of the canals – a 250-year-old engineering marvel that continues to stand the test of time. However, concerns loom over a possible 40% reduction in funding for the Canal and River Trust (CRT), which could put their long term future in jeopardy.

Unlike most lock flights that have a space between each lock called a pound, where boats can pause or pass each other, the Bingley Five Rise is different. Each lock empties directly into the next, creating a continuous series of five locks without the usual gaps.

It’s quite an experience to navigate!

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Boat Skills Getting Started Life Afloat

Things to Know Before Living Aboard a Canal Boat

  • That everyone dreams of living on a boat. When I have mentioned that I had lived on a boat, a surprising amount of people would admit to me, quietly as if it was some dark secret, that they’d always harboured the same ambition. Many similar questions might then follow – and this list will answer a few of them. But know you will be living the dream. It’s not for everyone – certainly some would respond by looking at me quizzically – but it’s a wonderful experience and we can help you decide if it is for you!
  • How to use a wood burning stove. All boaters know the experience of returning to a cold boat after a wintery weekend away. However, it is also often the only place you will find people sitting with the doors wide open when it’s snowing outside. Lots of boats also have central gas heating or back boilers but there is nothing quite like a wood burner. Get the wood burner going and the boat can be very toasty indeed! Morso Squirrels are especially nice, but they all have adjustable air vents to change the air flow and all of them are slightly different. You can actually get into a rhythm where you can keep it going, without touching it, for most of a full day, and then spend 10 minutes tending to it. You can invest in a convection fan that will blow the heat through the boat as it gets warm. Keep it on low and the heat will flood the boat for hours.
  • How to cope with the cold. Sometimes a cold night or a cold and wet boat move is unavoidable, particularly when you’re still getting used to life aboard and going through your first winter. I once discovered my cooking oil had frozen and had a WhatsApp group of fellow (new) boaters we called “I now live in a fridge”. But modern clothing is incredible. Invest in a good quality down jacket with a high fill power. Get some nice Merino wool base layers, or fleece layers. Own a nice gore tex jacket to keep you dry if you need to move the boat in the rain. Get the fire going so it’s ready and the boat is nice and warm when you stop. The secret to staying warm is layering and these high quality layers can transform your experience when you do need them.
  • The summer is glorious. The winter is fabulous in its own way but there’s a reason people pay a small fortune to rent a week on a canal boat in the summer. When you liveaboard you feel like all the world is your garden and as though you’re fully in touch with nature. The natural light that reflects of the canal and in through the windows is like nothing else. Friends will want to visit to help you move.
  • Moving the boat. Yes, you need to move it every couple of weeks. You need to be on a continuous journey. Some people live on moorings but they can miss out on the freedom and the adventure as a result.
  • Getting supplies. You’ll quickly discover the diesel boats. There will be a few of them, covering a wide area. We have been doing this long enough that we can point you in the right direction. Give them a bit of notice and they’ll come by and fill you up with diesel and fit new gas bottles. Get into the rhythm and you’ll never run out. You do not want to run out – gas usually ensures you can keep your food cold in the fridge, and on some boats helps keep the boat or your water warm.
  • Water. The diesel boats can’t fill up your water. You’ll need to potter along to a sanitary station. Allow a couple of hours to fill the water tank; a small price to pay for warm showers and running water. Read a book or have a coffee while it’s filling. How long it lasts depends on how much you use and how big your tank is. Two people usually get about 6-8 weeks. To make it last longer, narrowboats usually forego dishwashers and washing machines – but you’ll soon get used to that.
  • Waste. There are two options. Pump outs – where the diesel boat comes along and connects a pipe that empties your tank, or cassettes. They both have their advantages and disadvantages. Most long term boaters have heard horror stories about pump out toilets getting blocked, overfilling, or smelling and happily get used to cassettes – you have a couple of spares and sequence it to align with your water filling schedule. It is the least fun job but you get used to it surprisingly quickly. The most important thing is that you think ahead and don’t fill up.
  • The 8am to 8pm rule. You might notice if you walk along a canal that often boats will sit there running their engines. They might be charging their batteries or heating up their hot water via the engine. But you shouldn’t run it outside these hours. A lot of boats also have solar panels and maybe even gas water heaters, so there are other options, but it’s worth being aware.
  • Toasters and hair straighteners. Your leisure batteries (separate to the starter batteries) will run most electrical appliances, but not anything with an element. You can still make toast but with a clever contraption that sits on your gas cooking hobs. If you’re using mains power through an inverter you also should get in the habit of turning it off when you’re not using it. Radiators will need to be gas, oil or heated via the back boiler.
  • Checking the engine. Breakdowns can happen but we do expect everyone to carry out simple checks to make sure they are infrequent. We have been running for long enough that we have seen and found ways to maintain everything. You’ll need to check oil and water levels regularly, and know how to clear the weed hatch. We will talk you through it on the handover.
  • How sociable it can be. In both the summer and the winter, your friends will love to come and help you move. But you’ll also meet a wonderfully diverse and creative group of people. You might moor up two-abreast, tieing on to a new neighbour, get chatting to the boats around you while you’re sitting on the roof or outside. Maybe you will get to know people while you’re moving through locks together or topping up supplies. Maybe you arrive in a new neighborhood and want to know where the best canal side pubs or laundromats are. The boating community is wonderfully friendly and sociable – advice is never more than a few boat widths away.

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Updates

An Unexpected Year

When news of the global pandemic first surfaced, I had no idea how it might impact on the waterways and how we support our clients.

Would extra restrictions mean people prefer to stay at home and wait until things were easier, or would they still try to escape? Would it become harder to live afloat – with new stoppages stranding clients in obscure places, or easier – due to workers having more time at home to tend the fire and sort supplies? How might it affect our maintenance and upgrading plans?

Would people be able to get the healthcare they need? After all, one survey recently found that long term continuous cruisers were an average of 47km away from their local GPs! It’s worth knowing that since 2015 GP practices and the NHS have been freely available to boaters, even without an address.

There have of course been challenges. This has all lasted longer than any of us imagined. The canals are a dynamic and creative space; creative industries have been hit hard.

But, surprisingly, we’ve had one of the busiest years in our 14 years of operation. From clients who’ve joined us slightly earlier than they planned – sneaking in before the borders closed, to those who have chosen to stay aboard even longer than they’d thought. Thankfully, many people still able to enjoy the waterways and fulfil their long harboured ‘liveaboard’ dreams.

We’ve just added another narrowboat, sweet pea – the 4th major development to our fleet in the last 12 months and the 26th boat since we began almost 15 years ago. The team has grown to help meet the growing demand and we’ve been working hard behind the scenes to plan adventures and escapes well into 2023.

If you’re thinking about living afloat or exploring Britain’s huge canal network over a number of months, why not explore our boats or get in touch. The waterways have plenty of unexpected surprises to discover.

We’ve still been allowed to do “essential” boaty things – unlike some of the stricter lockdowns seen elsewhere in the world. The canal and river trust have done a fantastic job of keeping the core essentials open. Pre-planning our maintenance schedules has helped. We’ve been able to not only look after the clients on our boats, but improve our service and our fleet.

I suppose it makes sense. For all the challenges, covid has caused many of us to reflect on what is important: To appreciate nature and a slower pace of life. The waterways provide that. They are a place of peace and tranquility. There’s plenty of scientific research to show that being near to water reduces stress and slows our heart rate.

Why wouldn’t you want to live on a narrow boat?

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Updates

Canal and River Trust – Covid Updates

Updated to confirm that the canals are fully operational for normal cruising.

You might be wondering how Covid-19 has affected life on the waterways. Restrictions on boat movement were lifted on 12th April. You’re currently able to cruise freely and stay overnight on your boat, or a holiday hire boat, as long as you are one household or support bubble. There are still restrictions on mingling inside the boat until at least 17 May. After then and subject to any further announcements, you’ll hopefully be able to have up to six people or two households aboard. Further details can be found here at the Canal and River Trust’s website.

If you’re thinking of coming to the UK from abroad then there are also still a range of travel restrictions in place. These require you to quarantine for up to 10 days and get tested for coronavirus before you start to live on the boat. We will know more after 17 May.

In the meantime, and in case restrictions do return in the future, we’ve been working hard to make sure that your time living on the canals is as unspoilt as possible. If something goes wrong while you’re on your cruise we have systems in place to maintain social distancing while we get you cruising again. We’ve been helping people who want to live long term on the canals since 2007 so you’d be in experienced hands. We have wide network of professional engineers on hand to offer you all the help you need.

Don’t just take our word for it – here is what one of our recent clients had to say:

In spite of having occasional limited movements due to Covid restrictions, we still managed to have a far reaching and wonderful adventure for 5 months and at no time did ‘Wind Rose’ let us down.  
The wonderful thing about Escape the Rat Race’s operational model is that they entrust the boat to your care and give you total freedom to cruise where and when you wish without restrictions always knowing there is dependable back up if needed.

Ric and Stephanie – Wind Rose, 2020

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Updates

New Boats!

Very happy to announce that we’ve added Grey Nomad and Peter Pan for 2021. Do have a look at their brochures and let us know what you think.

We’ve set them both up with everything you need to make the transition to the ‘liveaboard’ life!

Perhaps you’ve been thinking about an adventure to go on as life gradually begins to return to normal. Maybe you’ve always wanted to live on a canal boat or explore the unique waterways of England and Wales, or perhaps you’ve just decided that now is the time to escape the rat race and you want to liveaboard permanently. Maybe you’ve rented canal boat on short holiday lets in the past and are now looking for something more long term.

Some of our clients have been newly retired, or even ex pats returning to the UK after many years away. Travelling along the waterways is a great way to see the country and catch up with old friends without having to occupy one of their spare rooms!

The canals offer something for everyone. So, whether you’re planning a short trip of a few months or a longer lifestyle change over a few years, why not get in touch with us and we’d love to help.

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