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.
Ric and Stephanie – Wind Rose, 2020
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.