Frequently asked questions from our canal boat hire customers
Already Booked?
We are based at Stockton Top Marina, a marina in rural Warwickshire.
Stockton Top Marina,
Rugby Road
Stockton
Warwickshire
CV47 8HN
We are on the Grand Union Canal, just north of the Stockton Flight.
From Napton Junction, it is a couple of hours of cruising to Stockton Top Marina.
Please see https://www.kateboats.co.uk/coronovirus/
Boating
A canal holiday presents a slow-paced, relaxing, immersive experience, essentially pairing a moving cottage with a British adventure. You cruise along historic inland waterways in a specialized boat, enjoying a perspective of the countryside and historic towns that you simply cannot get from the road.
If you are trying to picture it, it is less about high-speed travel and more about slowing down to a walking pace (usually around 3 to 4 mph), enjoying nature, and with the excitement of working the locks thrown in.
What a Typical Day Looks Like
- Morning Cruise: After breakfast on board, you untie the boat and head down the canal. You’ll glide past open fields, historic industrial architecture, and quiet woodlands.
- Working the Locks: You will regularly encounter locks, which are used to raise or lower the boat to different water levels. Operating them is a hands-on, team effort—someone steers the boat while others wind the paddles and push the wooden gates open. It’s highly social and great light exercise.
- The Midday Stop: You can tie up the boat almost anywhere along the towpath for free. Many people stop next to a historic waterside pub for lunch or moor near a village to explore.
- Evening Moorings: As dusk approaches, you find a scenic spot, drive a couple of metal stakes into the canal bank, tie up, and settle in. You can cook in the fully equipped kitchen onboard or find a nearby pub.
Life on a Narrowboat
Most canal holidays in the UK take place on a narrowboat (distinctly different from a broadbeam boat or a barge).
- Space: They are long and thin (usually just 6 feet 10 inches wide), designed specifically to fit through tight historic locks. While cosy, modern holiday hire boats are surprisingly luxurious, featuring full central heating, proper hot showers, flushing toilets, Wi-Fi, and standard kitchens.
- Driving: They are incredibly easy to pilot. We give you a full tuition session before you set off. There is no steering wheel; you use a simple handle called a tiller at the back, and there are only two main controls: forward and reverse. You do not need a license to steer one in the UK.
A canal holiday presents a slow-paced, relaxing, immersive experience, essentially pairing a moving cottage with a British adventure. You cruise along historic inland waterways in a specialized boat, enjoying a perspective of the countryside and historic towns that you simply cannot get from the road.
If you are trying to picture it, it is less about high-speed travel and more about slowing down to a walking pace (usually around 3 to 4 mph), enjoying nature, and with the excitement of working the locks thrown in.
🗺️ What a Typical Day Looks Like
- Morning Cruise: After breakfast on board, you untie the boat and head down the canal. You’ll glide past open fields, historic industrial architecture, and quiet woodlands.
- Working the Locks: You will regularly encounter locks, which are used to raise or lower the boat to different water levels. Operating them is a hands-on, team effort—someone steers the boat while others wind the paddles and push the wooden gates open. It’s highly social and great light exercise.
- The Midday Stop: You can tie up the boat almost anywhere along the towpath for free. Many people stop next to a historic waterside pub for lunch or moor near a village to explore.
- Evening Moorings: As dusk approaches, you find a scenic spot, drive a couple of metal stakes into the canal bank, tie up, and settle in. You can cook in the fully equipped kitchen onboard or find a nearby pub.
Life on a Narrowboat
Most canal holidays in the UK take place on a narrowboat (distinctly different from a broadbeam boat or a barge).
- Space: They are long and thin (usually just 6 feet 10 inches wide), designed specifically to fit through tight historic locks. While cosy, modern holiday hire boats are surprisingly luxurious, featuring full central heating, proper hot showers, flushing toilets, Wi-Fi, and standard kitchens.
- Driving: They are incredibly easy to pilot. We give you a full tuition session before you set off. There is no steering wheel; you use a simple handle called a tiller at the back, and there are only two main controls: forward and reverse. You do not need a license to steer one in the UK.
The Trade-Offs: Is it Right for You?
| The Highlights ✨ | The Challenges ⚠️ |
|---|---|
| Ultimate Relaxation: The slow pace forces you to decompress. You cannot rush even if you want to. | Weather Dependent: You will be operating locks and steering outdoors, rain or shine. |
| Beautiful Scenery: You get front-row seats to incredible wildlife, rolling hills, and hidden heritage. | Physical Effort: Opening heavy lock gates and jumping on/off the boat requires a basic level of mobility. |
| Pub Culture: The UK canal network is famous for historic, dog-friendly waterside pubs. | Close Quarters: Living in a long, narrow tube means you need to get along well with your crew! |
We are based at Stockton Top Marina, a marina in rural Warwickshire.
Stockton Top Marina,
Rugby Road
Stockton
Warwickshire
CV47 8HN
We are on the Grand Union Canal, just north of the Stockton Flight.
From Napton Junction, it is a couple of hours of cruising to Stockton Top Marina.
Please see https://www.kateboats.co.uk/coronovirus/
We do not allow single handed boating, for a number of reasons. Firstly our insurance doesn’t allow boats to travel with only one member of crew aboard. It is also be much more difficult to manage the locks alone, meaning that you have to climb off or onto the boat during the locking process.
If you do arrive to collect a boat without a crew you are more than welcome to use the boat in the marina, as a floating hotel, but you will not be allowed to cruise.
We provide buoyancy aids free of charge for those requiring them. We suggest that children wear them at all times, especially when near locks. They will be fitted on arrival. They are fitted by weight, it is useful to know weights in Kg when you arrive.
You do not need a licence to drive a narrowboat in the UK. We will ensure that you are comfortable with handling the boat before we leave you to your holiday.
Yes. You need to get used to the idea that you can enjoy life by going relatively slowly. 4 mph is a comfortable walking pace, so someone on the bank can keep up with you. The speed is set to minimize damage to canal banks, and disturbance to the whole host of wildlife that the canal is home to. And lets face it with the speed we all live our lives these days it has to be good just to slow down.
And slower past moored boats!
Yes, if you are on a moored boat, however carefully moored it will move as a boat goes past, and if, as you will no doubt experience, someone goes past too fast the boat will rock alarmingly, so tickover past moored boats.
It is likely that if someone is shouting at you that you are moving too fast its because you are – just get into the rhythm of it and slow down.
You need to have someone in the group able to cope with the locks, which have to be pushed, pulled and the paddles “wound”, and someone needs to be able to pop on and off the boat easily to pull ropes and get the boat into position sometimes. We will show you how everything works, and take you to the first lock if you haven’t done it before. If there are just two of you one needs to be able to steer, while the other gets off and does the locks (and ideally it’s great if you can swap jobs, to give each other a break – but whatever works for you!)
Booking
A canal holiday presents a slow-paced, relaxing, immersive experience, essentially pairing a moving cottage with a British adventure. You cruise along historic inland waterways in a specialized boat, enjoying a perspective of the countryside and historic towns that you simply cannot get from the road.
If you are trying to picture it, it is less about high-speed travel and more about slowing down to a walking pace (usually around 3 to 4 mph), enjoying nature, and with the excitement of working the locks thrown in.
What a Typical Day Looks Like
- Morning Cruise: After breakfast on board, you untie the boat and head down the canal. You’ll glide past open fields, historic industrial architecture, and quiet woodlands.
- Working the Locks: You will regularly encounter locks, which are used to raise or lower the boat to different water levels. Operating them is a hands-on, team effort—someone steers the boat while others wind the paddles and push the wooden gates open. It’s highly social and great light exercise.
- The Midday Stop: You can tie up the boat almost anywhere along the towpath for free. Many people stop next to a historic waterside pub for lunch or moor near a village to explore.
- Evening Moorings: As dusk approaches, you find a scenic spot, drive a couple of metal stakes into the canal bank, tie up, and settle in. You can cook in the fully equipped kitchen onboard or find a nearby pub.
Life on a Narrowboat
Most canal holidays in the UK take place on a narrowboat (distinctly different from a broadbeam boat or a barge).
- Space: They are long and thin (usually just 6 feet 10 inches wide), designed specifically to fit through tight historic locks. While cosy, modern holiday hire boats are surprisingly luxurious, featuring full central heating, proper hot showers, flushing toilets, Wi-Fi, and standard kitchens.
- Driving: They are incredibly easy to pilot. We give you a full tuition session before you set off. There is no steering wheel; you use a simple handle called a tiller at the back, and there are only two main controls: forward and reverse. You do not need a license to steer one in the UK.
A canal holiday presents a slow-paced, relaxing, immersive experience, essentially pairing a moving cottage with a British adventure. You cruise along historic inland waterways in a specialized boat, enjoying a perspective of the countryside and historic towns that you simply cannot get from the road.
If you are trying to picture it, it is less about high-speed travel and more about slowing down to a walking pace (usually around 3 to 4 mph), enjoying nature, and with the excitement of working the locks thrown in.
🗺️ What a Typical Day Looks Like
- Morning Cruise: After breakfast on board, you untie the boat and head down the canal. You’ll glide past open fields, historic industrial architecture, and quiet woodlands.
- Working the Locks: You will regularly encounter locks, which are used to raise or lower the boat to different water levels. Operating them is a hands-on, team effort—someone steers the boat while others wind the paddles and push the wooden gates open. It’s highly social and great light exercise.
- The Midday Stop: You can tie up the boat almost anywhere along the towpath for free. Many people stop next to a historic waterside pub for lunch or moor near a village to explore.
- Evening Moorings: As dusk approaches, you find a scenic spot, drive a couple of metal stakes into the canal bank, tie up, and settle in. You can cook in the fully equipped kitchen onboard or find a nearby pub.
Life on a Narrowboat
Most canal holidays in the UK take place on a narrowboat (distinctly different from a broadbeam boat or a barge).
- Space: They are long and thin (usually just 6 feet 10 inches wide), designed specifically to fit through tight historic locks. While cosy, modern holiday hire boats are surprisingly luxurious, featuring full central heating, proper hot showers, flushing toilets, Wi-Fi, and standard kitchens.
- Driving: They are incredibly easy to pilot. We give you a full tuition session before you set off. There is no steering wheel; you use a simple handle called a tiller at the back, and there are only two main controls: forward and reverse. You do not need a license to steer one in the UK.
The Trade-Offs: Is it Right for You?
| The Highlights ✨ | The Challenges ⚠️ |
|---|---|
| Ultimate Relaxation: The slow pace forces you to decompress. You cannot rush even if you want to. | Weather Dependent: You will be operating locks and steering outdoors, rain or shine. |
| Beautiful Scenery: You get front-row seats to incredible wildlife, rolling hills, and hidden heritage. | Physical Effort: Opening heavy lock gates and jumping on/off the boat requires a basic level of mobility. |
| Pub Culture: The UK canal network is famous for historic, dog-friendly waterside pubs. | Close Quarters: Living in a long, narrow tube means you need to get along well with your crew! |
We are based at Stockton Top Marina, a marina in rural Warwickshire.
Stockton Top Marina,
Rugby Road
Stockton
Warwickshire
CV47 8HN
We are on the Grand Union Canal, just north of the Stockton Flight.
From Napton Junction, it is a couple of hours of cruising to Stockton Top Marina.
Please see https://www.kateboats.co.uk/coronovirus/