Dan's 2008 holidays

April 2008: “Grey Goose 4” Whispering Reeds, Hickling
Off to Norfolk, and with a different boatyard to normal after being tempted by a good value offer, seeming especially important after our recent house move! The boat was a Bounty 27 style - a neat & compact

June 2008: “Megan” Welsh Lady Cruisers, Whittington
Fancying a change we were off on a narrowboat just the two of us. We’d chosen a 35ft 2 berth from the Rhonwen class as it was good value being one of their older, smaller craft and with four days we could cruise to Llangollen & back with just two locks - ideal with just the two of us going.
The boat was neat and comfortable, though I did get a few complaints that the double

27ft 2+2 berth in tidy condition and everyone at the boatyard was friendly and welcoming. The weather was a bit variable, the sun being more than a little illusive! We did manage a few spells with the canopy down, and with the boats low air-draught were able to enjoy a few new areas including under Wayford and Potter Heigham bridge where the pilot confidently navigated us through this very tight bridge.

was a bit too narrow and not quite long enough - seemed OK to me! Mum, Dad & Josh the dog visited for one day and the weather was good and the canal very pretty.

October 2008 “Guildford Duchess”, Guildford Boathouse.

Keen to explore somewhere new my Mum, Dad and Josh the dog were off on the River Wey, Surrey for four days. Our home was 67ft 8 berth Guildford Duchess so there was plenty of space, and my Sister and her boyfriend joined us for a couple of days too!
This was a very rural waterway with good scenery, we were all quite suprised at how pretty and unspoilt it was. The locks were double width so we shared most of the locks with other boaters.
There was a few funny incidents and near disasters, one including us getting the boat stuck widthways across the river on a cross flow section until finally our perseverance and much bad language saw us free and also my Dad got his foot caught in the rope whilst we were manoeuvring - luckily we heard his shouting in time!

October 2008: “Supreme”, Richardsons of Stalham
Initially, the Guildford trip was to be the last of the year. However, I decided that this would not be enough to last me through the long winter to next season. So we were soon booked again to go for a few days with our friends. Richardsons “Supreme” was chosen for it’s amazing value for money, perfect layout allowing all double berths and for its newly refitted interior. It didn’t disappoint and had been stripped right back and re-built to a good standard, so was like a new boat inside. The bow thruster also made handling a doddle, despite her 44ft length!
The weather was pretty good and we hired a row boat to help with Ian’s fishing attempts.. Which were slightly more successful than the norm, with two big pike caught!
Roll on 2009‘s boating!