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Canal boat holidays...

Been on a couple of weekend trips with my pal who has her own narrowboat, once along the Trent & Mersey from you-know-where, another from near Stratford up through Brum to Tamworth. Loved it. Also a couple of weeks on the Norfolk Broads, nicer waterways on the whole but less variation in scenery etc.
 
A mate is just finishing his first 8 months living on the water; winter on dry land, then off again next Spring... (y)
 
Bonus!

But if one goes on a, say, week trip...does one have to return the boat to where one started?
 
Barging in here, haven't done narrowboats but did a week on the Thames years ago. We did Abingdon to Lechlade. Had a great time. Fantastic scenery, stopovers at Oxford and Tadpole Bridge (brilliant old pub). Upset a mate who was shaving when I misjudged and hit a bridge. He wasn't best pleased.
 
Canal holidays used to be the mutz nutz but there are a lot more boats around now so it’s not so relaxing. Plenty of round trips available particularly in the midlands and there are a few bigger companies that do one way hires. Finding your car afterwards can be a bit tricky
 
I have done these holidays and they are good fun, especially for young children. But you need to plan them in advance with a Nicholson's guide so that you know where you can stop for provisions, evening meals etc. If you are doing it for the first time pick a canal with fewer locks, makes it easier. Good luck !
 
My first holiday with mates was a week on a narrow boat from Hillmorton.
It was interesting, one disaster after another, probably because we were either in the pubs or drinking on board between pubs.
The you could moor within a 5 minute walk from a pub. Don't know what the rest of the network is like but in London you'll be lucky to find anywhere to moor that isn't a good hike from a pub.
Brilliant fun when the weather is good, but did a week when we were kids as a family, my dad was wrinkled like a prune and I got soaked everytime we got to a set of locks. We dried the clothes in a very small oven as the heating was non-existent.
Became very pricey when Hoseasons seemed to take on the booking for every going concern.
 
Come back to UK every August for some R&R and first few Leicester games of the season
Last year, rented a day-boat on the Norfolk Broads..... nice and relaxing, see some great waterside nature
Only caution.... it's great when you're going straight ahead, i tried to dock - very difficult / impossible so just kept going straight, until finding a proper / wide turning place.
 
Been on a few, many years ago. It's just great that the pubs are so frequent. After a morning chugging along you start to feel thirsty and guess what - a pub appears around the corner. Then after an afternoon of sobering up while travelling you think about where to stay for the evening and another appears. Great planning.
You don't need a circular route. Canals have extra wide bits known as winding holes which should be wide enough for you to turn around and go back from whence you came.
 
About 35 years ago, me and 5 other guys did Kingston to Henley and back on the Thames from Monday to Friday.
It was pub crawl on water. Absolute carnage for 5 days.
One night a couple of the lads got the boat going for some reason while the rest of us were in bed. The following morning discovered they’d almost gone over a weir - woke up and we were moored on the opposite side of the river. On the Friday one of the lads had to leave us and get the tube back to Kingston to be back to his wife in time - he’d told her he was away on a work course in Norwich and had been ringing her each night to tell her exactly what he was learning about the world of insurance.
The good news was we only hit one other boat, didn’t cause too much damage, and managed to get our deposit back.
 
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