Our friends think it’s highly intriguing that this canal boat newbie, who loves a luxury hotel break, will enjoy the delights of a narrowboat holiday in the United Kingdom as the highlight of her European summer. “You’re doing what?” they ask with a hint of surprise. And then comes no end of (un)helpful comments like don’t fall in… get bored … or lose your way! Ha! Little did they know that our Drifters Waterway Holidays trip aboard Poppy II would be the most talked about, best fun ‘laugh ourselves into stitches‘ part of our UK Summer of 2024.
Drifters Waterway Holidays
Firstly, a massive thank you to Drifters Waterway Holidays for inviting us aboard Poppy II, one of 550 canal boats for hire from 45 bases across England, Scotland, and Wales. There is a narrowboat for everyone: families, friends, and couples. They range from 32 to 70ft and accommodate two to twelve people.
This weekend offers the first of many insights into another world. It’s pretty incredible to me that on offer is the opportunity to discover over 3,000 miles of waterways—who knew?! The great thing about a canal boat holiday is the opportunity to be out in nature and to travel at your own pace—you are your own Captains. You will learn new skills and don’t need to be an expert. As we’ll discuss, tuition is included in Drifters Waterway Holidays.
Wootton Wawen to Stratford upon Avon
‘Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears’, Julius Caesar
We’re off to Stratford Upon Avon, in Warwickshire, for a long weekend on one of their finest narrow boats. Talk about an epic English destination. Once there, you can explore Stratford, one of the most visited tourist destinations in the UK, with the opportunity to explore the birthplace of William Shakespeare and the home of the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Given that we’re in Shakespeare’s homeland, we couldn’t resist trying to remember all the Shakespeare quotes from our school days, which were said with startling alacrity at times of need. So, starting with ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears’, let’s begin!
‘Though this be madness, yet there is method in it’ Hamlet
Help! We’re canal boat newbies!
‘As good luck would have it’ The Merry Wives of Windsor
Between us, we have the grand sum of zero hours of self-drive canal boats! However, our friends have been carefully selected. ‘As luck would have it’, Julie brings two homemade cakes and biscuits, and Mark arrives with his Captain’s hat! We figured we might not be experienced, but we would jolly well look the part… a cuppa and cake solve most issues, don’t you think?
We have written The Ultimate Canal Boat Beginner’s Guide (coming next) for those who wonder how they would cope with a massive narrowboat on a tiny canal. It’s the ‘be all and end all ‘of managing as first-timers on the canal boat, so do check it out. As we like to say, we survived to tell the tale without getting ‘in a pickle‘ too many times.
‘The be all and end all’ Macbeth
Our Canal Boat Poppy II
We’re chuffed to have been allocated Poppy II, rented out by Anglo-Welsh, one of the nine narrowboat companies Drifters represents. Poppy is a 66-foot Heritage class narrowboat AND one of their most luxurious. This suits me just fine; you ‘can never have too much of a good thing,’ me thinks.
There are two berths, two bathrooms, and, as I tell ALL my friends, a wine fridge! Among all the fittings we find, including an oven and a microwave, a wood-burning stove, heating, a TV, and a DVD player, is the wine fridge that everyone nods at, impressed. You get the picture: this is a very well-appointed canal boat.
‘Too Much Of A Good Thing‘ As You Like It.
We especially liked that each couple had their own sleeping quarters. Each bedroom had a comfortable queen bed with a sprung mattress, and we had our own full-size shower room with a washbasin and toilet. The good news on the loos is that on a weekend break, nothing needs emptying, which pleases us no end! As narrowboats come, these are the bees’ knees of boating and ‘such stuff as dreams are made on’.
For a full boat tour, see Little Wandering Wren’s IG here
We Are Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made On’ The Tempest
The Journey Begins: Wootton Wawen
Anglo-Welsh’s base in Wootton Wawen offers free car parking, and we easily loaded our supplies directly onto the boat. Judging by how much food we brought on board, you’d have thought we were off for a month or were heading into the wilderness.
Wren’s Tip: My first tip revolves around the food; don’t bring as much. The canal waterways we discovered were brimming with opportunities to eat out, which is a big part of the experience.
‘Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?’ Twelfth Night
Lunch before you set off
If you are looking for a hearty lunch before you start, we can recommend two nearby options:
The View
At Hill Farm Marina, this restaurant is in a converted cattle and grain store amongst the fields of a working beef and sheep farm. This gives us our first glimpses of the canal boats lined up in the Marina. The menu is extensive, and the food is tasty. Parking is easy.
Address: The View, Hill Farm Marina, Stratford Road, Wootton Wawen, Warwickshire, B956DE
Website: www.theview-eat.co.uk
The Cowshed Café at Yew Tree Farm
Cowshed Café serves freshly prepared food and drinks all day with the advantage that you can nip into the farm shop for a whole host of local delights for your upcoming narrow boat trip.
Address: Yew Tree Farm Shopping Village, Pettiford Lane, Wootton Wawen, West Midlands, B95 6BY
Website: www.yew-tree-farm.co.uk
Induction and Briefing
As part of our joining instructions, we were pointed to various How-To YouTube videos from both Drifters Waterways Holidays and Anglo Welsh. We would certainly advise having a look at these before you arrive. Onboard, the Boaters Handbook Video had been set to repeat on the DVD player.
Francis from Anglo Welsh gave us our hands-on induction and briefing and answered all our questions well. We especially liked his calm manner after our excitement of confronting precisely how enormous a 66-foot boat is and how narrow the Stratford Canal appears!
What you’ll learn
Our induction included steering (like don’t expect to steer your tiller left and go left), navigating a lock, early morning pre-start checks, tips for successful navigation, and troubleshooting.
We were given a practice 180-degree turn of the boat on the canal and were then ready to leave. For the record, we arrived at 2 p.m. and finally set off at 4.30 p.m. If you knew what you were doing, you would be able to cast off earlier.
As we head south along the Stratford Canal, Francis jumps ship as we leave the marina, and we’re on our own. It was not exactly a sink-or-swim moment, but a Crikey, we’re off moment.
The route
Our route from Wootton Wawen to Stratford-upon-Avon and back will take us fourteen miles in approximately eleven hours between Friday afternoon and Monday morning. We smile, as although we’re into slow travel, we can’t help but think it’s not that far!
Why so short a distance, do I hear you ask? That’s because of the thirty-four locks we have to navigate along the way. The Stratford Canal has single-boat locks, meaning you’ll not have the bonus of sharing the lock (and the workload) with another boat. We certainly found that we became experts in lock handling as we hopped on and off the boat with our windlass—the lock key used to operate the manual locks.
Day One: 4 miles, one lock, approx. Journey time 1.5 hours
Wootton Wawen to Wilmcote
On the first day, we’re not going too far, so it’s all about honing our boat-handling skills, like can we actually steer the boat across an aqueduct and under the tiny bridges we will encounter along the way. It is, we fear, akin to threading a needle, with the needle 66 ft in front of you!
This part of the route is in the heart of the English countryside. It is so peaceful and a lovely scenic start to our boat trip. We have the canal virtually to ourselves.
Wotton Wawen Aquaduct
The Anglo-Welsh boatyard is at one end of the Wotton Wawen cast iron trough aqueduct, so our immediate departure involves floating serenely mid-air on the Stratford on Avon Canal over the A3400 road from Birmingham to Stratford.
Lock 39
We’re enjoying our first time on the water, just us and a few ducks. It was a nice way to get a feel for Poppy II and her handling. When it had to happen, our first lock appeared twenty-four minutes in. As luck would have it, another canal boat has arrived from the opposite direction before us. They have priority; as customary, we leap out to assist them with their gates and paddles.
Over four days, we found that narrow boaters are a friendly crowd. This gave us a chance to see a lock in action. The advantage is that they leave the lock ready for us to glide into without having to empty or refill the lock chamber. Phew!
One lock complete, only thirty-three to master…
Edstone Aqueduct
We’ve hardly had time to settle in our posts, men doing the steering, girls up the front enjoying a cuppa before we come across the stunning 105-metre-long Edstone Aqueduct, completed in 1816.
This is the longest canal aqueduct in England, measuring 479 ft (146 m). Unusually, the towpath is sunken at the base of the canal, not at water level. It’s another of the many feats of industrial engineering that we will come across and admire. It carries the Stratford-upon-Avon Canal over Salters Lane, the North Warwickshire Railway Line, and a small river. A tale from the past claims that, back in the day, locomotives could fill their tanks via a pipe from the side of the canal.
As we float across the aqueduct, with lovely views across the Warwickshire countryside, we’re impressed that at over 200 years old, this structure has survived the vagaries of time thanks to the ongoing care and attention of the Canal and River Trust (see more below.)
Wilmcote
One hour after starting, we missed our suggested night stop at Wilmcote. A 66-foot boat in a narrow canal has few places to turn. It was a good lesson to learn that planning ahead is vital – and something we never really got to grips with!
As a consequence, we cruised past the popular Wilmcote stop. The idea had been to moor up north of Bridge 59 and take a ten-minute walk into Wilmcote. The village is home to the Mary Arden Inn and Mary Arden’s Farm, the childhood home of Shakespeare’s mother.
The upside was we ended up with a very pleasant night of wild mooring somewhere past here! Our mountain of food on board came good, and together with our very well-equipped kitchen, we enjoyed our evening on board Poppy without needing to go anywhere.
This is the life! All is good.
Day Two Wilmcote to Bancroft Basin 3 miles, 16 locks, approx. 4.5 hours
The bed was comfortable, and we emerged from our respective bedrooms, having slept well after a day of fresh air. By breakfast, we’d all had hot showers. I’m not sure why that should impress me, but it did. This narrow boating experience was definitely top-notch!
Wilmcote Flight
Well, it’s a good job we all slept well because we had no idea what would hit us, namely, eleven locks in a row! This is known as the Wilmcote Flight, and the only way to get to Stratford is to develop our skills in lock handling and open and shut all eleven locks.
It was physical work. Some locks were quite stiff and required more than one set of hands to open and close. However, we soon got into the rhythm.
The good news is that you begin descending into Stratford-upon-Avon after successfully navigating these eleven locks.
Water stop
We were chuffed with our abilities to steer and park to top up with water after Wilmcote Bottom Lock no. 50, just before Bridge 63. We had no idea how much water we used for our morning showers, etc., but filling up as suggested seemed a good idea.
Canal Gardens
We came across a beautiful garden at the Warwick Road lock no 55. We loved seeing this and appreciated the work of whoever upkeeps this garden. It was appreciated.
Canal River Trust
Here, we also came across volunteers from the Canal River Trust. The Canal River Trust is the UK’s largest canal charity, looking after 2,000 miles of canals and rivers across England and Wales and doing a tremendous job. We were impressed to see them out and about, seeking new memberships and informing passersby, enjoying the towpaths and canal boat users of their work.
Preserving the past
Having arrived through sixteen locks, we admired the engineering feats of yesteryear at close quarters; little has changed since this canal was built between 1793 and 1816. It was good to take a moment to reflect on the importance of canals in the development of Britain; they were the motorways of the 18th and 19th centuries.
“As custodians of one of the UK’s largest and oldest collections of working industrial heritage, We’re responsible for both the finest of details and incredible feats of engineering on a huge scale, from the humble milestone to the soaring Pontcysyllte Aqueduct”.
We also had the chance to chat with them about the wildlife, as aside from some swans and ducks and hearing the birds, we had seen little else. They showed photos of otters playing on the towpath taken a few weeks prior.
For more information and membership details, see their website: www.canalrivertrust.org.uk
IG @CanalRiverTrust
Bancroft Basin
There were five more locks before we reached Bancroft Basin, where the Stratford canal terminates in the heart of Stratford Upon Avon.
The advice had been to moor up before arriving at the Basin and walk in to see how busy it was, but again, somehow, we had chugged on through to arrive in the Basin without stopping! This involves completing an impressive manoeuvre with a tight turn when entering the basin marina. It was a good job we were taking it nice and slowly!
We arrived just as the wind had got up, and a pleasure boat full of gawking tourists was manoeuvring through the lock from the River Avon and coming straight at us. There was frantic waving from all sides, and we were drawing a crowd bigger than those who would later line up at the RSC Theatre for The Merry Wives of Windsor that evening!
I’m not going to lie; this bit was stressful. The pontoon space at the Basin was full, and we needed to turn the boat in a congested space, avoiding the moored-up ice cream boat doing a roaring trade! The other canal boaters tried to offer advice, but it was hard to hear.
Options at Bancroft Basin
With no space to moor, we had the option of heading through the lock onto the River Avon and returning when it was quieter (but required a separate Avon Navigation Trust licence) or to turn around and try to moor up back down the Stratford Canal and walk in.
We were pondering this when another boat, Firecrest, with two beautiful owners, very kindly beckoned us over to parallel park mooring up alongside their narrow boat. They guided us in, and with relief, we were in for the night. We ended up with the best view of the RSC.
“How far that little candle throws its beams. So shines a good deed in a naughty world” The Merchant of Venice.
Seeing Stratford Upon Avon
Once we were safely moored, we could not have had a better parking spot, right in the heart of Stratford, directly opposite the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.
Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)
If you love theatre, you will be spoiled for choice. Within walking distance are three permanent theatres: the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and the Swan Theatre, which both share a building on Waterside and The Other Place, a short walk away on Southern Lane.
On our way into Stratford, we helped another boat with their lock, who told us they’d been thrilled to get last-minute RSC theatre tickets. To book your tickets, check out the RSC website here: www.rsc.org.uk
Fringe Theatre
There is also a thriving fringe theatre scene that offers an alternative and unique experience for theatre enthusiasts. Our neighbours aboard Firecrest recommended The Attic Theatre. This charming theatre is housed in the old woodyard at the end of the basin and is even closer to walk to than the RSC. At the time, they were showing Noel Coward’s Private Lives.
Bancroft Gardens
Bancroft Gardens beside the Basin was originally Stratford’s second wharf before being filled in in 1930. Interestingly, over 35,000 canal boats are on our inland waterways, more than during the Industrial Revolution. Much as we enjoyed the gorgeous gardens and statues, we could have used the extra boat space.
There is a circular walk of just under 2 miles starting and finishing at the Bancroft Gardens: www.visitstratforduponavon.co.uk/walking-guide
‘I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows.’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream
What else to see, do and love in Stratford Upon Avon
This world-famous town has plenty of places to eat, shop and visit. Do not miss a wander along the streets admiring the half-timbered Tudor houses.
For a complete list of What’s On, see the Visit Stratford website: www.visitstratforduponavon.co.uk
‘I like this place and could willingly waste my time in it’ As You Like It.
Loxley’s Restaurant & Wine Bar
Loxley’s Wine Bar was a good find, just a short walk from Bancroft Basin. This popular restaurant gets full, so it is worth booking, although note a £20 non-refundable deposit per person for booking. The food was excellent.
“Let the sky rain potatoes!” Merry Wives of Windsor
Wren’s Tip: We loved going to Stratford Upon Avon as a destination, although if you are first-timers, maybe plan this midweek or in the off-season when it is less busy. A trip along the Avon River and a second night in the Stratford area would be great if we do this again.
Day Three Bancroft Basin to outside Wootton Wawen 6 miles, 17 locks, approx. 5.5 hours
Leaving Bancroft Basin to retrace our route involved two turns into bridges, which were fairly tight turns in a 66-foot boat and showed how far our navigation skills had come. We got through them well, mastering them with no issues. We were ready to head back up the hill through the locks. The day went smoothly; the sun came out, and the canal looked like a picture.
The advice was to moor up after Bridge 55 (near Edstone Aqueduct) and visit The View at Hill Farm Marina (see above). However, we couldn’t work out whether, with a lunch booking, we were allowed past the sign saying private marina to park, so we cancelled our booking and didn’t stop.
Instead, we decided to return close to the marina at Wootton Wawen and have one more night of wild mooring. Our final crossing of the magnificent Enstone Aqueduct in the afternoon sunshine, gives us one last appreciation of the beautiful canal waterways in the heart of England.
‘For, being green, there is great hope…‘ Henry VI
Day Four: 1 mile, no locks, approx. Journey time .5 hours
Poppy II must return to the Anglo Welsh marina at Wootton Wawen by 9.30 am. Mooring close meant we had a short morning cruise across the Wootton Wawen Aqueduct to return to base.
Tips with hindsight
Know your route! The Captains wished we’d done better at planning ahead and knowing what locks and mooring places were coming. I got sacked as a navigator quite early on! A laminated route map would have been helpful.
Plan your arrival at Bancroft Basin – look at the map online and know what to expect.
Packing essentials: We had all-weather conditions, and an umbrella was useful whilst steering the boat in the rain, as there was no all-weather protection. Pack good walking shoes and waterproof gear, as you’ll often hop on and off the boat to manage the locks.
Make time to do nothing: This is a busy route with all those locks. Moor up and take in the scenery, enjoying the tranquil pace of life on the water.
The Details
Drifters Waterway Holidays is made up of nine hire boat companies: ABC Boat Hire, Anglo Welsh, Black Prince, Countrywide Cruisers, Foxhangers, Kate Boats, Napton Narrowboats, Shire Cruisers and Union Canal Carriers.
For more information and prices, see www.drifters.co.uk
Facebook @Driftersboating Instagram @driftersboating
Final Thoughts
“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” Troilus and Cressida
Our Drifters Waterway Holidays vacation from Wooton Wawen to Stratford Upon Avon was an unforgettable experience and a right laugh. Our highlights were the peaceful connection with nature, especially the aqueducts, and the rewarding challenge of mastering the locks and captaining a 66-foot canal boat to Stratford.
Spending quality time with friends, meeting fellow boaters and towpath users, and enjoying the scenic beauty of the English countryside made for a perfect getaway. We are sure every boater has stories about their adventures on these beautiful waterways, and we will certainly dine out on our Bancroft Basin arrival for years to come!
Narrowboating isn’t just about the destination and the journey—it’s about strengthening connections with nature, history, and friendships. As Shakespeare himself once said, “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” This wonderful weekend reminded us of the power of nature to bring people together.
It was such a fun four days. If you ever get the chance to enjoy the canal waterways of Britain in a narrow boat, do it!
A note from Little Wandering Wren
Disclosure: Little Wandering Wren was a guest of Drifters Waterway Holidays exploring the Stratford canal with Ango Welsh. All opinions are my own. A massive thank you from us!
Follow us on Social Media: Find more photos of my travels and stories on Instagram @littlewanderingwren.
Have you enjoyed a canal boat holiday? If so, do please share your stories from the helm!
If you enjoyed this post you might enjoy our last experience on water: Enjoying the great outdoors at Saint Ferreol Lake or Slow Travels through the hidden surprises in Haute Garonne.
We wanted to shout out to Coddiwompling with Narrowboat Firecrest – life aboard Firecrest, the lovely neighbours who came to our help in Bancroft Basin.
1 comment
What fun a vacation on the canal boats. The last photo is a favorite! Take care, have a great weekend.