Canal Boats

Life definitely switches down a gear on a canal holiday, and travelling at an average speed of around 4mph on a 25 tonne steel boat, you don't exactly make waves! But that's arguably one of the best parts about taking a journey on a canal boat - you get ...

Map of the Panama Canal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I have made transits of the Panama Canal several times before,  but it always remains a fascinating experience to watch those 80-feet high, 100-feet wide, 13-feet thick, water-sealed, doors ...

... and if the driver didn't say we were at the canal I wouldn't have known.  We had to wait for the few boats that were already in the canal to pass threw before the gate would come up and the locks would be put in place so we could drive over the ...

... 55 feet in some places) and the limestone cut rises to 250 ft above sea level. At either end of the Canal are chain bridges which are lowered to allow boats to pass. At all other times, the bridges are raised for vehicle traffic. We were the only yacht ...

... who spent 9 hours explaining how the locks work, the history of the canal, and the process that is being used to widen the canal to accommodate larger ships. As we entered our first lock, a very small rowboat with two men wearing life vests (wonder why?) ...

... of land and it was Nero who started the digging, using 6000 slaves, but it was abandoned shortly after starting. The present canal was started by a French company and finished by the Greeks 1893.  It was enlarged after damage suffered in the Second ...

... . I wish the Canal du Nivernais was that sparkling- it is actually rather dirty, and hardly surprising considering that many of the canal boats don't even have holding tanks for their waste- ours doesn't. No wonder the fish are so big! Timeka worked on ...

... tasty. After lunch we were driven further south to the more narrower waterways and taken on 2 narrow wooden “country boats” ,like narrow canoes which are pole manoeuvred up narrow local canals past wonderfully serene farms where it seemed ...

... Paris. A stone wall on part of the canal has carved into it the names the other custom houses that surrounded Paris. The canal boats turns around at the Park de la Villete—a site built on the grounds of the former slaughterhouses that served Paris, ...

... A51 road from Wardle and passes along the back of some unsightly industrial buildings with compressors running within a few metres of canal boats which have obtained long term moorings here.  It defies logic why people would have a long term ...

... six hours on, six hours off. Seven and one o'clock were the usual hours for shift changes." There was a stable area on the canal boats and when shift time came a portable bridge from the canal boat to the towpath would be put down. "Workers always held ...

... pounds - or even the flats - around 1 million pounds! We were told about the tow paths, which the horses dragging the canal boats (pre-engines) would walk along. They're always on one side of the canal, with private properties - and private wharves - on ...

... . We had lots of fun on the canal boats and JP reminisced about her previous trips and adventures in Amsterdam. On the canal boats we were amazed about the captains ability to manouver the boat through the sometimes narrow spaces and turn it on a ...

... dinner in a kitsch American resaurant we headed in for an early night. In the morning we set off on the canal... Those canal boats are a lot of fun to drive... and very simple... The locks are a little more exciting though... It ...

... The rows of beautiful tall shady plane trees form an arch over the canal creating a gorgeous scene.  It was fun to watch the canal boats in the locks - this is a popular place for canal boat holidays and you can see why. We then headed into the hills ...

... them an arrival time for the next day but could not find one anywhere. However we did enjoy the ride and the view of the canal, boats and nearby homes. We returned to find the hotel very busy but they had a table for us. The manager recommended a Spanish ...

... some of the local festivities that take place around those weekends. In this case, we did travel to (Little) Venice in Maida Valle to enjoy a sunny day along the canals - watching the long canal boats float by and enjoying authentic local farm ...

... a block of the Palais du Luxembourg (Luxembourg Palace Park).....leaving 2 days later for Chatel Censior, France to load onto our canal boats with 13 of our other USA friends (having arrived in Paris from California,  Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New ...

... In addition to cobblestone streets, Amsterdam contains more miles of canals than does Venice, Italy. Consequently it is packed with canal boats and boat houses. You can see some of these in the pictures accompanying this update. (Click on the photos ...