A unique lifestyle is thriving on and along the waterways

The UK's canal network spreads the length on breadth of England, Scotland and Wales.

Canals go into and out of towns and cities, skirt medieval villages and meander through industrial estates and historic buildings of great heritage.

Along the way one finds a wide range of stunning rural landscapes dotted with waterside pubs full of character and characters.

More than this, there is also a genuine canal fraternity that bonds those who live and or work on or besides the water.

Then there are the hundreds of volunteers, who give up their time to keep the canals and towpaths clean and a pleasure for all to enjoy.

Finally, there is an assured and warm welcome for those who take the chance to hire a narrowboat and spend a short time enjoying the ultimate slow travel vacation.

This AllWays Traveller, the fourth in a series on narrow boating in the UK, highlights the people one will meet during a narrowboat trip.

 Community spirit on the canal comes as standard

Our four-night, narrowboat excursion aboard Foxglove on the Kennet and Avon Canal

Foxglove is one of a fleet of narrowboats in the Foxhangers fleet, a family-owned business offering self-drive narrowboat holidays on the Kennet & Avon Canal.

This trip would also give us the chance to see the infamous Caen Hill stretch of 29 locks, one after the other over a two mile stretch of the canal.

I say 'see' because we had decided not to attempt the narrowboaters 'ultimate challenge' on this occasion.

We did though get the chance to see others doing so - with the invaluable support of a trio of wonderful volunteers from the Canal & River Trust.

We were leaving Caen Hill for another day because, this time, Ann and I wanted to spend as much time as possible meeting those for whom a canal is home, a place of work or an opportunity to 'volunteer'.

Ann was also looking to collect and collate a range of random 'tips for canal trips' along the way.

She writes more about these below.

People make places

I have long claimed it's 'people that make places'.

Talk to anyone who has been narrow boating, and they say the camaraderie found on the water, and along its towpaths, makes this type of holiday special.

No grockles here

The good folk of Devon and Cornwall have the word 'grockles', the locals their gently ribbing term for the tourists making a bee-line to the counties in spring and summer.

As far as I am aware, no such word exists in the canal community vocabulary.

Everyone we met on route, from start to finish, could not have been more welcoming and helpful.

I was waiting at our first lock, while Ann was idling Foxglove until I was ready for her to enter, when Mark Jones arrives.

Mark works for the Canal & River Trust and had finished a long day making minor repairs and renovations to the locks along this stretch of the canal.

Windlass in hand, he helped me with the lock and, when I mentioned the birdsong all around us, introduced me to Merlin.

This wonderful app picks up and records bird song before identifying which bird it is.

Having Merlin on my iPhone gave us a far greater appreciation as to how much bird life there was to be discovered and identified, if not always spotted.

I have used Merlin constantly ever since in all types of natural environment and I am thanking Mark to this day.

Foxglove is a smaller boat ideally suited to two

One of Foxhangers Foxy Class the 47 ft boat suits one or two couples with all the comfort and amenities one needs for life afloat.

She comes with a large permanent private double cabin located at the front of the boat, with the bathroom and galley in the centre and the saloon aft.

This, so-called reverse layout, is good as whoever is at the helm is next to whoever is below deck when moving.

The company was started with one narrowboat in 1977, by the then 21-year-old Russell Fletcher.

Today Russell has 18 narrowboats, built on-site by the Foxhangers team of carpenters, joiners, engineers, plumbers, electricians, and painters.

First contact

Our first contact was with Sharon Hawker-Baddeley the Foxhangers Customer Services Manager.

As with all narrowboat hire, the initial booking of the boat is so important, and it is Sharon's job to make this as easy and well prepared as possible.

She is there to discuss requirements, offer advice on all aspects of time aboard and to give an idea of the route in advance, with any locks, tunnels, wing bridges and winding holes along the way.

Sharon is also there to provide a warm welcome on our arrival.

Our canal boat concierge

We are then handed over into David Williams very capable hands.

He takes us through the 'what's what' from a short list of simple things that need to be done daily that includes starting and stopping the engine, how and when to use forward and reverse propulsion and tips on mooring.

David's undoubted passion for boating makes this essential part of our trip really interesting.

Having a life-long interest in boating, David was more than happy to take a role at Foxhangers after a successful a career in the MOD.

Not content with this, he is also a volunteer with the Canal &River Trust, and we would meet him again at the Caen Hill flight of locks.

Now 'old hands' at narrow boating, we declined David's offer to take us through a lock and, instead, bid our farewells and 'cast off'.

AllWays leading to the canal community.

Download your copy of the full pdf version of AllWays leading to the canal community.

More information :

https://www.foxhangers.co.uk

www.drifters.co.uk

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/canals-and-rivers/kennet-and-avon-canal