2021/22 River and Canal Cruises Welcome! Welcome to Backwaters’ 2021/22 brochure. After all the disruption stemming from the pandemic we know many of you are thirsting for some cruise adventures, and we believe Backwaters will appeal to those who love their cruising but prefer for now to stick closer to home and remain in fairly small groups. And of course we offer you the chance to cruise­electric as we all strive to respect the environment and reverse climate change. In this brochure we list all our 2021 departures scheduled from a late­August re­start, with our 2022 programme then following through to the Autumn of next year. The index lists all departures in date order, and each cruise is then introduced in the brochure regionally. If you have problems finding anything or need further information please call 01303 316116 or email us [email protected] How are we different? Backwaters’ focus is on the thousands of miles of more intimate waterways across France and Belgium where vessel dimensions are governed by the “Freycinet” scale of lock sizes and bridge clearances. In effect, this gives us up to 38m of lengthways space to play with, 5m width and about 3m headroom, not enough for a hotel boat of any scale. The Backwaters answer is to operate with cruisers that are configured to serve as a comfortable observation lounge, and at the end of each day’s cruising the coach drops you back to hotel. Crucially, there’s no hopping from one hotel to the next. The gentle pace of cruising, pauses for locks, waterway meanders, dog­legs and circular routes mean that we stay close to the same hotel throughout, and we plan our complementary coach excursions along the cruise corridor so that they fit conveniently into our short “commute” between hotel and boat. It works seamlessly! Booking We are all conscious that Government policy on international travel and re­ For any bookings made during the rest of 2021, we are not asking you to pay entry conditions will develop over coming months, so we do not offer any a deposit. Instead, we invite you to reserve your place(s) on your chosen specific direction here. Any pre­departure or post­return covid­testing departure and we will only ask you to confirm and pay at around 6 weeks required by Government must be organised by guests themselves, but prior to departure. There is no commitment on your part until confirmation Backwaters will provide all reasonable advice and support to guests in is due, we ask only that if you have a change of mind after making a making such arrangements and in observing other reporting or health reservation you let us know so that the place(s) are available to others. protection measures required by Government both in the UK and in France. We expect to revert to a more conventional deposit + balance payment All intending guests are respectfully requested to have been fully vaccinated arrangement during 2022, but the no­deposit arrangement will apply for the against Covid infection and willing to self­certify or produce official rest of 2021 irrespective of how far ahead you are choosing your cruise. certification to that effect. Be assured also that your booking with us will always be ABTA­protected, Single Appeal! either because Backwaters itself is ABTA registered or because we deal with It has been noticeable over the last three years that more and more your booking through a partnering agency which is itself bonded. unaccompanied passengers have been cruising with us as they start to appreciate the very low rates of single supplement that attach to Health Protection Backwaters’ cruises. As we have no on­board cabins, such supplements as Guests are assured that our cruise boats and the hotels and restaurants we we charge arise only from the hotel where one person occupies a twin use will be compliant with all precautions in force when these tours/cruises room, and generally these extra costs are not so excessive. So if you’re a take place. single traveller read­on, you may be surprised at the relatively low cost of our way of cruising! 2 Transfers and Connections For departures where we are cruising in Northern France and Belgium, we usually transfer to destination by coach, with Eurotunnel crossings. Pick­up schedules normally start at North Greenwich Jubilee Line Station (the O2 arena) and then call at M2 Medway Services, M20 Maidstone Services, Ashford International Station and Stop24 Services just outside Folkestone. For some departures, after Medway Services we call instead in Faversham, Canterbury, Hawkinge and then Folkestone West Station before our crossing. The O2 arena and railway station pick­ups are planned to meet guests who are able to travel from home on the day using local rail services or the high­ speed service from London St Pancras. Guests travelling from further afield are advised to book a stopover hotel close to one of our pick­up locations. For departures where we are heading south of Paris we will normally transfer by Eurostar from London St­Pancras, in which case the journey is Supercraft Cruises escorted and the Eurostar ticket price is always included in your holiday Looking forward to 2022 departures, we are delighted to announce a price. collaboration with Julie Peasgood’s Supercraft Cruises to operate a series of craft­themed cruises on the French and Belgian waterways. Suitable for all Going, Going, Green abilities from absolute beginners to the very experienced, Supercraft offers Guests who have travelled with us before will know our cruises are so an exciting, diverse and inspirational programme of arts and crafts activities compelling because of the remarkable tranquility which comes of cruising which we organise both on­board and back in the hotel. along these secluded waterways on our electric engines. Our boats have at least 12 hours cruise endurance on their batteries and in 2019 we cruised Julie hand picks her line up of gifted Supercrafters: many of the crafts, such electric for over 95% of the time, using our diesel engines only when we as stained glass decorating skills and bird sculpture have never been were in strong head­current. available on cruises before. The wide variety of workshops includes table lanterns, hand bound notepads, beaded cruise card lariats, mosaic projects, Providing we have access to reliable overnight shore power connections (as shadow box frames, sock teddies, decoupage, Curious Kumihimo jewellery, has been provided for instance all along the River Somme) we expect to paper crafting, vintage china dioramas, glue gun art, block­printed tote bags, cruise electric all the time and to achieve a CO² saving of nearly 100%. ribbon wreaths, teacup pincushions, mixed media artwork…the list goes on! And, we should stress, the workshops are included in your price and they’re Cruise Themes entirely optional. As you scan through the brochure you will find many of our cruises are themed, so you can for instance enjoy a cruise where the focus may be What's Included seasonal bird migration, one of the great regional flea markets, gardens, If you scan through our detailed itineraries, you will find we are thorough in iconic vineyards, craft breweries, regional history, wartime remembrance, summarising what’s included and what you need to budget for separately. Christmas Markets, integrated cruise and rail exploration and so much more. Transfers by Eurostar or executive coach are always included, as is your hotel The emphasis always is on an integrated cruise and tour experience which room with breakfast, cruising, lunch and complimentary bar whilst on board, blends relaxation, spectacle and discovery without ever needing to rush or and excursions in the coach. We never charge separately for excursions and do anything you don’t want to. there are only a few cruises where you can choose to buy­in to something that’s optional, as for instance in Paris where you can pay separately for a Do watch out also for our entertainment cruises, where amongst others we gourmet exploration with our partners in Devour Tours. offer departures accompanied by John Beckingham and his JB’s Swing Band, the Spitfire Sisters singers, and violinist Floriane Peycelon and her Radnor With our cruise holidays, the main variable is the evening meal. Most days Ensemble. your dinner is included, either in hotel or at a local restaurant; but we sometimes leave one or two evenings free so that guests can enjoy finding Alternate Day Cruising their own restaurants in cities such as Auxerre, Amiens and St­Quentin. This In working through our cruise catalogue you’ll notice occasional mention of is always made clear in the cruise detail, and we will always do our best to what we call alternate­day cruising. The idea here is that if we take a one­ provide for guests who have particular dietary preferences or needs. week departure we cruise on three days and then do our local exploration on the alternate days, so no great rush to squeeze in an excursion because Wheelchair Access we have all day to do it at leisure. This works well for us where we can take a In collaboration with our regular coach partners from Readybus, some of our full day to visit one of the great Châteaux of the Loire, or the gardens of departures are supported by a coach with a wheelchair lift. This will allow us Picardy, or the vineyards of Bourgogne. to accommodate up to two wheelchair­user guests on those trips. We signal which are the wheelchair­accessible departures by showing Coach* in the It’s also the perfect model where we are developing cruise and rail index.