www.anglowelsh.co.uk WELCOME… The Narrowboat Holiday Company …to the world of narrowboat holidays with one of the largest canal boat holiday companies in the UK – Anglo Welsh. With over 40 years experience and a reputation for providing high quality, exceptional value holidays, we look forward to introducing you to the thousands of miles of beautiful waterways. CANAL BOAT HOLIDAYS Offering the choice of more than 160 boats from Our friendly booking team provides a flexible, personal 10 bases across England and Wales, our boats are service to meet your needs. They will tell you everything designed for cruising comfort with smart interiors, you need to know to make sure you have the best in England & Wales clever storage and an impressive list of mod-cons. holiday at the best price. Whether you are a novice or an expert, Anglo Welsh So, enjoy choosing your holiday and remember we will help you choose the route to suit you and we’ll are here to help – there’s a secret Britain waiting to provide you with the tuition you need so that you be discovered! can learn the ropes. SILSDEN y BUNBURY TREVOR GREAT HAYWOOD STOCKTON TARDEBIGGE WOOTTON WAWEN BATH OXFORD TM MONKTON COMBE FREE ON ALL 2018 ANGLO WELSH BOATS Where will your narrowboat adventure take you in 2018? Take a look at some of the stunning photographs we received as part of our #canaladventures2017 Instagram Photography Competition. CONTENTS The narrowboat holiday experience 06 – 07 Testimonials 48 Our most popular destinations 08 – 09 Money saving offers 49 Holiday diary 10 – 11 Prices 50 Your narrowboat – the inside story 12 – 13 Booking form 51 New for 2018 – Heritage Class 14 – 15 Terms and conditions 52 Prepare for your trip 16 Talk to us 53 Where do we start? 17 Anglo Welsh bases 18 – 35 Circuits and rings 36 – 37 Share your next canal adventure with us. Interiors and layouts 38 – 45 Dayboats 46 – 47 Tag us in your Instagram pics #canaladventures2018 Your canal boat becomes your floating hotel room, • Only use one appliance at a time. giving you the chance to stay where you choose, from • Wherever possible, run the engine whilst using the vibrant city centres to remote rural backwaters. Most THE NARROWBOAT EXPERIENCE appliance so that you are charging the batteries. mooring sites are free, so you stay somewhere different every night! Finally, remember that it’s impossible to guarantee that a battery powered supply system will be able to You can moor up in the centre of top destinations such provide a constant supply of power to any electrical Why canal boat holidays are so great New to narrowboating? as Bath, Birmingham, Oxford, Stratford-Upon-Avon device, including and importantly, medical appliances. It’s easy for first-timers to learn to operate our boats. and Chester; visit significant historic sites including for families… This is because the batteries are charged when the And with our nationally accredited handover and tuition, the soaring majesty of the World Heritage Pontcysyllte It’s a real adventure with everyone heading off together, engine is running; as soon as the engine is turned off, we’ll make sure you’re comfortable and in control Aqueduct; or enjoy world class attractions – Alton looking out for interesting things to see and do along then the electrics will start to run the battery down before you set off. See page 16 for details. Towers, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and the The Narrowboat Experience the way. Thermae Spa in Bath. quite quickly. Travelling at less than four miles an hour, a narrowboat We provide you with buoyancy aids and boat steering holiday offers the fastest way to slow down and the If you need to bring an electrical medical appliance tuition so everyone can enjoy learning together to The greener way chance to sight-see at a relaxed pace. As soon as you with you on holiday, talk to us first. master navigation skills and work the locks. are underway, stress levels are immediately reduced and A boating holiday is estimated to be 20 times better for Enjoy learning the boating lingo together –‘windlass’, a steadier pace of life takes over. the planet than spending two hours flying to a holiday Enjoy the comforts of home ‘winding hole’ and ‘tiller’, ‘bow’, ‘stern’, ‘port’ and overseas and as soon as you swap your car for a boat, Today’s canal boats are fully equipped with all From fields and wildlife to fascinating urban landscapes ‘starboard’, spot wildlife, including the flashing blue you’ll be using a third of the fuel. the essential mod cons: fully equipped kitchens; with top attractions, you’ll see things differently from of the kingfisher and ‘plop’ of the water vole. central heating; hot water; TV/DVD; showers and a canal boat. But it’s also an adventure, as you set Pubs galore! flushing toilets. Dust-off long neglected cards and board games for off together – with family or friends – to explore the cosy onboard evening entertainment (though our boats waterway ahead. With hundreds of waterside pubs, a watering hole is all have TVs and DVD-players too!). never far away, many of them historic rural locals. You can bring your pet with you Up to two pets are welcome on all our boats, so they Explore mile-upon-mile of traffic-free towpaths by foot Watch out for wildlife don’t have to miss out on the family holiday! Plus the or by bike (up to two bikes can be stored on the roof of first pet goes free. the boat); Breathe in plenty of fresh air to aid a peaceful Waterways provide homes for large numbers of birds, night’s sleep. plants and animals, including many protected species – the water vole, otter and kingfisher, so there’s always Fair fuel costs something special to look out for. All our boats start with a full tank of fuel - plenty to cover a steady two week cruise. You pay a fuel deposit Electrical appliances when you book your holiday – this is £90 per week or Unlike at home, there is a limit to the power that is more or £50 per short break. available on a boat. Anglo Welsh boats have a device When you bring the boat back to us the balance of the called an “Inverter”, which converts the power from deposit is refundable after deducting the fuel used. If the onboard batteries into a 240-volt supply. Power is you have used fuel in excess of the deposit, you will be measured in watts. For example, a standard household asked to pay the difference. light bulb uses 60 watts and a kettle can be as much as 3000 watts. The inverters have a power limitation of Wi-Fi TM 1000 watts, which excludes many domestic electrical appliances. Every domestic electrical appliance has Installing internet hubs on our boats in a label on it indicating its power consumption, so, 2015 proved a popular move with our anything above 1000 watts is not permitted. customers so we have rolled it out to the whole Anglo Welsh fleet*. Usually, the following are more than 1000 watts and therefore are not permitted: These hubs provide connection to the Internet from aboard the boat – signal permitting – and allow you Kettles; irons; hairdryers; vacuum cleaners; to keep in touch whilst on holiday. They come with a any form of heater. limited amount of download so they are no substitute Usually, the following items are less than 1000 watts for your home broadband; they work in a similar way to and therefore can be permitted: a smartphone so are at the mercy of signal strength, which of course depends on your location. Cool-boxes; hair straighteners; curling tongs; blenders; phone and computer chargers. Think of them more of a way to ‘check-in’ whilst you’re on holiday as opposed to being ‘fully connected’ The golden rules: After all, everyone deserves to get away from it all • If the appliance is above 1000 watts then don’t from time to time. bring it onto the boat. *Boats cruising from Silsden will NOT carry Wi-Fi • No electrical appliance should be left plugged in unattended. Page 7 Foxton Locks and the POPULAR DESTINATIONS Leicestershire countryside Cruise on the rural lock-free summit of the Leicester Line of the Grand Union Canal offers From floating across the awesome Pontcysyllte Aqueduct to bobbing through Bath, your the chance to explore mile upon mile of unspoilt canal boat holiday can take you to some of Britain’s most beautiful cities and incredible World Leicestershire countryside. Heritage sites. Each of our bases offers a wide variety of destinations but we’ve listed nine of our most popular for inspiration. See pages 36-37 for recommended longer circuits and rings. Popular Destinations The ‘dreaming spires’ of Oxford The beautiful city of Oxford is just a three-hour (four lock) cruise away from our Oxford base at Eynsham on the River Thames. Enjoy a short break in Oxford, using World Heritage City of Bath your canal boat as a base to explore all the City has to Bath makes a fantastic short break destination from our offer. Climb the 14th century Carfax Tower to take in a Bradford on Avon, City of Bath and Monkton Combe view of Oxford’s ‘dreaming spires’, see the witch in a bases.The centre of this beautiful Georgian city, famous bottle at the Pitt Rivers Museum, visit the remains of the for its natural hot springs and Thermae Spa, stunning Dodo at the University Museum of Natural History.