Boating through London

Many of us are involved in what canal people term ‘gongoozling’ – watching the canal boats slide gently through the water, and perhaps wishing we were on one of the narrow boats rather than stuck on the towpath, with a job to go to or a bus to catch.

Take a trip to Lee Valley Boats in North London, and you can make your boating dreams a reality for a while. Lee Valley hires day boats on the rivers Lee and Stort in Hertfordshire, gentle suburban rivers with overhanging willows, little market towns to visit, and plenty of riverside pubs. ‘Ratty’ for instance is a delightful electric-powered launch which seats eight people, a great boat to take a picnic party out in.

But the most interesting option that Lee Valley offers, I think, is the possibility of seeing London a different way. Hire one of the canal boats for a week, and you can do the ‘London Ring’ – down the Regent’s Canal to Limehouse, then out on to the Thames all the way through London and up to Brentford, rejoining the Grand Union, then the Regent’s Canal again, past London Zoo and Camden Market, and finally back up the River Lee to the boatyard. It’s a trip that combines city views and gentle country landscapes, the busy waterway of the Pool of London and the unfrequented Hertfordshire rivers.

(Of course it does depend on the tides, because the Thames between Limehouse and Brentford is tidal, and quite strongly tidal in its lower reaches. But the chaps at Lee Valley Boats can work that all out for you landlubbers. Or you can use the tide tables on the Port of London site if you want to do the workings yourself.)

For some people, used to ‘if-this-is-Tuesday-this-must-be-Venice’ style tours, the pace of canal boating can be frustratingly slow. This won’t be the London of the British Museum, Changing the Guard, tea at the Ritz, curry in Brick Lane. It will be different – though you’ll still see Westminster, and there’s nothing stopping you mooring up and taking the bus to the West End. You’ll motor gently past old factories and new apartment blocks, fine parks and deserted industrial landscapes; you’ll chill in the great tunnel between Regent’s Park and Camden, and you’ll see the city gradually die away into the leafy byways of the Lee. You’ll motor under the huge concrete flyovers of the Westway, and past stately Nash terraces. It’s a motza pudding of experiences.

And it’s a little bit of a secret world – because you’re seeing the world the other way round from most people. They’re still standing with their feet on dry land, looking at you – and probably mad with jealousy.

Some people reckon you can do the London Ring in four or five days. Don’t. Take the whole week, and chill out. Listen to the sound of water rippling gently on the sides of the boat. Enjoy the slow pace. Stop at a pub when you feel like it. Your only responsibility is to get the boat back to Lee Valley – eventually.

By the way, you don’t need any form of licence to hire a canal boat in the UK. You don’t need your RYA Day Skipper, a commercial pilotage licence, or even a driving licence. These are easy boats to handle – given a bit of common sense (and some people do seem to lack even that!) – and you’ll get a quick lesson as part of the introduction to the boat.

Photo by Matthew Black on flickr