Adventure for seniors is a rare occurrence – this is a tame example. When we rented the boat, I had no idea of the complexities of canal travel, and this trip provided excitement enough.

The size of the boat and the width of the canal was at first overwhelming. Passing at midchannel and fitting into the locks (over 50 of them) proved troublesome. Altogether, we spent a week touring some very interesting parts of England. Staffordshire is noted for its pottery industry (Wedgewoods, Spode, etc.) and its pastoral scenery.

At the approach of a lock, you must first check and make sure another boat is not coming from the opposite direction. Second, if nothing is coming, you must first push open a pair of large oak doors (everything is manual).

Next you must carefully ease the boat into the lock and hold it steady so you won’t crash into the bulkheads. Then you must push the other oak doors shut. After completion, you must crank open the water intake allowing the lock to flood thereby raising it to the level of the canal. After this, you open the opposite doors and move out of the lock into the canal. In a one week period we did this over 50 times.

Now  for the fun part. The English countryside is beautiful, and by this way of  travel we could stop at some out of the way places. We would usually moor the boat around noon and go to the pub for lunch (for breakfast we ate on the boat) and tour the town.

For dinner we would moor again and call in advance for reservations for fine dining and a tour of another town. Sleeping arrangements were Spartan, but comfortable.

I would highly recommend this type of travel for seniors, especially if you have another couple (or crew) to do the heavy lifting at the locks.

This trip involved the exchange of my time share in south Florida with the Shakespear Canal Boat Company through RCI.