The Chronicle February 6, 2004

OCCASIONALLY day dream about living on a barge on my daily walk into work along Chester's canal towpath.
   The inspiration for this romantic vision was inspired after I went on my first canal trip following an offer for a Chronicle reporter to sample a Black Prince Holiday.
   I decided to take up the offer as a treat for myself and my girlfriend Becky. Neither of us had been on a canal trip before. And she had missed out on a pop concert so it was a way of making it up to her - although I was the first to admit that navigating an inland waterway didn't exactly sound like rock'n'roll!
   Nevertheless we decided it would be an adventure so at the end of the summer we went along to the company's Chirk base near Llangollen on a damp and gloomy day
   Arriving early, we enjoyed our last meal on terra firma at the Chirk Golf & Country Club whose facilities are available to boaters including the course.
    When it was time, we went to the boat-house with feelings of excitement and some trepidation. We were greeted by an old sea dog, who was friendly and showed us around our home for the next four days. Our craft, Tina, was equipped with everything you could ever need - comfy beds, a kitchen with a sink, gas cooker and fridge plus a TV and stereo for entertainment. Perhaps most importantly of all - it had central heating and hot running water with a powerful shower.
   The heating had been turned on in anticipation of our arrival and we loaded our belongings into what would be our cosy new home for the next four days.
   Thankfully the nice man manoeuvred the boat out of the equivalent of an NCP car park for boats and guided us a little way along our course as we headed in the direction of our destination of Ellesmere within what is dubbed Shropshire's Lake District.
   Watching the boatman, I learned how to start up the diesel engine that powered the craft and about the forward and reverse throttle. The difficult bit, although he made it look easy, is using the tiller which is attached to the rudder and steers the vessel slowly left or right.
  
  
  

The sea dog said they had never lost a boat yet, oh except one time. I think it was irrational fear that we might be the second lot to sink the 'unsinkable' that caused a strange and powerful transformation in my being. 'The Expert' was born.
   As the man hopped off our 60-foot long craft - just before a particularly narrow bit - he wished us well and now we were in charge. Becky had made clear she wanted to have a go at driving (it's probably not the correct nautical term) but only when she was good and ready. So I was temporarily made captain and I think I took my responsibilities a bit too seriously which led to her labelling me 'The Expert' and let's be honest, the odd argument. Keeping the boat to the middle of the channel as instructed, we made reasonable progress for a craft that is only meant to go about 4mph and soon we were waiting to enter a tunnel. At this point, we had our first up close and personal meeting with wildlife. A group of ducks illegally boarded our vessel and began parading up and down the roof demanding we pay our toll fee - a few pieces of bread seemed to do the trick.

   The tunnel was a tricky number because we had to work out whether anything was coming the other way as it was only wide enough for one way traffic. We could see the proverbial light at the end of it, but was it natural light or another boat's headlight coming towards us? The lengthy debate as to what to do solved the issue as the boat exited just a couple of minutes later.
   After passing through the tunnel we travelled over the smaller of two aqueducts on our route - which offer breath-taking views of the Shropshire countryside - and everything was going swimmingly well. It was not long before we had found a suitable mooring spot for the night and after a minor struggle trying to stop and tether the boat, we were all set for a cosy night.
   I really enjoyed the evenings. There was a real sense of achievement. You felt as though you had done a moderate amount of exercise, reached your destination and your complexion was refreshed from being out in the open air. Then it was time to cook a meal together and crack open the bottle of wine And there was usually the option of going to one of the many country pubs en route. There were just a few jobs before going to bed, like turning a knob to grease the propeller shaft, and then it was time to be rocked up sleep.
   Next morning it was a case of having a leisurely breakfast, enjoying a hot shower and there was the small task of pressing a button to pump out the bilge water. Then we were off again. Negotiating the craft around a tight bend, with boats tethered on one side, was tricky and I think I gently clipped one of them but with no real harm done. A helpful fellow boater reckoned we might have weed caught or the propellor by the wake and advised us how to shift it. This helpful friendly approach from fellow boaters provided a sense of reassurance throughout our whole journey.
   Despite my fears, mastering the locks was not a problem. I had studied all the guides and carried out a recce beforehand watching others get through them, but they are really not that difficult.
   The most stressful incident was when a strong sidewind took hold of the boat, making it extremely difficult to line the vessel up with one particular lock on the return trip.
   Again a helpful fellow boater, who looked like a wine expert on ITV's 'This Morning' show, helped us haul the boat into position using the ropes.
    The countryside along the route was beautiful and I'm sure surveying the green fields and the wildlife at a snail's pace can be a really relaxing experience.
   I think, however, that we would have found it more restful once we'd mastered the basics of navigation.
   A return trip with more time and a bigger crew would have helped us in this regard. Better weather would also have been nice. Sitting back in a pub in the sleepy Welsh market town of Uangollen, we started to laugh about what had indeed turned out to be an adventure.