The world’s eyes are on the West Midlands canal network as embankments collapse, boats are dragged into a gaping hole and boaters get stranded, but what’s the appeal of life on post-industrial waterways, many of which date back to the 19th century?
While many people are busy taking part in the January sales or going on holiday abroad, one couple told us the best winter experience is actually quite simple – traveling along the canal at three miles an hour.
Narrowboat owner John Sadler and his wife Sharon Wells enjoy cruising along a stretch of waterway in the West Midlands, embracing the slower pace of life and natural beauty around them.
“There’s no way to describe it,” Mr. Sadler explained. “It doesn’t really do it justice, you have to experience it, it’s lovely.
“How far you go depends on how long you can hold on. Your speed is two to three miles an hour, not much faster than walking speed. This allows you to really take in the countryside around you.”
“It’s a very slow pace of life.”
The owner decorated the boat for Christmas, the boat has garlands, baubles and red bows [John Sadler]
For Mr. Sadler, a boat trip is a break from all worries, a time to walk, read and enjoy nature.
Classical musicians play the cello in orchestras, so this is also a time when music is composed.
But the boat has its own requirements.
“We’re wondering do we have enough power?” he said. “Do we have enough coal, diesel, water, food?
“The refrigerator runs on batteries. It requires a lot of power, and there’s not a lot of solar power this time of year.
“You need to run the engine every day.”
When he lights the fire, he says, the boat reaches a comfortable 24 degrees Celsius, which is fine in winter but not so great for the wood on his electric cello in hot weather.
Passing through the lock takes time, and usually requires one person to walk ahead to prepare [John Sadler]
Mr. Sadler and Ms. Wells are both board members of the National Association of Boat Owners (NABO).
When the canal collapsed in Whitchurch, their first thought was to the boat owners, who they say had a “narrow escape” and lost their homes and boats.
Their next thought was about the canal and future maintenance.
Mr Sadler said the embankment collapse was “not a common event but it has happened before and it will happen again”.
He said the association had previously highlighted the need for adequate government funding to maintain infrastructure and had also supported the UK Waterways Funding campaign to raise awareness of the potential for such incidents.
Ms Sadler said one way to minimize risk was to use cameras to check the condition of culverts.
A culvert is a covered channel or pipe that carries water underground.
There are 2,000 miles of canals and “an unknown number of culverts,” Ms. Sadler said.
But he also said there are about 35,000 boaters, many willing to give their time and effort to help, and cameras are “relatively cheap.”
The government said canals and rivers provide a wide range of benefits, including connecting people with nature, which is why it is investing more than £480m of grant funding in the Canal and Rivers Trust “to support essential infrastructure maintenance of our precious waterways”.
The pair like to spend some time in the town and then escape to the countryside [John Sadler]
The Canal & River Trust documents how canal companies built waterways in the 1800s, but by the 1900s they were eventually abandoned and forgotten.
It describes an “explosion of new life” in the 1990s and 2000s, when the canal became the heart of the community through restoration, development and the help of nature and wildlife.
“Home is by the canal”
Mr. Sadler liked to take boats into towns for a short stay and then escape to the countryside.
“The culture in Birmingham is great. I love going there,” he said.
“It’s nice to go by boat. You can go and have a drink and not worry about how to get there. Home is right on the canal.”
In the countryside, Mr Sadler has seen kingfishers, buzzards and rooks along waterways, depending on the time of year.
“Even in Birmingham you see herons all the time,” he said. “Sometimes they will stand in front of the boat and the boat moves the fish and the heron follows the fish into the water.
“Some fishermen like us, but others think we’re in their way.”
Boat trips depend on the weather and canals can freeze in winter [John Sadler]
A report released in November by the Canal & River Trust highlights how the former industrial canal network – known as the longest and best-connected corridor of freshwater habitat – is one of the country’s greatest yet under-recognized wildlife assets and connects people with nature.
Campbell Robb, chief executive of the Canal and Rivers Trust, said: “These waterways are now a legacy of our industrial past and have become a blueprint for the UK’s environmental future.
“These man-made waterways are now among the country’s most valuable ecosystems, home to rich biodiversity,” he said.
“You don’t have to go to a national park to experience the benefits of nature. Our canals bring wildlife into people’s daily lives.”
He said canals were powerful networks for natural restoration and well-being that could reconnect millions of people to the “living world on their doorstep”.
Wildlife along the canal includes herons, buzzards and, captured on camera by John Sadler, this woodpecker [John Sadler]
Mr. Sadler loved wildlife but was less enthusiastic about the weather.
“You’re very close to nature, but that means we’re always aware of everything associated with it — that could mean rain, hail, snow,” he said.
“I don’t really like sailing in the wet, standing on the stern using the tiller. There’s no cover on a narrow boat,” he said.
There is also a lot of walking required to get the boat through the many locks.
One of the more famous examples of a challenging set of locks is the 21 Locks at Hatton, Warwickshire, which was once known as the “Stairway to Heaven” due to the strenuous effort required to climb a height of 146 feet over several miles.
According to the Canal and River Trust, the name reflects the sense of relief boaters feel when reaching the top of their boat.
Mr Sadler remembers arriving at Hutton Locks one morning to meet up with friends on another boat and then unexpectedly being joined by a cruiser.
It can be a challenge, but he said: “We all know what to do and if you stick to it, it’ll be OK.”
Canal locks raise and lower water levels [John Sadler]
He lives near the Union Canal in Shropshire and is not expected to arrive at Hatton this winter.
He would follow the waterway north to Norbury Junction, or south to Wheaton Aston, not far from Wolverhampton.
The Shropshire Union Canal extends from Ouseley Junction near Wolverhampton on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal to the Manchester Canal at Ellesmere Port.
“It depends on the weather,” Mr. Sadler said. “If it’s really cold, the canals will freeze and the blackness will be scraped off the bottoms of the boats.”
Boaters still looking for answers after Whitchurch accident [John Sadler]
While boaters were shocked by the incident in Whitchurch, Mr Sadler said: “We are probably all looking for answers. Why did this happen and how?”
The Llangollen Canal supplies water from the River Dee to Helston Reservoir, which in addition to navigation water supplies much of Cheshire, he added: “There will be pressure to repair the gap but it could take months.”
Mr Sadler said he was “not going to be an armchair engineer” and would wait for the report to be released.
Defra said the Canal & River Trust is the custodian for much of the network and currently has an annual grant of £52.60 until 2027.
It is said that the trust will receive more than £480 million in grant funding between now and 2037.
The trust is a private charity established in 2012 with the aim of achieving greater self-sufficiency and reducing reliance on public funding, the department said.
The company said the original agreement made clear there was no obligation to fund the trust after 2027, but a review found the trust was good value for money and a further 10-year package of £401m was agreed starting in 2027.
Defra said the new long-term settlement agreement, along with other funding opportunities, “enables the trust to plan for the future to deliver a thriving and sustainable network”.
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