Canal Cruise on Takara Narrow Boat in England: Part 1 of 2 - April 2nd to 5th, 2025

We signed up for an eight day, seven night canal cruise on the Takara Hotel narrow boat in England. Our cruise started in Banbury and ended in Hinckley. It started out on the Oxford Canal, turning onto the Coventry Canal, and finishing on the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal. This post covers the first four days of our cruise from Banbury to Rugby on the Oxford Canal. We’ll cover the second half of our cruise in the next post.

Bradford-on-Avon was where we were supposed to originally board the narrowboat hotel, the Takara. However, flooding had caused Takara to change the cruise itinerary, so we needed to get to Banbury to pick up the boat there.

After checking out of the hotel in Bradford-on-Avon, we sat at the outside patio for about hour before walking over to the train station. We had three trains this time. Our first transfer in Bath Spa was 12 minutes. It required crossing under tracks to reach the platform of the next train. There was plenty of time. The second train was nice with assigned seat reservations. The second transfer in Didcot Parkway was only 7 minutes. Again we had to cross under the tracks and third train was already waiting at the platform.

The last time we took the train, we were able to use Google Maps to help us know which platform to go to next and what the end destination of our trains were. It would even vibrate Ann’s watch as we approached our desired station. This time we couldn’t get Google Maps to pick the trains we had reserved. Perhaps that was because those trains were full or required reservations. The GWR (Great Western Railway) app that Ann was using didn’t say what the end destination was for each of our trains, nor the platform number for departure or arrival. So when we hopped off each train, we had to look up at the electronic board and see which train had the same departure time as our ticket. It all worked out fine in the end, but it would have alleviated some of the stress if we had that information ahead of time.

From the Banbury train station, we walked to where we were meeting the Takara Hotel narrow boat, on the Oxford Canal. The landmark that the boat owners gave us was the Waterside Bar, about half a mile from the train station. We had no problems finding the boat.

Our hosts, Donna and Vince, welcomed us on board, showed us to our room and prepared some cream tea for us. Less than an hour later, the other two guests arrived, Ruth and Jude. They are from Devon county, not far away. Ruth is an experienced narrow boat guest and she brought along her friend Jude this time.

Before dinner, the two of us went for a walk around the nearby Spiceball Park. Dinner was at 7 pm and we would stay moored in Banbury for the night.

Donna and Vince have owned Takara for nine years. Before that, they owned and ran pubs for several decades. Even though Vince is a trained chef, Donna does most of the cooking. For dinner, she prepared chicken breast with roasted potatoes, stuffing, and gravy along with carrots, broccoli, and red cabbage. A glass of wine was included with dinner. For dessert, we had rhubarb crumble with clotted cream. Everything was delicious.

Then we settled into our room for the night and slept wonderfully.

Thursday morning, breakfast was served at 8 am. Ann tried the wheatabix with milk along with a banana and orange juice. Wheatabix is somewhat like a large piece of shredded wheat, except that it isn’t shredded. Keith had yogurt, grapefruit and coffee. Vince would have cooked us a hot breakfast, but everyone was full from the night before and wanted to eat light.

Takara got underway a little after 9 am. First we went through a lift bridge and a lock before turning around at a winding hole. A winding hole is a short, widened section of a canal to allow boats to turn around. Then we headed back through the same lock and lift bridge.

The people on the boats are responsible for operating the lift bridges and locks. In order to operate them, a windless is required. It is a sort of wrench used to raise and lower the small panels in the lock doors to allow the water to flow through the gates, either to fill or empty the lock. Once the water level has reached the level of the other side, the gates can be swung open by pushing on the large timber beams. Some are harder to operate than others. When opening or closing the gates at the high water side, it takes more effort. Sitting on the beam and using your feet to push the gate makes it a little easier.

Donna and Vince don’t require guests to help out with the bridges and locks, but all four of us did help. Ruth was a pro at it, but the rest of us were also pros by the end of the day. It was fun learning how to operate them. By the end of the day, we had our team work routine down pat.

Most of the day, we walked alongside the boat on the tow path. It wasn’t long before we left the town of Banbury and were out in the countryside. There was plenty of wildlife to see. Moorhen, swans, geese and ducks were in the canal. Flowers and trees with their spring blossoms lined the canal. Sheep, cows, and horses were in the fields.

Ann spotted a muntjac deer once. She wasn’t quite sure what it was since it didn’t look like any deer she’s seen before. However, Vince saw it as well and identified it as a muntjac. Muntjac deer are native to Asia, but they started inhabiting the United Kingdom when some escaped from Woburn Abbey estate in 1925.

The boat only goes about two to three miles per hour. The top speed allowed is 4 mph, slowing down to one mph in mooring areas. So it was easy to walk along the tow paths at about the same pace as the boat.

Ruth was a wealth of information about the canals and their history. We learned that back in the day, when the canals were used as freight transportation, the boats would be pulled by horses, and the workers on the boats would fight other boats over who would go through the lock first. The workers were known to be some of the best fighters and were recruited to become boxers in the ring.

We also learned that people from Cornwall county don’t agree with people from Devon county when it comes to the order of putting clotted cream and jam on their scones for a cream tea. Cornwall county puts jam then cream on their scones while Devon county puts cream then jam on their scones. And you are frowned upon if you do it in the wrong order.

Takara moored at the side of the canal for lunch and again before dinner for the night. The locks are sequentially numbered along the canal in addition to numbering the bridges. That day, we went from Banbury lock number 29 to just past Claydon Top Lock number 17. So we went through 13 locks, twice through one of them, along with 25 bridges (number 168 to 144), covering about 8 to 9 miles. We walked over six miles of it.

Around 10:30 am, we had our morning tea with biscuits (cookies). Then lunch was around 1 pm, followed by an afternoon tea around 4 pm. Lunch that day was mac and cheese, garlic bread, and salad, followed by fresh strawberries and clotted cream.

Dinner was served at 7 pm. Again, the food was wonderful. Donna made salmon with noodles seasoned with sesame seeds, ginger, garlic, and soy sauce. For dessert, she prepared waffles and ice cream.

Friday morning, we had another light breakfast. Ann had yogurt, kiwi, brown toast, marmalade and tea. Keith had grapefruit, toast, jam, and coffee. There were no locks in the morning. Ann walked 3.5 miles, past a reservoir. Takara stopped at Fenny marina for dumping the waste tank, filling up the fresh tank, and throwing away the trash.

Boating is similar to camping in a motorhome in that you have to manage your resources and those resources are very similar between the two. In addition to fresh water, waste water, and garbage, there is electricity and fuel. Takara has a waste water tank, a fresh water tank, and a fuel tank. It also has an engine, a battery bank and solar panels. Donna and Vince ask their guests to only charge electronics while the engine is running to conserve the power in the batteries. Luckily, we brought along our power banks so we can charge our electronics from that when the engine is off, if we need to.

When Ann returned to the boat after her morning walk, we had morning tea with biscuits. Then Ann sat on the bow. She found it very relaxing and peaceful, listening to the soft hum of the boat’s motor, the water lapping against the hull, birds chirping in the trees tops, the wind rustling through the leaves, and the baa of sheep coming from the fields. Of course she had her camera in her hand and snapped some pictures of a lovely great blue heron.

Lunch was jacket potatoes (baked potatoes) with spring onions (green onions) and cheese, salad, and coleslaw, followed by melon sprinkled with ginger powder.

After lunch, we both walked the tow path for a while. There were lots of little lambs frolicking in the fields. A narrow boat sat in a field, not far from the canal, as someone lives in the stationary boat.

Afternoon tea came with toasted teacakes. The teacakes were sort of like a bread roll with raisins. To Ann, they seemed like a lighter version of a bagel with no hole. Jude and Ruth decided to take their tea with them as they walked from one lock to the next. We watched as Jude seemed to spill more tea along the tow path as she walked along than the amount she managed to drink. We all had a good laugh.

We ended the day with nine locks. At the last lock, we all helped teach a couple who had rented a boat and were going through the locks for the first time. Near Napton, we cruised past an old windmill, the Napton Windmill, up on a nearby hill.

There are several boat rental agencies near Napton. Being a Friday, the area was very busy, with a lot of boats on the water. Most of them were probably just renting boats for the weekend.

We covered about 13 to 14 miles, going through nine locks (16 to 8) and under 32 bridges (143 to 112). Our walking distance for the day was over nine miles.

Dinner was delicious as usual. It was chili on top of rice with freshly fried flat bread. Dessert was a lemon meringue pie.

Takara was built as a hotel boat. It is about 71 feet long, counting the fenders. In the front and rear, there are what is called a fender basket. It is a woven bunch of knotted rope. The basket softens the blow when bumping into the locks and canal walls.

There are three guest bedrooms, each with their own bathroom. Two are single beds and one, the one we were staying in, is a double bed. Guests enter the boat from the bow, where there are benches outside to sit on, enough room for four people. When you enter in through the doors, there is a large seating area. It is either set up with two small round tables or, at meal time, the two tables are swapped out for one large rectangular table.

Heading down the narrow hallway, you first come to the small galley, or kitchen. This is where Donna prepares all our wonderful meals. Continuing further, you pass by the two single rooms before reaching the double room. The hallway is so narrow that you have to turn sideways to shuffle down it. Due to the angle of the walls, Ann has found that if she faces the outside of the boat while going down the hallway, her bum would bump open the doors of the other bedrooms. If she faces inward, her shirt would catch on the window curtain hooks.

Donna and Vince’s room is at the back of the boat. To reach it from the rest of the boat, they have to get off the boat and walk around to the back. The back of the boat is also where the driver stands or sits on one of the two small seats outside. A tiller at the back is what the driver uses to steer the boat.

There were cabinets above our bed at both ends along with a cabinet underneath to store our luggage. However, our large luggage bags would not fit under the bed. So we pulled out our packing cubes that contained our clothes and put them in the upper cupboards and stored our daypacks and hiking boots under the bed. Then we stored the rest of our luggage in our shower. We just had to pull our bags out of the shower and onto our bed when we wanted to take a shower.

Saturday was a little cooler and windier so Ann waited until after our morning tea before getting out for a walk. Keith waited until after lunch.

For lunch, Donna served us fish cakes, sweet potato wedges, and salad, followed by mixed berries and clotted cream. Rock cake was served with our afternoon tea. Rock cake is like a soft, thick cookie.

In Braunston, Takara stopped at a water fill. That gave us half an hour to check out the village of Braunston. We walked up to the church steeple and strolled a block or two down High Street. Behind the church, there was the base of an old wind mill. The blades of the windmill were gone.

There were only three locks near the end of the day. But these locks were a little different, as they were two independent locks, side by side, allowing two boats to go through the locks at the same time, either in the same direction or in opposite directions. At the third lock, there were Canal and River Trust volunteers who worked the locks for us. The Canal and River Trust is responsible for 2,000 miles of canals and rivers along with some heritage buildings and structures in England and Wales.

We moored for the night in Rugby. It is the town where rugby football was invented in 1823 by a Rugby schoolboy named Willam Webb Ellis. We moored next to a park with a water fill nearby. Even though we were in town, it was relatively quiet during the night.

Dinner was roast beef with plum sauce along with potatoes, green beans, carrots, and cauliflower. Dessert was an apple and mincemeat pie with custard. We were also eyeing what was being served to the vegetarians of the group, a butternut squash crumble. They said it was delicious, but so was the roast beef.

We walked over eight miles that day. Takara covered about 15 to 16 miles with three locks (number 7 to 2, as each of the double locks were assigned a number) and 53 bridges (111 through 59).

We were half way through our cruise at this point. We were having a lovely time and looking forward to what the second half of our cruise had in store for us.

Check out our related video: Canal Cruise, England: Part 1 of 2

(Ann)