The Lancaster Canal sounded ideal for a gentle introduction to inland boating: a quiet, lock-free waterway, offering both scenic country cruising and historic towns. For over 200 years after its construction, the canal was isolated from the rest of Britain's waterways. The resulting close-knit, friendly community of local boaters has given the waterway a reputation as "the social canal". Though the long-awaited connection ― the Ribble Link ― was finally completed in 2002, we found the warm welcome to be very much intact when we took our holiday later that year. Our weekend afloat was on a hire-boat from Water Babies at Forton, a small, family-run fleet. They have three boats: Monday's Child, Tuesday's Child, and Thursday's Child. (Wednesday's Child, being full of woe, was understandably given a miss.)
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