hey guys hi guys today we want to talk to you about our experience being on a river versus being on a
canal. At this point, we spent the majority of our time on the canal but we have experienced
three rivers so we thought it would be useful to share what we think. These are our general thoughts
obviously, there might be some exemptions, but this is what we have experienced. Okay so a river is
obviously natural and a canal is man-made, so they tend to be in straight lines canals with a few
bends, whereas rivers a lot more bendy so the main difference about being on a river versus a canal
is flow so either going upstream or downstream and this can vary river to river so on the Thames
we were quite surprised there wasn't much flow on the Thames. Yet when we went to the river Ouse
to visit my uncle and stuff the flow there is immense and a bit of rain will change the
water levels by a few feet, whereas it takes a lot of rain on the Thames to do that but yeah
the main difference is the flow, being exposed the elements and you know being at the whim of nature
With the current manoeuvring on the river can be more challenging. Yes you can go faster downstream
with the current, but also turning and getting into the lock and out of the lock with the current
can be more difficult so if you are cruising a river some are inland rivers and some are tidal
so if you're tidal you will need to have life jackets, an anchor a VHF licence all of which we
don't have... yet! But one day we'll do a tidal river and do all of those things the cruising
speed on the river is faster than on the canal so on the Thames it's eight kilometers per hour
and on the canal i'm not sure what it is about three-four miles an hour I believe yeah it's
really slow it's about walking speed. So there are smaller boats on the river and they whiz past you
so if you're used to very slow canal traffic you might find, you might find a little unsettling
equally going back from a really wide river onto a canal where everyone moves a lot slower but
because it's a lot narrower you see boats are moving really really close to you and we've
been on the Thames for the whole summer. All of a sudden we were like oh my god this is so close!
But that's absolutely fine we're just not used to it. Turning around on a river compared to a canal
some might say it's easier some might say it's harder it really depends on the conditions
obviously being on the Thames it's so wide so we can turn around anywhere whereas on a narrowboat
finding 62-foot to turn around in you know, you have to look around and sometimes you can be going
quite a long way in one direction just to turn around. Our friend just messaged us and said that
she was travelling one direction but they needed to go for two hours just to turn around because her
boat is equally as long as hours so you might not need to do that on the river you might be able to
turn around anywhere. The next difference being on the river versus canal is general landscape around
The history of UK canals is closely tied on with industrial evolution so often canals
run around many industrial sites, railways and stuff like that so there
will be places on the canal sometimes you would have to cruise past industrial areas and it's
not always really really pretty. Often it is but there are areas that you kind of want to avoid
Whereas our experience of being on a river it is natural, there aren't many industrial sites
nearby and it's pretty wild. The tree's a lot older and you could just feel a very different vibe on
being on the river versus canal. Mooring up on canal versus a river. There's a towpath
on a canal so there's always somewhere sturdy and reliable you can pretty much moor anywhere
providing you can get a pin in it which just makes it really easy. The idea of moving
and finding a spot isn't that difficult whereas on a river you vary at the wim of nature so
yeah finding moorings on the river can be a bit tricky, you have to be a little bit more creative
you know you might need to use your gangplank more but can be really rewarding when you find
that really nice remote spot that's just perfect and ticks all the boxes. Also in the
canal quite often the sides of the canal they're made out of metal walls
like corrugated... i can't remember the name of them but i'm sure you'll tell us and that's another way
you can moor up you use special round hooks, which so as soon as you see that that means
you can moor up straight away really easy. I forgot what they're called, what they're called?
Oh price of license, well this is the dull bit. So because we're continuously cruising on the
canal and river we're going to have like two different prices for you, obviously we
were just visiting the Thames so we bought a monthly license for the Thames which was about
about 200 and something quid 220 quid for a month. They work it out by square footage not
just by length of your boat. Yeah whereas on the canal we can only give you a reference for living
on the canal I'm sure if you've got annual licenses for the river it'll be much cheaper
But you know we pay about 80-90 pounds a month and we call that our council tax, water, bins etc
So much cheaper to be on the canal. So on the canal it's free to moor up providing you're on the
towpath whereas the Thames because everything is privately owned and there's quite often mooring
fees, now, to be honest, we've been pretty lucky we've only paid twice, yeah three times we paid
three times. We avoided most of it, to be honest and yeah I mean it's fair enough private land
Why not? Make sense, beautiful spot, why not? But that can soon add up if you're paying
10 pounds a night plus 200 pounds to be there you know you can see the difference between the two
price wise but don't let it put you off! The next difference between river and a canal is
access to facilities. So we keep banging on about recycling but on the river we struggled very much
and couldn't find many facilities at all so we keep bringing our rubbish with us we've got
about a month and a half worth of recycling at the moment yeah it's filling up the well deck.
They're pretty hit and miss on the canal, as well most of the time there's no recycling
but you know there often is but the Thames just minimal facilities really sparsely
apart and also when you get to one it's it might be the case that the water there but no bins or
you get there's bins and no water and yeah and stuff like that. I presume a lot of you out there is
also going to be concerned about pump out and elsan, we haven't got any
information on that but again sparse you've really got to be thinking ahead
you know and over compensating and getting stuff done before you need it. We use an app
on our phones called Open Canal Map really good, it's great however as soon as you get on the Thames
it doesn't show you any locks or facilities so it only works in the canal so
if you're using electronic maps or apps you might need to buy a Thames or river guide
or whichever you get on to. And this is the fun bit. Oh there's a fun bit?
The difference between riven and canal, most rivers and most canals is you can swim,
you can swim in the Thames. You can swim in rivers, you can swim in most rivers
The water's moving constantly moving it hasn't got time to sit or stay stagnant
If there is pollutants in the water they're moving through and out
whereas on the canal the stuff pouring into the canal is going to stay there and that's
pretty much it. You wouldn't want to go swimming in a canal and the river in the summer can be really
lovely and that's why we chose to spend extra time as soon as we got on the Thames because
it was just amazing, it's like being on holiday you can go for a swim anytime it was great
Take a ladder! Yeah you're gonna need a ladder. We didn't have a ladder and we
regretted it instantly yeah just being able to get out of the boat if you've got a really nice remote
spot, there's not always going to be the case where you can just get out at the bank so a lot
of people have maybe like rope ladders or ladder ladders or swimming ladders off the back and
We're like: who needs those daft things? Is that for ducks? but yeah yeah you'll need
a ladder. We found one, in the end, our last week on the Thames so we've kept that for next year
What do you think you'd prefer canal or river? I think they have their different charms a river
the river's been amazing this summer being out in nature beautiful epic scenery and being able
to swim, fantastic! Canal... they are much more convenient you feel a bit safer a bit more
sturdy, a bit more connected to society in a way in a nice way, but you're still in the middle of the
countryside it's still beautiful yeah so canal is more convenient than a river. Often on the river
you're going to be in the middle of nowhere just enjoying the middle of nowhere ,whereas on a canal
we tend to be sort of outside a village somewhere, convenient we've got a towpath and wave to everyone
I like canals there's a lot less stress on the canal, you're not worried about whether your pegs
are going to come undone and whether your boat's going to wash away, and if it's raining ringing
people who might be nearby to just go see if it hasn't washed up somewhere. I agree with
that, there is a little bit more hassle on the river but I think being in a river in summer
is totally worth it! That's my final decision. I hope you guys found this useful and it gave you
a little bit of information about the rivers. If you've never ventured on a river before
maybe that will inspire you to do so, if you have any more questions leave them down below, if you're
new here subscribe, follow along our journey we've got loads of vlogs about living in the Thames
Follow along our journey on the canal and then switching down onto the river
I hope you enjoyed it, see you next Saturday! See you in the next one, bye!