John Cale Cruises

We visited John Cale Cruises last weekend, where we were able to rent out one of John’s canal boats for the day. Genuinely, an amazing day out!
On arrival, and after all the admin stuff, John took away our 3 «captains» and showed them how to start and stop the boat, steer and general safety, while the rest of us made ourselves at home in the little cabin. He also kindly mentioned that there was a fishing competition going on during the day, but that the fisherman should move their lines out of the way as it’s a public canal — quite reassuring since I’m sure we annoyed more than one fisherman on that day. With all the safety stuff out of the way, we set-​off, with John on-​board to supervise for the first 5 minutes.
We spent a pleasant afternoon on the Basingstoke Canal — it’s really quite picturesque and you would never realise that you’re not very far from London. Although the rain started coming down quite heavily (you can’t control the weather, unfortunately!), we did take the opportunity to tie up near the main high st and get some snacks and supplies. There’s also a couple of pubs along the way, so you can tie up and have a pub lunch or drink.
All of the staff were really professional (a couple of the staff on another canal boat were able to give us some guidance when the canal weeds got too thick for us to get through — otherwise, I’m sure we would have tried to force our way through!). All-​in-​all, a really great day out — perfect for family day’s out and picnics! Loved it.