Region tops poll for canal boat hols

Canal boat holidays are growing in popularity - with Shropshire and Mid Wales reaping the benefit. The region's waterways network is now the busiest in the country.

The success of the region's canals was revealed as British Waterways announced that the number of boats on Britain's waterways is now greater even than at the height of the Industrial Revolution.

Craft numbers rose to more than 31,000 last year nationally and there was also a 13 per cent rise in members of the public using towpaths, British Waterways' annual report said.

A total of 11 million people visited the public corporation's 2,200-mile network of canals, rivers, docks and reservoirs last year.

Robin Evans, British Waterways' chief executive, said: "The waterways today are being used and enjoyed in ways few people could have imagined when they were built 250 years ago, or even when they were nationalised 60 years ago."

The wider use of the canal network has come as no surprise to members of the Shropshire Union Canal Society.

They said more people than ever are coming to the county, perhaps influenced by the likes of Star Wars and Indiana Jones actor Harrison Ford and his actress girlfriend Calista Flockhart, who enjoyed a trip on the Llangollen Canal in 2004.

British actors and canal enthusiasts Timothy West and Prunella Scales are also regular visitors and at the weekend paid at visit to the Montgomery Canal.

Paul Mills, society fundraising officer, said: "The Shropshire, Llangollen and Montgomery canals have the heaviest traffic in the country. They have the heaviest concentration of boats than anywhere else, so locally we have noticed more boats on the canals and more people coming to the area.

"There also seems to be more people living on boats. There is a misconception that living on a boat is cheaper than living in a house, but there certainly seems to have been a rise in the number of people on the canal.

"Ongoing work to restore the Montgomery Canal is also a boost to the area."

Scott Etwell, manager at the Viking Afloat marina in Whitchurch, said: "Canal boating in Shropshire has become a very popular holiday."

By Iain St John