The handover: what actually happens when you arrive

Nobody hands you a key and waves you off. Every hire base builds a handover into your booking, and it usually takes between one and three hours. You will sort the paperwork and damage waiver, then be walked around the boat by a member of the team.

The handover covers three things: how the boat works, how to keep everyone safe, and where you can realistically get to. Expect to be shown:

• The engine bay — daily checks on oil and water, the weed hatch you open if you pick up rubbish around the propeller, and the fuel and battery isolators.
• Domestic systems — water tank filler, gas locker and taps, the shower pump, and how the 12-volt electrics work. Many boats also have a small inverter for charging phones.
• The toilet — cassette or pump-out. If it is a cassette, ask to be shown how to remove and empty it. It is the job first-timers dread and the simplest thing once demonstrated.
• Safety kit — life jackets in the right sizes, fire extinguishers, carbon monoxide and smoke alarms, first aid kit, boat pole and boat hook.
• Mooring gear — bow, stern and centre lines, mooring pins or stakes, and the mallet for knocking them in.

Then you go out on the water together for the practical tuition, usually somewhere the cut runs straight. Ask as many questions as you like and film the engine checks on your phone. The base would far rather spend an extra twenty minutes with you than take a worried call from you at dusk.

Steering: the bit that clicks after an hour or two

A narrowboat has a tiller and, in effect, no brakes. The single most useful thing to grasp is that you steer the back of the boat, not the front. Push the tiller to the right and the stern swings left, sending the bow right — but only once the propeller is pushing water past the rudder, so you need a little forward throttle for the steering to bite at all.

A few habits will save you a lot of embarrassment:

• Make small corrections early. The boat weighs many tonnes and carries its momentum a long way.
• To slow down, drop into neutral and let it coast, using short bursts of reverse to stop. Never slam it into reverse at cruising speed.
• Propellers push sideways as well as backwards. In reverse most boats pull to one side, usually to the left, which is worth knowing before you try reversing into a mooring.
• Watch the wind. A broadside gust moves a boat far more than you expect, especially on open stretches.

Locks: calmer than they look

Locks are what most new hirers worry about and what they enjoy most by the end of the week. A canal lock takes fifteen to twenty minutes with a crew of two, and there is a well-worn routine. The steerer brings the boat in slowly and holds it against the side, usually on the centre line. The crew on the bank closes the gates, then winds the paddle gear open with a windlass, keeping well back from the edge and clear of the paddles and the cill.

Two practical points. Share a lock with another boat whenever there is one about — it is easier, quicker and uses less water. And brief your crew on which side they will step off and where they will meet you. If you are nervous, watch a boat or two go through before your first one.

Expect to travel less far than you think

Narrowboats travel at walking pace, roughly three miles an hour, and a lock eats twenty minutes. A comfortable day of four to six hours' cruising covers about eight to twelve miles and a dozen locks — and that is a full day. Over-planning is the most common first-timer mistake, and it turns a holiday into a shift.

Make your first day short: a couple of hours to a quiet mooring you have already chosen, so you have daylight left to practise mooring and cook a meal. After that, aim for two to four hours in the morning and the same in the afternoon, with a pub lunch or a walk in between. Ring-fence at least one day where you do not move at all. You will see more of the countryside from the towpath than from the tiller anyway.

Practical kit and small habits

• Waterproof jacket and trousers, plus a warm layer — the cut is always a few degrees cooler than the town.
• Soft-soled shoes with grip for the deck and lock sides. No smooth-soled trainers.
• Work gloves for ropes and lock gear, and a head torch for evening mooring.
• A flask, snacks and plenty of water. Pubs are not always where you want them.
• Cash or a card for water points, mooring fees and the occasional honesty box.

Finally, respect the two rules that keep everyone happy: keep the noise down when moored near other boats, and do not cruise after dark or after a long lunch in the pub. Do that, and by day two the tiller will feel like second nature — and you will already be planning next year's trip.