Peter's Waterways Blog Afloat Without Buying A Cruising Licence This was first published in IWA West Riding's Milepost in December 2015 as the second of a series of descriptions of cruising options where the navigator does not have to buy themselves a cruising licence.

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Pause at Hollingwood for refreshments

It's an attention-seeking headline. Of course those who own boats on the waterways network do, normally, need a cruising licence but it is possible to be afloat without worrying about quirks in the rules: a good plan is to lockwheel for someone else who has paid their licence, in exchange for an occasional cup of tea; or to hire a boat for an hour, or a day or a week or a month or for all summer.

Being afloat doesn't always need a tiller or wheel in the hand: there are lots of trips available to paying passengers with an additional interest of watching-the-world-go-by on waterways that are inaccessible or difficult-to-reach on your own boat. If you have £21 each (2019 price), you can travel the full length of the currently isolated and restored section of the Chesterfield Canal to Staveley Basin on John Varley II. Phone 01629 533020 or see here. My pictures here are from the first John Varley, now replaced. Peter Scott @peterjohnscott

John Varley Cabin

Blue Bank Lock