My River Cruising Boating River Thames Archive

RYA Inland Waterways Helmsman Courses River Thames Berkshire

Training Courses – We’ve updated our courses for 2020. Now you can book online.

Boat training Courses on narrow boats and Wide-beam boats.

Now the River Thames is quieter, why not take advantage and learn how to drive a narrow boat in calm waters? This is the ideal time to book some tuition. There is no river traffic and the weather is still warm enough to enjoy the river and learn in a picturesque classroom – the River Thames open air classroom is the perfect environment!

Even if the temperature starts to become cooler, all our boats have fuel burners on board. Tuition is provided on board a 58 ft narrowboat or a 62 ft wide-beam. Now the boating holiday season is in the off peak period, this means we have a greater selection of training vessels to offer your course on.

The course is designed to meet your requirements, as well as complying with the criteria and standards set out by the RYA in order to gain the Helmsman certificate. With plenty of room on the Thames, you can learn and practise more manoeuvres than would otherwise be possible on the narrow canals. If you’re thinking of buying a boat, feel free to ask those all important questions which would help you make the right decisions when purchasing a boat. it can be costly if you get this wrong!

If you’ve already bought a boat, why not book tuition on your own boat and learn its capabilities?

Our students come from all over the world. With a maximum of 3 students on anyone course, there is plenty of opportunity to practise your newly acquired skills in an informal relaxed atmosphere. If you are thinking of buying a boat and require more practise, why not book a practise day? This is a follow up day after your course which enables you to hire a narrowboat from our fleet for the day or a half day and to practise your skills.

We believe in building your confidence and teaching you water safety so that you can enjoy your experience on the water.

Places on our courses are starting to book up so book now and call us on 07780 88 71 72 or email contact@myrivercruising.com

Spring is here! The latest on the River Thames Flooding

After a weekend of lovely sunshine and dry weather, we are cautiously optimistic that the River will be back to normal by the end of March. Providing it doesn’t rain again. So, thank you to everyone for NOT doing rain dances this week.

The Thames is going down here and has dropped a foot. The current is still flowing strong however and it is still a waiting game on this but fingers crossed, it will continue to go down and then the Environment Agency can then start to draw in the weirs to slow the river flow down.

Please enjoy these pictures which I took today in Henley-On-Thames. Keep thinking positive thoughts and here’s hoping we can all get out there cruising again soon.

UK Summer holidays – why not try boating holidays on the River Thames for your summer holiday 2014

Despite the winter rain and weather, January always gives us the promise of better things to come and we all start thinking about what to do, where to go in our summer holidays. Having just arrived back from our annual holiday which we took abroad this year (hoping to catch some winter sun) we have decided to stay in the UK next year. We had forgotten about the long check in queues at the airport and our family holiday this year didn’t get off to a brilliant start as we spent the first 4 hours on the taxi way at Gatwick Airport, eventually arriving at our destination 8 hours late. There is alot to be said about holidays in the UK.

More and more people are looking for unusual places to stay in the UK, something a bit different to do for their family summer holidays. We ourselves are not content to sit on a beach for more than 24 hours (Ok, maybe a bit longer) but we soon get a bit bored and the kids start to get bored and so on. Having paid a small fortune on all the holiday extras, such as trips, car hire, excursions etc to provide something to do whilst on holiday, it made us reflect on the boating holidays we offer and especially value for money.

There is nothing quite like setting sail and doing your own narrowboat holiday on the Thames. Many of our guests are first timers, never having driven a boat before. Our narrowboat holidays on the River Thames always start with a 1 – 2 hour tuition where a qualified instructor goes out with you, going through a lock and general boat handling skills until you are happy to go off on your own and enjoy your boating holiday. We train not just the driver (helmsman) but also the rest of your party, especially any children in the crew. It’s a great way to get the whole family involved and children especially take their crew duties very seriously! For more information on Boat Gina narrow boat holidays on the Thames click here.

Many guests don’t actually want to drive the boat but normally look at holiday cottages in UK as a holiday inspiration, stumbling eventually across our Boat Geanna, which is essentially a 4 star luxury cottage on water. This year we are promoting events in Henley-On-Thames which is a popular destination and mooring place. There is so much to do in Henley that guests never get bored and London is only a 40-minute train journey away. Windsor and Legland are also nearby and extremely popular places to visit whilst staying on Boat Geanna. For more information on boating holidays on Boat Geanna click here

River Thames Cruise season has now ended and we wish everyone a Happy Christmas

Preparations for next year’s boating holidays 2014

Well, it’s been a hectic season for us here and finally the boats are put to bed. It doesn’t stop there though as we are busy preparing for another busy year next year and preparations are underway on all our boats.

Narrowboat Gina has just has a brand new Karndean floor installed which looks amazing.

Geanna has had new uphostery and curtains and is starting to look really ‘chic’!

holidays UK – Boating holidays on the River Thames – no airport tax or Air passenger Duty

Having just been on line searching for a ‘cheap holiday break’ for our family, we couldn’t believe how expensive it was to go abroad this Christmas period. As we are working during the summer months with river cruises and our boating holidays on the Thames, the winter time is the only time we can take our annual holiday. Having made a few enquiries as to why the prices per person to go on a package holiday were so high, it transpires it is largely due to Air passenger Duty (APD) and other related airport taxes.

So, may be a holiday in the UK is the best idea for our family holiday this year.

We are fortunate to operate our cruises in some of the most stunning countryside in England which provide the perfect holiday setting for our boat trips on the Thames.

Henley-On-Thames is an idyllic town combining a market town full of cafes, restaurants and pubs with countryside setting and an abundance of festivals such as the Henley 80’s Rewind Festival, Henley-On-Thames Royal Regatta, Henley Music Festival and many more. This makes our cruise destination Henley a popular choice with our guests. Henley is also close to Windsor and many guests use this as a base to visit Windsor castle, Legoland, Ascot Races as these places are only 25 minutes or so away by car or by train from Henley Train station.

Each week, we are featuring another video which we had made this summer to give our potential guests more of an idea of what our boat cruises and boating holidays. This week, the video is of Boat Geanna.

Hotel Boat Geanna is a skippered hire boat on the River Thames. We drive the boat and then having arrived at the destination, we moor up safely and leave guests to enjoy their holiday, whilst being only a few minutes away by car should they need us. Boat Geanna is 4 star rated with visitengland.com. The aim is to provide a comfortable, luxury boat with all the facilities one would expect from a 4 star holiday cottage, but on water. This is an ideal way for holiday makers to experience a boating holiday without all the stress of having to drive the boat. As the boat can accommodate up to 11 people, it is the perfect venue for hen parties, get-togethers, family holidays and other social events. Everyone under one roof, but with seperate cabins for privacy etc.

This boat has already been featured in the channel 4 programme ‘Four In A Bed’ which is a programme where B&B owners and hoteliers stay in each other’s establishment and then rate their stay. We were delighted to have won this competition and if you would like to watch it, here is the link to view it http://www.channel4.com/programmes/four-in-a-bed/episode-guide/series-2/episode-53

Alternatively why not have a look at our own video of boat Geanna. We’ve thought outside the box for our video’s and this one is no exception. Guess which advert on TV inspired this one! here’s the link to our Geanna boating holiday page where the video is located.

Boat Geanna river cruise video

boating holidays uk