One of the last places you’ll find genuine freedom in the UK is off-grid mooring on the canals and rivers. And if you choose a secluded spot like the winding hole on the Keadby and Stainforth canal, you can escape the rat-race and slow down to immerse yourself in nature.
We’ve stayed here several times during our escape from marina work. Set in the middle of rural South Yorkshire, it only takes an hour or so for us to get there. Accessible by boat or on foot means there are no buildings or dwellings, just the occasional passing boat or dog-walker on the towpath.
For the price of a Canal and River Trust licence, you can moor pretty much anywhere you like on the network. That’s over 2000 miles of navigable canals and rivers. Add to that a further 2000 miles or so of waterways not owned by the CRT, and there’s plenty of space to find your own last freedom.
Half a mile as the crow flies northward lies the village of Fishlake. Mentioned in the Domesday Book census of 1086, it’s home to St Cuthbert’s, a Grade 1 listed Norman church of national significance. If the wind is in the right direction, we can hear the church clock chime each quarter with bells dating back to the 1500s.
Wild mooring in this spot means our days are filled with the rhythms of nature.
We first came here in winter, when it was cold and the trees were bare. But now it’s spring, and nature is bursting out all over the place. Each day, everything is getting greener, brighter, and denser.
We captured what we found in video and stills (click the video below), and Jamie talks a bit about his photography in a separate post.
You can see more of this spectacular wild mooring in episode 398 linked here…
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