Guide To Duck Island Boat Company

We have just spent a week on the legato. The boat is spotless with everything you need and more! The owners was brilliant and made us feel at home. The boat comfortably sleeps four adults and there’s plenty of room to sit and relax. The canal it’s self was a bit tricky as the water was very low but it didn’t spoil our holiday, we still managed to moor up in some beautiful places each evening.

We had the most amazing week aboard Calandro. Matt was great getting us out and walking through the boat. Eammon was very communicative and supportive after our first night there was a huge breach on the canal. Fortunately we were able to still cruise as long as we kept to the middle of the canal. Best equipped boat we have ever had and certainly by far fantastic customer service. Even the weather was kind for the week. Can highly recommend if you’re thinking of hiring a canal boat. Thank you from Barry, Wendy from Cyprus and Richard and Sam from Lincs.

Just spent a week on Calando with friends. Eammon, Elaine & Matt were fantastic made sure we were happy with everything before we set sail. We had a fabulous week though the weather was pretty dire it didn’t stop us having fun! Visited some lovely places met lots of lovely people along the way. Highly recommend Duck Island Boats we will definitely be back. Thanks so much guys

Best experience ever, completely different holiday to what we would normally go on. Everyone was helpful, friendly and massively informative. The Glissando was awesome, easy to manoeuvre, comfortable and so much fun. Will definitely be returning, the sooner there better. The most relaxing time.

From the moment we turned up at Garstang Marina, we couldn’t have been better looked after. Eamonn, Elaine and Matt were all bustling about preparing our lovely narrowboat, Calando. We had a nice chat, and then Matt helped us load up all our bags (we had a small dog, an even smaller baby and a very excited 4 year old boy – so we had a lot of bags) and then he helped us get acquainted with the boat, showed us all the safety equipment and then took us out of the marina and gave me 60 minutes of helmsmanship refresher training, which was gratefully received by me. Under Matt’s kind tutelage I performed a couple of manoeuvres, turning and mooring etc, he explained a few of the canal rules, (most of which are common sense anyway) and ensured that we were relaxed and fully prepared to take Calando out on our own, before we got underway for the best and most relaxing holiday I can remember in quite some time.

The sun was out and the scenery was lovely, north from Garstang you are immediately in the most beautiful countryside, even on the Easter weekend it was quiet, peaceful, just moving along at a walking pace. To drive, the narrowboat does needs concentration but once you get used to it it’s not that hard, the wind pushes you about a bit but I quickly got used to it.

Eamonn was on call when we had a slight problem with our heater, he immediately drove to our location on the canal (Hest Bank – well recommended) and it was fixed in no time at all. Having owned a yacht in the past, we know things can break, but it was Eamonn springing into action which impressed us. The narrowboat is comfortable, even for me (6’1”) I have more than enough headroom, the beds are soft and warm, the bathrooms are great, and there’s a surprising amount of storage! There was a vase of lovely flowers and a few welcome treats on arrival, the galley kitchen is open and modern and the fridge ie easily big enough for a week. As a holiday it’s very kid-friendly, there’s always something to do or see, there’s lots of animals and nature to look at and surprise you, lots of country walks close by, and the canal and boating community is very friendly, knowledgable and helpful.

We had such a wonderful time just going back and forth up the northern part of the ‘Lanky’, and when it was time to moor up back at Garstang on our final day, we were sadly counting the bridges before we had to hand Calando back. We just wanted to continue on! Matt and Eamonn helped us moor up again at Garstang and we had a lovely chat about all the things we had done and seen in our week afloat. I’m back home now, and woke up this morning with a strange desire to move the house a few miles down the road!

We will be back to do it all over again, and we can’t wait.

Joe and María Drury