MANY of the UK’s top breaks this summer are afloat – and you can climb aboard all of these boats with zero experience.
Jacob Lewis picks seven of the best experiences on the water.
TURN up at Wroxham, get a simple, five-minute briefing, and you are ready to set off, steering your own boat down the River Bure.
Aim for Horning or Salhouse Broad, moor up at a riverside pub, and enjoy a leisurely lunch before heading back down the waterway.
Wroxham Boat Hire charges £40 for an hour, £70 for two, £100 for three and £130 for four. See wroxhamboathire.co.uk.
Broads Tours, also in Wroxham, start at £20 an hour if you want to keep it cheaper. See broadstours.co.uk.
“Self-drive” on Windermere, Bowness
THIS is the cheap, no-planning option, perfect for spur of the moment sailors.
Hire a little electric motorboat or a traditional wooden rowing boat straight off the pier then go in search of the quiet bays the big day-trip boats sail straight past.
The motorboats take up to six, have roll-back hoods for when the weather hits, and need no expertise, from £46.
The four-seater rowing boats are a clinker design barely changed since the 1800s, and come with full training and buoyancy aids, from £28.
See windermere-lakecruises.co.uk for details.
Narrowboat over Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, Wrexham
THOMAS TELFORD’S aqueduct carries the Llangollen Canal 126ft above the River Dee in an iron trough and, yes, you pilot your own boat across it.
It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site and it is genuinely terrifying looking over the edge.
Anglo Welsh’s base at Trevor sits right beside it, with day boats for up to ten people from £155 and short breaks running on to Llangollen.
Don’t want to steer? The Seren Fach trip boat does the crossing in 45 mins from Canal Wharf in Trevor.
Adults from £10.58. Details at anglowelsh.co.uk.
Dolphin spotting in Lyme Bay, Dorset
THE Jurassic Coast is a big draw for dinosaur fossil hunters, but if you head out to sea instead, you may see all manner of aquatic creatures.
A full day’s cruise will give you the chance to spot white-beaked dolphins, basking sharks and the wonderfully odd sunfish – which lolls about on its side at the surface like it’s sunbathing.
An expert naturalist is on board to point out what you’re actually looking at.
Tea and coffee are included but you need to bring your own lunch.
From £135pp with Naturetrek, on Sept 16. Details at naturetrek.co.uk.
Cruiser on Lough Erne, Fermanagh
LOUGH Erne is 800sqkm of island-studded water, dotted with castles and ruins, and you can spend a day pottering about in your own boat.
No experience is needed, as tuition, charts, buoyancy aids and fuel are all included, and every boat has a front cabin with inside steering so you’re not stuck in the rain.
Manor House Marine at Killadeas charges £80 for a half-day or £110 for a full day on a boat taking six, and £110 or £150 for one with room for eight.
Find out more at manormarine.com/day-boat-hire.
Camping skiff on the Thames
STRAIGHT out of classic novel Three Men In A Boat, skiffs are rowing boats around 26ft long, and at night a canvas cover turns the whole thing into a snug tent sleeping three.
You’ll cover 12 to 20 miles a day and you don’t need to have rowed before.
Moor up along the towpath and you’re never far from a riverside pub.
Thames Skiff Hire’s boats are over a century old and have appeared in hit films, including Harry Potter.
Four days for two costs from £320 on a Walton round trip, £440 one-way from Henley to Walton, or £570 for the prettiest run, Lechlade to Oxford. Details at skiffhire.com.
Learn to crew a racing yacht, The Solent
THIS is for anyone who’s messed about in boats a bit and now wants to take it to a whole new level.
Two days out of Mercury Yacht Harbour on the Hamble aboard a 33ft racing yacht, with a professional coach teaching you every job on board, from steering the thing to hauling up the big billowing sail at the front.
You sleep on board and come off it ready to crew in a real club race.
It costs £385pp via SailTies Adventures, with dates from now until October. See sailties.net/adventures.