Hello Gayle & Christian (AKA @trustedaussiesdownunder) and great to hear you will be in the UK next year! We will be aiming for as many meetups as possible, so I’m sure by next year there will be others to join!
I can help a little with both of your travel requests. We had the good fortune to end up for 3 months in Cornwall, by the sea for the very first UK lockdown, not far from Lands End, in a tiny village called Gunwallow, south of Helston. As the country opened up slowly in stages, we hiked different sections of the South West Coast Path until we linked up Lands End to the Helford Passage. We were blessed to be in Cornwall during glorious weather with hardly anyone else about and when we arrived at Lands End there were just a handful of people. It’s truly spectacular to hike any section of the South West Coastal Path and I’d totally recommend it.
There’s a fabulous book called The Salt Path, the true story of a couple who lost everything and hiked and camped the 630 mile route.
In terms of narrow boats, we hired a boat this March for my birthday off peak - 1st boat out of the season which was a LOT cheaper! Here’s the topic on that which also has details of the company we hired through in the thread.
Do you know where you are thinking of hiring the canal boat… or are you just at the inspiration stage?