ONE of my favourite books when I was a little 'un was The Wind In The Willows.

And one of the most famous quotes from the classic Kenneth Grahame (CORRECT) novel is Rat's eulogy to how there is simply nothing finer than messing about on boats.

He clearly loved nothing more than spending his days pottering about on the water.

And after spending the best part of last week pottering on a boat I can confirm Rat was right — there really is nothing better than messing about on the water.

A bunch of friends and I took to the canal-ways of Greater Manchester — and even popped over to Cheshire — in a narrow boat.

Now, I'm normally a fan of relatively action-packed holidays. Don't get me wrong I don't run about jumping off tall buildings, bungee jumping and white water rafting. But I am a fan of a city break and being up from dawn till dusk seeing “exciting” things — and then having more fun in the restaurants and bars of whichever city I'm in.

So I admit I was slightly apprehensive about spending four days on a narrow boat, which for those of you who have never travelled on such a thing I would like to point out is a vehicle that has a top speed of 3.8 miles per hour.

As it turned out, these worries were totally unfounded — it was brilliant and loads of fun.

Whiling the day away by gazing at canal banks as they slowly go by, reading, eating lovely food (although I think I'll have to leave it a while before I eat another piece of Brie), and drinking lovely wine — what's not to like.

We played cards and board games — as it turns out my general knowledge isn't as bad as I thought, especially with a Trivial Pursuits from the 1980s, stopped for little strolls, including a very lovely walk around Lymm dam, which if you haven't been is definitely worth a visit, and called into many villages along the way for a look round.

At night we ate in canal-side pubs, won one pub quiz, came second in another and even had a go at karaoke (not me, I make tone deaf cats sound like the world's best vocalists).

But the one thing it meant we all did was spend quality time together — talking, laughing and all the other things we're too busy in our daily lives to make time for.

I can't remember the last time I giggled so much, often at really stupid things.

And I can honestly say I would recommend messing about in boats to any one.