Drone flights from a Canal Narrow Boat Holiday - Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal

We’re having a Canal Narrow Boat Holiday on the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal towards end of June 21. has anyone taken there drones and flown from their narrow boat? I read the notice from the Canal and River Trust, they say that if you intend filming using a camera or drone you need their permission, but this seems to be for an official Photography or Film Shoot rather than just recording our holiday experiences !!!
Does anyone have any experience or recommendations?

I know several narrowboat YouTubers use drones frequently e.g. Foxes Afloat and don’t seem to have had any issues

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If you fly within the Drone Code you’ll have no issues at all.

This will be useful too, depending on your drone and where you are on any given day:

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And, of course, Dronescene for where to fly, where the restrictions are and bang-up-to-date temporary hazards (NOTAMS)

And, when you have found great places of your own to fly you can add them to Dronescene and gain badges and good karma!

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Cheers, I would have thought that there shouldn’t be a problem, just wanted to check from others experiences and will check out Foxes Afloat, many thanks for the heads up :+1:

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Many thanks @PingSpike, Rich, I checked the canal route with Drone Scene and couldn’t find any specific restrictions using my M2P.
Just hope that we have good weather :relieved::pray:

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Cheers @macspite, Robert, I’ve got my A2CofC and part 16 … :grin:
Looking forward to having a nice relaxing trip along the canal, will update Dronescene with where I get to fly, just hoping for good weather :grinning: :pray:

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Good weather helps. But there are plenty of canal side pubs to shelter in should it dare to rain. :slight_smile: Have a great holiday!

Was on the Mon & Brec in 2019 - its a lovely canal, but with plenty of trees which may make it a challenge to get a clear flight. As for flying on the canal, I don’t have a problem launching and recovering from our boat on the Lancaster Canal

Hi Geoff,
Many thanks for the heads up for flying on the Mon & Brec, really looking forward to trying to capture us on the Narrow boat, it was just the Canal & River Trust guidance letter, it seems was more aimed at commercial photography and had a para saying if you are using a drone then you need their permissions, but as you suggest, there’s no problem providing I follow the Drone Code and I intend using the Dronescene app to say when and where I intend to fly.
Launching and landing from the boat shouldn’t hopefully be a problem doing just a few miles an hour :slight_smile:
Also great to hear you’ve not encountered any problems while on the Lancaster Canal :+1: very useful info, thanks :smiley:

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Recovering to the boat can be a challenge if the collision avoidance is turned on. Haven’t managed to get my MA2 to do that yet - I usually land on the towpath, put into the side and recover from there.

Slightly off the topic, but the Mon and Brec has a lot of shallow areas and if the weather is dry, this can be exacerbated, with a lot of grounding. You will need to ensure that you maintain attention to both drone and boat!

I have always avoided taking off or landing on the boat as it is such a large chunk of metal. I thought it would have an effect on the compass calibration.
Was I being unduly cautious or have you been lucky?

We have a fibreglass cruiser … although I hadn’t really thought about the compass calibration. I’ll look at that this weekend. Thanks for the hint !

Thanks Guy’s for your advice and experience :+1:very much appreciated :blush:

If you are flying while boat moving don’t forget to continually update Home Point in case RTH is activated!

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I guess you may get away with it on a fibreglass cruiser. Often called a yoghurt pot by those on narrowboats!
Earlier mention was made of Foxes Afloat, who produced excellent weekly blog of their life on a narrowboat. Some time back I asked if they took off from the boat. They replied only once! It was not a good experience.
I would avoid this as too risky.

Yoghurt pots vs Sardine tins !
Ha ha ha - the banter on the cut huh ?

Been flying on the canal today. Would definitely give it a miss to land in the boat. Far too difficult. Launching from the hand is straight forward enough though

Enjoy the Mon & Brec !

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@ramblingsheep Peter, Thanks for the heads up :smile:, I’ve been watching some of Foxes Afloat videos with them flying their drone from the tow path :+1:

@Geoff.C Many thanks for the advice :+1:, so will stick to the Tow paths for landings :smile: I dont want to loose my M2P any time soon :wink: We are so looking forward to our Narrow Boat trip on the Mon & Brec Canal, lets just hope the weather is kind to us :smile: