Four miles per hour can seem like an awful hurry. It's barely the speed of an unfit jogger, and even London or Birmingham traffic usually manages to move faster. But if you take a canal break, your narrowboat sets the pace. By the second day, you find yourself wondering what the rush is.

For busy people with stressful lives, short breaks are great in principle, but in the rush to enjoy them it's easy to lose sight of the point. Sometimes, they can leave you more depleted than when you left, but it's not a risk you run on a canal-boat weekend. It's a complete break with the pace of modern life. You leave your car at the boatyard and forget about it. It's impossible to hurry, the work is co-operative rather than competitive and the destination is almost incidental to the pleasures of the journey - there's no such thing as canal rage.

There's work to be done, of course, but it's gentle, mindless and fun. It's a little like a school trip for grown ups. Opening and closing locks, getting the hang of steering and learning to cook a full fry-up in less space than you'd shower in at home are all a bit of a lark.

This is a wonderful way for groups of friends to spend time together. Between locks, there isn't much work to do other than hand round the sandwiches and coffee or mix a jug of Pimms. If you don't talk to your friends properly all year, the few days on a canal boat can be precious.

Some people are put off by what they think is a slightly naff image. The brochures have a strong emphasis on family holidays, and the boats themselves have a whiff of the caravan about them, all tie backs and bumping about in confined spaces. But the canals have a subculture of their own. Yes, there are plenty of families on holidays, but there are many permanent inhabitants, some of whom still think they are living in the 1960s - time obviously moves slower on the waterways.

It's no surprise that canal breaks have become popular with stag parties: a decent pint and a passable curry are seldom more that a short walk from your moorings. But beered-up groups of single men are fairly low on many boatyard owners' list of desirable customers, and hen parties aren't particularly welcome, either. Some yards maintain an outright ban on single-sex groups, while others insist they can only be accepted by prior arrangement.

Often it's no more than a question of talking to the boatyard and letting them get the measure of you. You need to be able to convince them that you're not about to sink their boat or otherwise terrorise the waterways. A plausible manner, patience and persistence should pay dividends.

Even a short break of two or three days is enough to sample some of the best of the inland waterways. Top of many lists would be the Llangollen Canal, with the crossing of the spectacular Pontcysyllte aqueduct as its highpoint. Llangollen itself is surprisingly lively for such a small town.

Less well known, but equally beautiful, the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal offers a manageable weekend heading up to Brecon from Abergavenny, skirting the edge of the Brecon Beacons.

Lovely though these rural Welsh canals are, one of the joys of canal boating is that you can enjoy peace and relaxation even in supposedly busy parts of the country and you don't necessarily have to travel miles to get to them.

Canals in the Midlands and North offer enjoyable short breaks. Stretches of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal are charming - right on the outskirts of Wolverhampton. The Rochdale Canal from Sowerby Bridge up to Todmorden is as scenic and tranquil as any, yet it's only a short distance from Manchester or Leeds.

Despite being built to serve the needs of the industrial revolution, the canal system is a gentle intrusion on the landscape. Locks, lock keepers' cottages and tunnels are almost always pleasing to look at. It's a great way to see wildlife and wildflowers. And it's quiet: the occasional juxtaposition of canal and major road offers a rude reminder of just how noisy the modern world is.

British breaks

Llangollen Canal: The six-berth Kimberly is available from Blakes for short breaks from £69pp. Hoseasons offers the eight-berth Mair from £64 pp for a short break.

Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal: Low-season short breaks on the eight-berth Red Hawk through Blakes from £69pp.

Rochdale Canal: Ichthus sleeps four and is available through Blakes for short breaks from £55pp.

Trent and Mersey Canal: The six-berth Jim Hawkins from Hoseasons for short breaks from £70pp mid May.

River Wey, Surrey: Hoseasons' two-berth Guildford Prince from £155 for mid-May weekends.

Further afield

Ireland: Hoseasons offers week-long holidays on the Shannon and Erne, Royal Canal, Grand Canal and River Barrow.

Belgium: Hoseasons has one- and two-week holidays on the River Ijzer.

France: Blakes and Hoseasons offer a wide range of canal holi days in Alsace, Burgundy, Loire, Anjou, Brittany, Charent, Lot and the South.

Holland: Blakes has holidays on the Friesland waterways which include rivers, canals and lakes.

Florida: Fly/drive holidays and short breaks are available through Blakes on the St John's River, an hour from Orlando.