The Rope on the Staircase Wall

The first sight of the stairs is a moment most visitors remember. You come through a narrow front door, into a narrow hall, and the staircase rises almost vertically in front of you, each step barely deep enough for half a foot, with a rope threaded through iron rings along the wall. Somewhere above, three or four floors up, is your room. And you are holding a suitcase.

Why the stairs are like that

The canal houses were built on narrow plots, taxed by their frontage, and much of the space inside was meant for goods rather than people. The upper floors were storage, reached by a hook and pulley from the gable, and the stairs inside were squeezed into whatever space was left. They were never meant for suitcases. Many of the houses are now hotels, guesthouses or rented apartments, and the stairs have stayed exactly as they were.

Carrying a suitcase up

Take the suitcase up in front of you, one step at a time, holding the rope with your free hand. Or lift out the heavy things and carry them up in two trips. Coming down, go backwards, facing the steps, as you would on a ladder. Take your time, especially in socks.

A suitcase of twenty kilos carried up four floors of a canal-house staircase is real work for the legs and the back, and visitors often do it at the end of a travel day, after a flight and a train. By the time the bag is in the room, the first evening of the trip has been decided.

The stairs, several times a day

The suitcase goes up once. The visitor goes up and down several times a day: out in the morning, back for a jacket, out again, back at lunch, out, back at the end of the day. Each trip is four floors on steps built for someone with smaller feet. Over a stay, that adds up.

The evening booking in a canal house

Canal houses can be booked into like any other address. Put three things in the thread: the name on the buzzer, the floor, and whether the street door locks after a certain time. She will climb the same staircase you did, and knowing which door and which floor saves her standing in the hall.

The rooms in canal houses are often small, with a low ceiling in the upper floors and a bed close to the wall. That is fine. Clear the bed, put the suitcase out of the way, and turn the heating up, because old houses can be draughty. She carries the towels and oil.

How long after a staircase day

Ninety minutes is a comfortable length after a day that started with a suitcase and a staircase and continued with a walk around the centre. An hour suits a day that ended early, with the suitcase the heaviest thing carried. A first booking with the house carries a deposit of half the fee, paid ahead by card, Revolut, Wise or cryptocurrency, with the rest at the door.

The page on canal-house stairs and a heavy suitcase covers that particular evening in more detail, and the booking page sets out the messages in order.

On the way out

Hoist beams and furniture

Look up at the gable of almost any canal house and you will see a beam sticking out from the top, sometimes with a hook still on it. That is how furniture reaches the upper floors, even now, because a sofa will never go up the stairs. Removal firms still use it, hauling beds and cupboards up the front of the house on a rope. For a visitor, it is a reminder that the stairs were never the main way anything heavy got upstairs, and that a suitcase carried by hand is doing things the old way.

Asking for help

Small hotels in canal houses often have a member of staff who will carry a bag up for you, and it is no shame to accept. In a rented apartment there is no one, and the host's instructions usually include a line about the stairs. Read it before you arrive, and pack so that nothing you need that night is at the bottom of the case.

On departure day, carry the suitcase down backwards, holding the rope. It feels ridiculous and it is the safe way. And if the stairs have taught you anything, you will pack lighter next time.