[Video] Narrowboats: Is it Cold in Winter?

What's it like living on a boat? Is it cold in winter? How much does a narrowboat cost?

These are common questions when living on a narrowboat. Sometimes there are silly questions too. At Easter I went to visit my friend Lina, and helped her to move her boat to a new mooring. I made a short film, just for fun, asking her some of the common questions we get asked about boats, and adding some of the sillier questions too.

I've blogged about Lina before; 

"She was gentle and hippy, witty and funny, and her boats (there’ve been a few) are always full of candlelight and cats, the smell of wood-smoke and the sound of relaxing music. To be with her is like living in my favourite part of my brain. To share a bottle of wine in a country pub is to laugh relentlessly, listen intently and glow internally. I always come away feeling like a much bigger and better version of myself." 

“Don’t be fooled by the boat that I got, I’m just Lina from the Lock.”

I hope you enjoy meeting Lina here, and seeing some of the countryside around Banbury.

(Music by UK rock band Cleaner.)

These are all actual questions Lina and I have been asked about living aboard.

Do you live on a canal boat? What questions have you been asked about your lifestyle? Leave me a comment below!

#Narrowboating: Not just for blokes!

Image from www.findaskipper.co.uk

I recently wrote a couple of articles for my community boating blog that focussed on a female skipper; Lee Davies. I sometimes forget that narrowboating is still a very male-dominated world because I’ve made so many amazing friends on the Cut: many of them are women and many of them are mothers. (For example Alice, Melina and Claire have all brought up kids on the Cut and blogged about it! Amy blogs about fitting out and living on the 1935 Severn and Canal Carrying Company motor, Willow.)

Lee Davies feels passionately that women are under-represented on the canals. I hope that my interview with her might encourage other female boaters to consider becoming involved with community boating: it’s not just for blokes!

Do we need more women on the Cut?

Lee Davies is the only female Senior Trainer at NCBA.  I got to chat to her about how her interest in boats developed into a career as a skipper and NCBA trainer. She also runs FindaSkipper, providing skippers for all occasions, plus cooks, training courses and more.

You have a boat relocating service?

Yes, we also move boats for people. It might be someone who just bought a boat or someone who has gone on holiday and needed to rush back home: we can bring the boat home. We had a man recently, he had a stroke and his wife couldn’t move the boat. We were asked to go out there and bring the boat home for them.

It might be a liveaboard or a really posh boat broken down in a not very nice area. Perhaps the owners have had to go back to work, so we’ll go and boat-sit or move it on for them.

How did Find a Skipper start?

I’ve been involved with boats for many years and I was skippering all over the place. I was driving along one day and the name just popped into my head: Find a Skipper! I found out that the domain names were available and bought them straight away.

I suppose you could say we’re based in Wigan but we cover the whole system; I’ve got skippers all around the country. I’ve got people dotted around.

How under-represented are women among professional skippers in your opinion?

Women are very underrated on the canals. Men think we’re all stupid because we’re female. They think women can’t handle a big boat, but something needs to change.

Men will see you with your head in the engine and ask you what you are doing. I’ll say, Well the stern gland is leaking, I’m just sorting it out, and they’ll say Oh, I don’t think you should be doing that! But there’s plenty of women that live alone on board, or live on boats with children. How do they think we manage?  When you go to a boatyard the idea is that you stand and you watch and you learn.

How often do women apply for NCBA training?

There have been a few coming up lately, there’s one on the Wirral and one up at Skipton. But only men have approached me for training at Find a Skipper. I only know of three or four women that have qualified and are working as skippers, they are few and far between. There are lots of female volunteers though.

Get on board!

The NCBA and their member projects welcome women interested in boating. Why not get in touch with your local community boating project, or consider improving your skills by training with the NCBA? Find out more by following my other blog. 

When boaters come to visit...

Last week, just as I arrived home I saw this unlikely pair moored up at my local water point. The lovely hotel boats Snipe and Taurus were once again in my local area. Although we have plenty of beautiful pictures on Flickr I couldn’t resist taking a few more of the red-painted boats and traditionally colourful water cans. Even on a gloomy, rainy day these boats are a sight to make you stop and stare (also known as ‘gongoozling’!)

There are very few traditional working pairs of hotel boats on the canal system today. It’s lovely to watch the motor tow the butty towards an ancient ‘bridge hole’, unhurried as they travel onward. Yet Neil, Corinne and the crew can cover a surprising distance in the space of a week, always offering their guests a varied trip that can include big cities and tiny hamlets.

That night Neil and Corinne came round to my boat: It’s always a novelty to have friends to visit who have arrived by boat, knowing that their own home is conveniently moored a short walk away down the towpath. I had just put my two little daughters to bed, but upon hearing the arrival of Neil and Corinne they immediately got up again to see ‘the lady who turns us upside down’! There were a lot of giggles, running about and tickling before Corinne persuaded them back to bed with the promise to visit again in the morning.

I love to chat to Neil and Corinne about their unusual lifestyle, their travels, their boats and adventures, and how they got into it all in the first place. So while the girls obediently settled to sleep in their boatman’s cabin at the back of our boat, I shared a few glasses of wine with my travelling friends and talked about all things boaty. They’ve done many more hours of boating than me and have learned traditional techniques that I’ll never need, like how to take a butty and motor safely into a lock. At the moment I’m reading the memoir ‘Maiden’s Trip’ by Emma Smith. She learned to carry cargo with a traditional working pair during the Second World War and the descriptions in the book make you realise how very different things are manoeuvring a pair of 70ft boats together.

The next morning my youngest (age 3) opened her eyes and immediately said,
“Can I go into the living room?”
“Yes…. But why?”
“To see if Corinne’s still there!”
I explained that Corinne had returned to her own boat, but shortly after breakfast Corinne arrived with home-baked biscuits for the girls. Her boats were already in the lock beginning to climb the Marsworth flight and since then they have travelled all the way to London.

I noticed on Twitter recently that Corinne shared a cool picture of narrowboats moving faster than lorries on the M25 and smiled to myself. You may think the lifestyle is slow and relaxed but they sure do get around. As I write this they are now preparing for a trip up the River Lea. Catch up with them soon and grab your own cabin (much more affordable than hiring a whole narrowboat),  with a £50 discount .

Disclosure: I was paid to write this on Neil and Corinne's hotel boats blog but re-published here as it is also part of my Real Life! I realise I am not writing much about my real life lately and this is because work and other personal commitments are making me super-busy at the moment!

Peggy
x

A Ghost Story

Malcolm Stirling is a reader of this blog and we recently chatted on email when I asked my readers what sort of topics they'd like to read more of. He was kind enough to allow me to publish this story he's written, which I think is pretty cool: and a lovely change to my usual articles.

***

Tethered to the canal bank near Rickmansworth Town Lock lies a large rusting relic of a Dutch Barge. It bears no name but is known by the local canal boat travellers as the “The Ghost Barge*.  Only the ignorant will moor their boats next to it and some even take a footpath detour to avoid walking past it.

The barge first came to the locals’ attention when it was purchased by a young man of about 27. He lived onboard and had started to renovate the boat.  One evening, after a hard day’s work he sat down with his supper. He had left the engine running to provide electricity for light and warmth. It was cold night and the doors and windows were shut tight to keep in the heat.   The exhaust system for the engine became defective and leaked carbon monoxide into the cabin. The young man fell asleep and never woke up.

The barge was later sold and the new owner set about the renovation process.  One of the first things he did was to have the exhaust system from the engine repaired and certified as safe. He then set about repairing the hull which  was suffering from corrosion. In the deepest  part  of the hull  lay concrete ballast blocks.   These are necessary for stability and ensure that the barge stays upright.  They were put in place during the construction of the barge. Once the ballast blocks are in place the decking and cabin are then added to the barge.  Over the years water had collected under the ballast blocks and this is where the corrosion was the most severe. The blocks needed to be lifted and the steel hull underneath cleaned and painted with rust inhibiting paint.  The man rigged up a hoist and pulley system to raise the blocks, one at a time, so that he could prepare the hull underneath.  It was a fateful day when the man was scraping the rust from underneath one of the raised blocks and the pulley system collapsed causing the block to fall and crush the man against the steel hull.

The boat was again put on the market and later purchased by a man wishing to make it his home.  It was on a winter’s evening when the canal was quiet and the water was still when a chugging sound was heard in the distance. The new owner was sitting on deck enjoying a beer when a large boat came down the canal at some speed creating a wash that rocked the boats on their moorings. He heard shouts of complaint from canal boat owners. He leapt to his feet and spun round to see what the commotion was about. The deck of his barge moved with the wash causing the man to lose his balance.  He fell from the deck into the narrow gap that had opened between the canal bank and the hull of the barge. The heavy barge had moved as far as the strained tethering ropes would allow.   The tension on the ropes could not be sustained and the barge began to move slowly and unyieldingly back to its original position adjacent to the canal bank and, in so doing, crushed the life out of the
fallen man.

The barge sat empty on its mooring once again. Local folklore had branded her “The Ghost Barge” and canal travellers wouldn’t go near it, let alone buy it, when it was put up for sale again.  Given the local feeling against the Black Barge it was felt that a local buyer was unlikely and so it was moved to a marina 100 miles away in Ipswich and put up for sale.  A buyer was found and the deal was struck.  The new owner knew nothing of the Ghost Barge’s past and set about his plans for renovating the craft and finding it a suitable mooring.

The renovation process has been slow and methodical. The owner still doesn’t know anything about the boat’s grisly past. But can you imagine the look on the faces of the canal people in Rickmansworth when they woke up on a cold November morning to see a thick mist heavy on the water and the instantly recognisable dark shape of the Ghost Barge solemnly tied up at its old mooring. Just as if it had never been away.

(c) Malcolm Stirling

This is a true story and was recounted to the author by two people on a canal boat in Rickmansworth on 3rd
September 2012.

Gongoozlers (name given to people who watch but don`t participate on canals).

The illustration is of a similar barge but not an exact copy.  The author did not want to have in his possession a drawing or photograph of the real thing.

***

Malcolm is the chairman of Rickmansworth WaterSki Club at the Aquadrome: a family orientated club, where visitors can participate on a 'pay as you play' basis.

West country canals – a forgotten dream?

I grew up in Devon but by the time I lived there, there wasn’t much in the way of navigable canals left. I remember going on a school trip to see Cann Quarry Canal, a two mile waterway that connected with the Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway. I think it was only working for ten years. There’s a little five mile long canal in Exeter from Exeter Canal Basin to the River Exe estuary. There’s also a little canal near Tiverton which I think runs a horse drawn boat trip. There are several more abandoned canals around Devon but they have long since fallen into disrepair. So it wasn’t until I grew up and boldly went to seek my fortune in London that I really began to discover the thriving canal network that is still navigable for 2000 miles across the UK.

I lived in a flat in Kentish Town near Camden and watched with fascination the painted boats that would pass through Camden lock. The romantic gypsy in me began to realise, some people actually live on these boats! A seed was sown, and I have since become someone who lives on a narrowboat, and has travelled the canals of London and Hertfordshire.

I can never take my boat on the long forgotten canals of Devon where I grew up; the short canals that remain are not connected to the main system. By default then, I have always thought that the way to connect my boating life with my West Country roots would be to travel west as far as I can by canal. This is why the Kennet and Avon canal has become the journey that I have yet to do.

Having spent my adult years building a career, and then a family, in and around London, do I still hear the call of the West Country? Do I see a white horse carved into a Wiltshire hillside in my dreams? Or a famous flight of 29 locks at Caen Hill near Devizes?

This is the boating journey that I never got to do. Now that I am settled on a residential mooring near a good school my cruise down the Kennet and Avon must be done as a holiday trip someday. (If you are single or a couple, it is cheaper to go by hotel boat than to hire a boat.) I’ve seen the charming historic buildings of Bradford on Avon and the Georgian architecture of Bath on weekend visits before, but that is fleetingly, by car.

Exploring by narrowboat is a slower pace of life, more connected with nature. In a city we are surrounded by man-made creations. But travelling through England’s countryside on the water I feel more connected with real life.

“What is this life if, full of care,
 We have no time to stand and stare.”
(From the poem ‘Leisure’ by William Henry Davies.)

So one day, I will let the Kennet and Avon take me slowly back west. Where will it take you? Read more about the highlights of the Kennet and Avon on the Devizes to Newbury cruise or the Bath to Devizes via Bristol journey. Or read more about why Devizes is high on my list of places to visit by boat.

Disclosure: I was paid to write this post on the Canal Voyagers blog. I re-published it here because it tells a little about me, my narrowboat life and my dreams.

Canal Voyagers are currently offering a £50 discount on the first 12 cruises of the year.

What’s so good about the Grand Union Canal?

When you live and travel on a boat it feels like you have several areas that you could call ‘home’. You might even feel at home on a whole stretch of canal and for me that stretch would be the southern Grand Union.

I’ve travelled from Blisworth to London and often settled myself comfortably on a winter mooring in Angel, Islington. When we finally decided to settle for good so that our eldest daughter could start school we were lucky enough to find a residential mooring in Marsworth. This is a tiny rural community, with a little church, two cosy pubs and many colourful moored boats lining the centre of the village. The loveliest thing about the area though is the three reservoirs that feed the canal. A favourite with families, dog walkers, fishermen and photographers the views are stunning. It is quite an unusual sight to see a vast expanse of water right next to the canal.

Rising up the flight of seven locks you then arrive at Bulbourne, a little hamlet which was once a hub of traditional lockgate making. The old British Waterways workshops can still be seen beside the canal. Drifting onwards the Tring summit level takes us through a leafy canal cutting down to Cowroast. Originally known as ‘cows rest’ because farmers would rest their cows here on the way to market in London, the local pub and boatyard now take on the name. The English countryside remains green and beautiful as we travel towards Berkhamsted, a charming historic town featuring an olde worlde sweet shop, a multitude of lovely restaurants and an ancient ruined castle. Travelling through Hemel Hempstead you see nothing of the concrete town centre, instead chugging past the ancient Three Horseshoes pub (1535), through the swing bridge and the spacious urban parkland known as Boxmoor.

Other highlights for me on the journey are the fields around Rickmansworth where Black Beauty was filmed, the quiet of Cassiobury Park, the lakes of Harefield and the woodland of Denham Country Park. This is followed by the Swan and Bottle pub in Uxbridge, full of wooden beams, real ale and memories of my old boating friends who have long since moved on. Then turning left at Bulls Bridge we head into London still travelling quietly through parkland such as Horsenden Hill and Perivale Wood before briefly flirting with the modern world as we drift over the north circular aqueduct.

The only way to end a cruise like this would be to moor up in one of the boatiest places in London: Little Venice. Here you can remain with the quiet English pub vibe (try the Warwick Castle) or eat at somewhere swanky and modern in Sheldon Square. You’ll also be a short walk from Paddington so could simply head off to see the famous sights of London.

I love this whole stretch of canal and can’t believe Neil and Corinne are offering a £50 discount on what must be one of the best boat journeys you can do!

See more details and check availability on the Leighton Buzzard to London (Little Venice) narrowboat hotel cruise.

Remember: If you are single or a couple, it is much cheaper to come hotel boating than to hire a boat, and you don't have to do the cooking and washing up!

Disclosure: I was paid to write this post for the Canal Voyagers Hotel Boats blog. It was my choice to republish it here as it tells a little bit about my own narrowboat life. 

The day I fell in love with canals

Stoke Bruerne in Spring

Blisworth has a special meaning for me, because it was here that I met my first true love: a little red narrowboat called Emily Rose. In my late twenties she became an inexpensive first home for a girl who couldn’t afford a mortgage on a London flat.

Aptly enough, it was Independence Day (4^th July) when I took ownership of my first boat and left the brokerage in Bugbrook.   I enlisted the help of a friend who knew how to steer a narrowboat and headed south down the Grand Union towards London.

Before long we arrived at the Blisworth tunnel, and dizzy with the excitement of my first big canal adventure I wrote a bad poem in its honour; “It’s a mile and three quarter, And dripping with water…”
 Originally boats were legged through this tunnel and the leggers hut can still be seen on the bank at the southern end. There is no towpath but the tunnel is wide enough for boats travelling in opposite directions to pass one another. As we chugged through the darkness my steering friend re-told the ghost story of some poor souls who were crushed during the building of the tunnel. They do say that sometimes you may see an alternative tunnel branching off from the current route. This ghostly tunnel is lit by candlelight, as it would have been when the navvies were building it before the tragedy happened…

At the southern end of the tunnel we emerged into the leafy cutting of Stoke Bruerne and moored up for the night. Stoke Bruerne is a charming canal side village full of waterways history. In the days of working boats Sister Mary Ward lived beside the canal offering healthcare to the working boaters and their families. Of course there is a waterside pub to visit, plus boat scales, a double arched bridge, and a series of locks. The waterways museum is in an old corn mill and exhibits include a traditional narrowboat and a reconstruction of a butty boat cabin. You will see steam and diesel engines, historical clothing, cabinware, brasses, paintings and photographs. The museum shop sells books, postcards and other souvenirs. In Stoke Bruerne you can really immerse yourself in the rose-painted nostalgia of the canal era. By this point, and only one day into my first journey I was already in love with the whole lifestyle.

The next day we carried on to visit a church in the village of Cosgrove and then cruised quietly through idyllic rural landscapes. Even at Milton Keynes the canal misses the city centre, instead meandering around the edges giving you a completely different perspective to what you might expect. There was so much open country on our journey and we travelled undisturbed by the sounds of modern traffic, interrupted only by occasional sleepy villages. I felt that I was seeing England in a completely different way.

If you’d like to see the same stretch, not only with your own steerer, but also someone to cook and wash up for you, you may like the Canal Voyagers Hotel Boats Market Harborough to Leighton Buzzard cruise departing on Friday 3rd May 2013.

They are now offering a £50 discount on the first 12 cruises of the year! Click here to get the Late Availability Voucher. 

Disclosure: I was paid to write this post on the Canal Voyagers blog. It was my choice to re-publish it here to offer my readers the discount voucher.

Boaters Respond to Moorings Consultation

Following on from last week's rant, here’s a link to the article I wrote for Towpath Talk. 

Boaters Respond to CRT Moorings Consultation

On 24^th January the Canal and River Trust invited canal users in the south to comment on some proposed changes to the maximum stay times at popular visitor mooring sites. The consultation ended on 1^st March and the Trust hope to begin implementing changes in April. The new board of Trustees and the Trust Council are seeking to improve the chance of boaters being able to find a visitor mooring space.

The proposal refers to 22 specific locations on the Oxford Canal and the Grand Union Canal. Online canal discussion forums and Facebook groups have been busy with debate, particularly from those living aboard without a home mooring. They raise a variety of concerns, such as how much trade might be lost to popular canal side pubs in Berkhamsted. Read the full story on page 2 of the March issue of Towpath Talk

The Timber Tradition

"There is something about boats that have history, individuality and have been worked by the hands of different people over many decades."

Last year I visited Bates Boatyard traditional sideslip and dry dock facilities and spoke to Jem Bates about the unique services his company provides. It was a fascinating interview and I could have written a book about him and his work, but I managed to condense it into this little article for Waterways World.

Grab yourself the March issue for only £3.75 and find out why people are attracted to wooden boats, how can you restore a vessel that is over 100 years old, and is Jem the only person doing this work on the inland waterways? Do you love traditional boats? Would you take on a wooden restoration project?

You may also like: How to become a freelance writer in 24 hours

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New! The Narrowboat Wife Weekly

If you subscribe to my monthly newsletter you may already know about the launch of my new online paper this week. I'm excited to have appointed myself editor, writer and publisher of The Narrowboat Wife Weekly! It compiles everything I've written this week into an easy-to-browse-quick-to-read format. It takes articles from all of the blogs  I write around the web, covering themes of boating, canals, business start-up advice, and true stories from my real life of living and parenting on a narrowboat.  See what you think. 

I’d love it if you would subscribe to The Narrowboat Wife Weekly. You get the headlines by email and you will only get the weekly e-paper, no other emails from anyone but me. Have a look at my newest project and please welcome into your life:  The Narrowboat Wife Weekly.

PS. If you'd prefer to just receive the monthly round-up of news you may like to sign up for my monthly newsletter and help yourself to the free eBook Narrowboat Families.

Memories of Uxbridge

We spent a lovely month in Uxbridge in 2010 as we had to get the hull blacked in the boat yard. The last time we got the boat blacked here was when we gave our notice to the local authority that we intended to marry. To do this you have to have lived at an address for 14 days; of course we never usually have an address. So our marriage certificate cites us as residing at Uxbridge Wharf, Waterloo Road.

Although Uxbridge is at the end of a tube line and has the convenience of a good sized shopping centre, visiting by canal you still feel part of the leafy water-corridor that is England’s longest village. Down at Cowley there are walks in the woods and a pub named after the old Packet Boat, which used to carry passengers from Paddington and back. The Toll House tearooms are a haunt of local boaters and no-nonsense food is served with smiles onto placemats of roses and castles. In the General Elliott I was once part of a boater’s pub quiz team that attempted to beat the other boaters; who’d aptly named their team Sclerosis of the River. At one time I had loads of boating mates in Uxbridge, James and The Yorkshireman, Rufty Tufty Biker Bloke, Nancy Moo, The Marine Engineer and his wife. Some of them have moved away now but if I were to settle somewhere I sometimes think that this place feels like home. We’d sit around under the charming oak beams of the Swan and Bottle, our cork key rings strewn across the table, no doubt discussing portapotties or engine trouble or gossip picked up on the towpath telegraph. You can moor a few hundred yards from the Swan and Bottle above Uxbridge lock and almost feel as if you’re out in the country. I once sat there and did a watercolour painting of that lock; in another life before I had kids, when I had time for such leisurely hobbies. The Marine engineer strolled up with his four year old son on his shoulders. He said that my painting was good enough to sell. I laughed and said,

“You can buy it if you like!”

“How much?” I shrugged.

“A tenner!”

“Ok,” he grinned. He still has that painting now. A woman they knew walked past and said hello.

“What do you say to the lady Charlie?”

“Alright darlin’,” grinned Charlie.

“That’s right,” said his dad proudly.

This is an extract from the book I'm working on.

More about the painting. (Print for sale.)

How to Get Fit on the Canals

I wrote this article for Canal Voyagers hotel boats, but I quite liked it and thought I'd share it here. I wanted to show that narrowboating can be quite active, contrary to the popular image of drifting lazily along on a summer afternoon...

Canal Boating is Not an Olympic Sport!

Did you see that picture in the Guardian of the narrowboat-shaped water jump as part of an Olympic equestrian event?! That may be as close as a canal boat has got to being involved with a sporting event this summer.

A few months ago I asked the wisdom of Twitter, what are the best things about the canals? Of course people mentioned peaceful moorings, a sense of calm, the sound of water running through a lock and the sun reflecting the pattern of the water on to the ceiling.  So I then wrote an article that described the freedom, tranquillity and closeness to nature that attracts me to the waterways.

However, an even better kept secret of the canals is that they have a wild side!

Here are seven ways to get active on the cut.

Working the locks. As you approach a lock as part of a crew you may be the one to leap to the bank holding a rope and haul the boat in, then tie to a bollard. To fill or empty the lock you will need to wind paddles with a simple device called a windlass, and some of these mechanisms can be quite stiff! Then there is opening the lock gates by pushing the balance beam. Some can be quite heavy and require you to put your back into it.

Lock wheeling. Traditionally this meant going ahead of the working boats, up the towpath to set and prepare the next lock ready for the boats’ arrival. This was often done on a bicycle but some people still call it lock wheeling if you charge ahead on foot.

Bow hauling. Not something that is often done these days unless you have a butty (a boat without a motor). Hotel boats usually travel as a pair; motor and butty. Occasionally manoeuvring the boats requires pulling the butty by hand, on a rope, to get in or out of a lock for example.

Walking. Take a picnic and ramble away from the beaten track (towpath) across buttercup meadows to discover ancient villages. Or stay alongside the boat and hop back on for tea and cakes when you need to refuel.

Jogging on the towpath. The towpath is such a picturesque running track, usually far from any noisy traffic sounds. If there are a lot of locks you may find yourself well ahead of the boats and need to wait a while with a cool drink in a canal side pub.

Mooring up. As well as leaping off with a rope and hauling the boat towards the bank, this can often involve using a mallet to bang mooring pegs into hard ground. Great for releasing any repressed anger by bashing that peg on the head!  

Barge poling off the bottom. Again, not so common if the canal is deep enough, but you may occasionally get caught on an underwater obstruction and need to push the boat off using a barge pole. This is done by standing on the roof of the boat.

Several of these perhaps should not be attempted for the first time without supervision. That’s where the secret of hotel boats is really revealed. Our skipper and crew have years of experience between them and are more than willing to show enthusiasts the ropes, if guests want to get involved.

So if you’re looking for an active holiday with a difference, this could be what you are looking for!

We are currently finalising and publishing our routes for 2013. Will you join us on an adventure?

PS. I also saw a bloke rowing on the canal last week, the whole length of the Grand Union (Birmingham to London). That'll get you fit! Rowing the Grand Union? Yes Really!

The Real Continuous Cruisers!

What do a peg doll, some fancy cheese, a fancy generator, painted roses, and Peter Froud have in common?

They're all part of my real life adventure when I met my clients Neil and Corinne Thomsett for the first time last week. As I'm a virtual assistant and blogger it is quite usual that I don't always meet my clients in person. But if your business is a floating hotel you can always cruise down the Grand Union to meet me on my boat!

Read the full story on the Canal Voyagers blog today. The Day I Met the Hotel Boats.

Disclosure: I am paid to write the Canal Voyagers blog. It was my choice to mention this article here as this particular episode crosses over with the real life of a narrowboat wife!

Life is Not a Rehearsal

I met this character, we were both boating alone. It was about eight in the morning and looking like drizzle. He’s got a denim waistcoat and long grey hair. He’s bringing his boat down the lock. Mine is waiting on the bollards below the lock waiting to come up. He knows this before he sees my boat because of the windlass in my hand.

“Early start for me” he says.

I smile and say,

“Where you headed today?”

“Oh I just carry on going until I get fed up. That’s just the way I am me. That’s what I’m like.”

He crossed the lock gate, windlass in hand and headed up to close the other gate.

“Life is not a rehearsal you know”, he called across the lock, grinning.

We worked the lock and he went on his way. Passing like ships in the flight.

“On your own?” he asks.

“No it’s me and my husband and two kids.” I said. “The kids are at nursery, it’s easier to move the boat without them sometimes!”

He smiles, understanding.

“You can just get on with it.”

I love those moments when suddenly everything seems simple. Just carry on going until you get fed up. I love the way you can discover morsels of wisdom from a conversation with a stranger. Have you ever heard a cliché, like “life is not a rehearsal,” but suddenly you hear it for the very first time? It was just an unexpected reminder to live in the moment. And for that moment, and for the next few locks, I did. I enjoyed the drizzle and the rain, the winding of paddles and the trees and the grass. I noticed the ripples on the water and a heron on a branch.

Just carry on going until you get fed up: my thought for the day.

Things I Love About Little Venice

I’m not sure if this is true but I feel like everybody has heard of Little Venice. Maybe they’ve just heard of Venice?

I lived in London for many years but because most of that time was on a boat I was well aware of Little Venice. I decided to write my top five things that I like about Little Venice but once I got started I couldn’t stop!

Here you’ll find the meeting of three canals; the Grand Union, the Regents Canal and the Paddington basin part of the Grand Union. Their meeting point is a large pool which is an oasis of calm among the trees, tall elegant houses and colourful moored boats. One of these boats is the Cascade Art Gallery.

When we moored in Little Venice I liked to meet a friend for breakfast or lunch in The Floating Boater; a wide-beam café boat there in the pool. Brownings Pool and Browning’s island are named after the poet, and the island is now home to a gang of occasionally noisy geese. Apparently rather than Browning it was actually Lord Byron who called the place ‘dirty Venice’ in the days when the island was known as ‘Rat’s Island’. It’s cleaned up its act now and is a rather lovely place to be. Try having a picnic in the peaceful Rembrandt Gardens from which you can watch the comings and goings in the pool of boats and birds.

The Canal Café Theatre above The Bridge House pub is one of those secrets of London you get to discover when you live there. It’s a thriving comedy and new writing venue, and home to the Guinness World Record holders: NewsRevue. ("Longest running live comedy show"). I’ve seen the NewsRevue a few times and it’s always brilliant. Unlike a traditional theatre it’s one of those venues where you get to sit around a table and have a drink while you watch. The theatre can host over 14 shows per week and it’s advisable to book.

Then there’s the local pubs and restaurants and the places you can walk to; no need for buses and tubes when you’re so central. Visit the Canal Voyagers blog today where I’ve written in more detail about things to see in London’s Little Venice.

Between Thursday 26th July and Monday 13th August you can book bed and breakfast on board hotel boats Snipe and Taurus (the only VisitBritain hotel boats in the city during this special time.) Have you ever stayed on a narrowboat hotel? There’s a first time for everything!

Contact Neil and Corrine at Canal Voyagers for more information. 

Disclosure: I wrote this post for Neil and Corrine to promote their business. But they are lovely people and I genuinely think staying on a narrowboat in Little Venice would be brilliant!

Living on a Boat: The Free eBook

I’ve been living on a narrowboat for twelve years and for as long as I can remember people have asked me questions about the lifestyle.

• Is it cold in winter? 
• How often do you have to move your boat? 
• Aren’t you worried that your children will fall into the canal? 
• Is living on a narrowboat cheaper than living in a house? 
• How much does a narrowboat cost? 
• Have you got a TV/shower/toilet etcetera? 

I was even once asked (by two teenage girls on the towpath in Essex), Can you read and write?

I’ve tried to answer these questions over the last couple of years on my blog, and also on the Boatshed Grand Union blog. As far as technical questions or buying and selling a boat goes, Phil knows more than me, so I’ve teamed up with Phil to create an ebook about buying and living on a boat. We hope it will be helpful both to anyone considering buying a boat to live on, and also to those who are simply curious.

I really enjoyed writing, designing and publishing Living on a Boat, and I am sooo excited to be launching it out into the big wide world today. Simply pay with a Tweet or a Facebook post to get your copy.



I hope you enjoy it.

Boat-Wife xx

A Cry For Help: Please Read!

Sorry for the dramatic headline; but I just want to draw your attention to my new blog, which is about a different kind of boating: community boating.

The canals and waterways are the love of my life; I’m passionate about the idea that they should be accessible for all, regardless of ability or personal finances.So I've started working with the National Community Boating Association to publicise news from their members, based right across the UK. 


I've started a new blog over at http://national-cba.com/ and I'd really appreciate it if you'd pop over and read my first post, which explains what we do. If you don't really know anything about community boating this blog will keep you updated with the variety of people that can get now get access to the waterways. Imagine if you lived right beside a canal all of your life but because of some disadvantage (perhaps financial or physical) you had never dreamed that you could actually go on a boat trip one day yourself. 


If you love boating and you think others should get the chance to love it too, read this. 


Thanks.


Peggy