2016 04 03 Newsletter – Motorhomes, Mountains and Flu

I didn’t write a newsletter last week because of our workload as we prepared to collect our Hymer B754 motorhome. Because our life at the moment is more roads than rivers, I created a survey asking newsletter subscribers to let me know if they would be interested in reading accounts of our motorhome travels. The answer was a very positive and resounding “Yes please!”.

I know that there are many differences between motorhome and narrowboat lifestyles, but there are probably even more similarities. Both require you to live in harmony with your significant other in a very small space. Both require you to take a far more hands on approach to managing your utilities, and both necessitate embracing a simpler life much closer to nature than you would in a bricks and mortar home.

In many ways, living in a motorhome is more challenging that living on a narrowboat. In a boat you can stop for the night just about anywhere you please along over 2,000 miles of river and canal banks. In a motorhome, especially in the UK, finding somewhere to park for the night away from a campsite can be something of a challenge.

Stopping for the night in the middle of nowhere is normal practice on a narrowboat. In a motorhome, you are very much in the minority. When our motorhome was being handed over to us, we were told to ensure that we travelled with an almost empty water tank. The expectation was that we would travel from campsite to campsite and only use the onboard facilities with water and electricity close at hand.

We specifically looked for a motorhome which would allow us to be as independant as possible. Continental models are better than those in the UK. Our Hymer has a 150w solar panel, two 110ah leisure batteries and a 150l water tank. We’ve only used it for nine days so far but for six of them we’ve been off grid, “wild camping”.

If we want to tour extensively in the motorhome, we need to wild camp as much as possible. Official camp sites with electric hook up, showers, Elsan points, fresh water supplies and waste disposal cost £20 or more a night. If we were to tour for, say, 120 days over the winter and use campsites every night, we would need to find £2,400 for campsite fees. We simply can’t afford that.

On Sunday, after a very pleasant night’s stay at our very first camp site, Newlands Caravan Park in Wellesbourne, we set off with the intention of doing a little shopping. Staying in a campsite on our first night wasn’t very good from the point of view of testing out our wild camping capabilities, but at least we broke ourselves into motorhoming very gently.

With no experience at all of motorhome living, even though we spent four hours transferring stuff from the boat, we were still short of a few essential items. I knew that we would need a shore line, or hook up cable in motorhomers’ terminology, so I brought one with me from the boat. I thought the spare 5m cable I keep in the engine room to connect our Kipor suitcase generator to the boat would be long enough. It wasn’t. I was fortunate enough to be able to borrow one at Newlands on our first night, but I was sure I wouldn’t be so lucky the next time.

I also forgot to bring a Hozelock tap connector with me. I packed a hose, but no way of using it. Brilliant! Cynthia needed a few important household items too, but she wasn’t in any condition to go shopping. She was incapacitated by a nasty case of flu so spent as much time horizontal as possible.

I used the Google voice search facility on my iPhone to find directions to the Homebase store in Stratford on Avon. I knew from previous visits that there was a supermarket there too, so Stratford was a good first stop for us.

Google had other ideas.

After directing us down roads barely wide enough for a bicycle, and sometime in the opposite direction to Stratford, we ended up heading in roughly the right direction before veering off into the wilderness once more. I was sure that we were being lead on a wild goose chase, but we weren’t in a hurry and, once I learned how to keep the Hymer out of the ditch, we were enjoying riding in a high vehicle with wonderful all round visibility.

On a rural back road miles from anywhere, Mrs. Google told us to find somewhere to park and instructed us to walk the rest of the way. We were five miles from the retail park on the A3400 heading away from Stratford towards Henley-in-Arden. We certainly weren’t walking.

The countryside was stunning and we weren’t worried about our destination particularly, so we made the most of our misplaced trust in Google, temporarily abandoned our shopping trip, and headed north into Henley then west towards Redditch before turning south to Alcester to pick up the A46 south west towards the M5.

We pulled into a suspiciously quiet retail park on the outskirts of Evesham to discover that all the shops had closed five minutes earlier. The most important item on our shopping list was a tap connector, but with an almost full water tank we could manage without one for another day or two.

We stopped for a coffee at Gloucester Services on the M5. What a much needed breath of fresh air the owners of this and Tebay services have brought to motorway shopping and dining in the UK. We stocked up with pies and pastries and then hurried back to the Hymer in heavy rain. I hurried a little more than Cynthia.

As I bound gazelle like along the path towards our parking spot in an empty coach bay, I caught my foot on a kerb edge, performed a very messy sumersault and measured my length on the Tarmac. Cynthia isn’t used to my constant trips and falls, a legacy of a viral infection I contracted in my mid thirties which affects my balance, so she thought I’d had some kind of seizure.

I immediately leaped to my feet to assure Cynthia that everything was fine, then fell over again because it wasn’t. My sprained ankle was already balloon like and wouldn’t take my weight. Cynthia helped me hobble to the Hymer then began dosing me with arnica tablets and arnica cream plus an ice pack every fifteen minutes. She swears by the homeopathic remedy.

We headed towards Sharpness hoping to find somewhere to wild camp with an estuary view. I expected Sharpness to be bigger. The only road in terminated at a small car park which, a sign and a local dog walker informed us, was locked at dusk.

With no other immediate option we drove slowly through the docks, ducked under stationary cranes and bumped over railway lines until we spotted the high roofs of a number of motorhomes on raised ground set back from the road.

They were parked on a large grassy area in front of Sharpness Dockers’ Club. I stopped to chat with a couple of very friendly retired guys standing in front of the three parked motorhomes. Parking on the fields was either free or just a few pounds depending on who you spoke to at the club and, they joyously informed me, the club’s beer was cheap and the weekly bingo night, tonight, was a great crack.

As Cynthia felt worse than ever and, thanks to my ailing ankle, walking was extremely painful, we decided to forgo the pleasures of the bingo hall and stay in our comfy little home.

I’m pleased we didn’t venture out. All night long we were buffeted by high winds. Torrential rain battered the roof for hours at a time. I love laying in bed listening to wind and rain, but when the wind feels powerful enough to turn my home over and the rain feels heavy enough to crash through the skylight, it’s an unsettling experience.

The following morning, thankful that we didn’t park on the now submerged grass, we left the surprisingly peaceful haven of the Dockers’ Club garden.

Weston-Super-Mare was our next stop. We needed a little food and still needed to buy the items we had forgotten, so we pulled into a Morrison’s supermarket car park on a retail park not far from the motorway. I found four bays I could straddle then shopped quickly in Morrisons for food, and nearby Boots for a hot water bottle for Cynthia who was feeling worse than ever, before relying on my iPhone sat nav once more to direct me to nearby Davan Caravan & Motorhomes to buy a 25m hook up lead.

I sailed past the business’s entrance without looking, then turned next right into a road barely wide enough to accommodate an A4 piece of paper standing upright. I managed to turn the vehicle in someone’s drive before inching out of the road again, but not before I had added another scrape to the cabin side.

Now fully stocked we drove to Acacia Farm campsite rather than try to find somewhere free to park. Cynthia was feeling worse than ever, and I was starting to feel a little rough. The arnica appeared to have worked well on my ankle but flu like symptoms were getting the better of me.

The campsite facilities were excellent. Torrents of hot water in the spotless showers, a quirky toilet bowl Elsan point and an old red GPO telephone box converted into a toilet. Who could ask for more? For the car lover, there were dozens of high end Jaguars on site courtesy of the owner’s main business.

Cynthia still felt awful the following day. So did I, but we needed to move on.

At Bridgewater we headed west along the A39 to our first view of the coast at Watchet. I pulled over long enough to watch a steam train puff slowly past, and for Cynthia to catch a glimpse of the ocean before collapsing into a feverish heap once more, then headed south into Exmoor National Park.

A steam train in Wachet

We drove for an hour through heavy rain, virtually zero visibility and increasingly barren terrain before stopping for the night on the high moors five miles south of Lynton. We pulled onto an uneven car park set back from the road. My first attempt at level parking was a failure. We couldn’t get from one end of the cabin to the other without climbing gear, so I unwrapped my brand new Thule Levelling Ramps to see if they could improve the situation. They worked wonderfully.

Our Hymer home parked for two days on the high moors

We stayed there for the next two days, both fever ridden and in bed unable to do anything constructive other than make an occasional weak hot drink and watch the world outside through the van’s panoramic windows.

Sheep grazed by the unfenced road and a herd of vigilant wild ponies plucked at the coarse grass fifty metres away, raising their heads at the passage of occasional cars. We had the moors to ourselves each night as we watched the setting sun from our sick bed. I’m not good at being ill, but if I have to stay in bed to recuperate, I can’t think of a better place to do it.

Two Exmoor ponies watch me as I stalk them

I felt slightly better by Thursday so we decided to move on again. Our two day stay off grid had been no hardship at all. Even though the sun hadn’t shone enough to provide much of a charge via our single solar panel, the two batteries were holding up well. We had been using our gas powered blown air heating extensively while we were feeling sorry for ourselves so we exhausted the first of our two 11kg cylinders just before we left, but we still had another to fall back on. Our tiny water tank was still half full so we had no problems there, and we still hadn’t filled the first of our two Thetford cassettes. All in all, it was a very positive introduction to the joys of living off grid in a motorhome.

The drive off the moors into Lynton was one of the most memorable and challenging drives I’ve ever had the pleasure to tackle. If this was a typical motorhome journey then I am absolutely hooked.

We had a few scary moments. The first was when I took a wrong turn up a steep and narrow road with a hairpin turn close to the junction. We had to stop to allow a car to carefully negotiate the turn. When I tried to pull away, I couldn’t move forward at all. The Hymer has twin rear axles, only one of which is connected to the drive. There wasn’t enough weight on the drive axle so with the wheels spinning we just slid slowly backwards. I had to reverse two hundred metres back down the road against the flow of traffic (two cars) back on to the A39 coast road.

That particular stretch of the A39 is not for the faint hearted. Bound by a cliff on one side and a deep gorge on the other, the road clings to the hillside for miles, sometimes narrowing to less than ten feet, so taking an eight feet wide motorhome along it, with the chance of meeting an eight feet wide motorhome coming the other way, makes for a very interesting experience.

A riverside Lynton hotel

We pulled into a car park in Lynton with spaces for coaches and motorhomes so stopped for a coffee and a walk down to the harbour. Lynton is picture perfect. A lively river tumbled to the sea past the car park and quaint little cafes. A handful of small boats swung slowly from their moorings in the tiny harbour, and the cliff railway, once the world’s steepest, slowly hauled tourists from village top to bottom.

Lynton harbour on an early spring day

We stopped again a few miles later in a cliff top car park overlooking Porlock Bay while we considered our route. We had just passed and ignored a sign advising us to to take a toll road rather than continue along the A39. The reason for the advice was Porlock Hill, which is allegedly the steepest section of A road in the UK. There’s a 25% gradient, or one in four, at the bottom. As a novice motorhome driver, and one who had recently come unstuck on a far less steep hill a couple of hours earlier, I didn’t fancy it at all. We took the toll road.

The view over Porlock Bay as we plan our route

I’m so pleased we did. The quiet road dropped down into Porlock via a series of savage hairpin beds, two which required a three point turn, and through a tranquil wooded gorge. We met a handful of vehicles coming towards us, but not on any of the tighter bends. That road, and the section of the A39 off the moors into Lynton, was the highlight of the trip for both of us.

We both wanted to stay in the south west for longer, but we had to return to base. A few weeks earlier Cynthia had ordered me a special birthday cake so we had to return to Calcutt to collect it.

After a tedious drive back along the M5, M42 and M40, stopping briefly in Southam to top up both diesel and gas, we arrived back at Calcutt as the sun set for our third night off grid.

We collected the cake on Friday, but then didn’t have the energy to set off on our travels again. We stayed another day and night in Calcutt Boats’ main car park before heading out once more. I needed to return to base by 14th April ready for a run of seventeen consecutive discovery days starting the following day so we had ten days free.

Yesterday we started off toward the south west, but we veered a little off course. The beauty of travelling in a motorhome is that you can go anywhere you like. If there isn’t anywhere suitable to wild park, there’s always a campsite within a few miles drive.

Cynthia still felt very poorly. She decided that a detox bath would help her so we hired a room in the Days Inn at Warwick northbound motorway services for an hour. While Cynthia was having her bath I checked nearby Camping and Caravanning Club sites online.

We both felt that we would benefit from a couple of days pampering on a quiet site with decent facilities, so I booked a pitch at the Hereford Camping and Caravanning Club site at Tarrington. We had a very quiet night there yesterday on my 56th birthday. Cynthia unveiled the cake we travelled so far to collect. As she sung a very hoarse rendition of Happy Birthday to me the little white motorhome trundled across the cake until it nestled close to the tiny narrowboat. Both narrowboat and motorhome are sleeping in a cupboard now. The cake is tucked away safely in my tummy.

Cynthia’s imaginatively themed cake

We’re still at the campsite now, feeling slightly better after a good and peaceful night’s sleep other than the noise of the occasional Worcester to Hereford train flashing by 100m from our pitch. We’re going to stay another night here, then move off again. We’re not entirely sure in which direction yet, but not knowing where we’re going to end up from one day to the next is all part of the appeal.

Cynthia says—-

The Week that Was….

Well, sorry to say this weeks contribution won’t be a lengthy one due to the fact that I (actually both of us) am still trying to cope with getting the flu.  It certainly caught us by surprise.  Neither of us has been sick like this for years!  I have been reprimanding myself for not having stocked my first-aid/natural remedies arsenal with the highly effective Oscillococcinum by Boiron.  Oh well, I won’t make that mistake again soon!

We spent a good four hours toting our things from the boat to the motorhome—I did the packing on the boat interspersed by cleaning and Paul did the running back and forth and unpacking on the motorhome.  We made a good team, and were proud of ourselves when after we set off we discovered there were no rattling sounds! After my many years of living on sailboats along with working on airplanes I have learned how to pack securely.

I had to admire Paul’s driving skills as he found us battling strong downpours along with narrow twisty roads.  We were both relieved to arrive safely at Newlands for the night.

The next day was Easter, and while Paul did some errands outside, I ran around like a banshee hiding chocolate Easter rabbits and the like.  Paul had a fun time locating all of them and it was a nice way to enjoy the holiday.

From then on the next couple of days were a blur for me—I spent the majority of my time lying about feeling under the weather along with feeling sorry for myself…..

The day we were set to leave for the coast, I woke up surrounded by the Wild Exmoor ponies and sheep….such a lovely sight!  I felt good enough to be up in the copilot seat for the remainder of the day and loved every minute of the heart-in-my-throat hairpin twists and turns down to Lynton.  Paul did a superb job negotiating all this–especially after the heart-stopper of a hill which forced him to back down and seek an alternate route.

We walked about Lynton for awhile enjoying the lovely sunshine as we gazed out on the sea and Harbor before us.  I found myself getting caught up watching a fledgling solo surfer trying to ride the waves.  After 15 minutes of watching him I knew this was either his first attempt or close to it.  Not like watching the seasoned surfers I grew up with in SoCal!  But I give him credit for trying…

We decided to head up the coast on the A39, and as we started out of town we were immediately accosted by a 12% uphill grade in front of us.  Just As Paul downshifted we both looked up simultaneously and found ourselves staring at a mammoth truck coming towards us.  Our hearts were in our throats and we held our breath as we made our way past him unscathed.  Wow.  What a hill!  We drove along in ecstasy and passed by the entrance to the toll road to Porlock.  We stopped at a breathtaking spot overlooking the sea with Porlock nestled down against the sea below us and vowed we would return.

Paul decided to return to the toll road and eschew the 25% gradient.  Smart move this, as we were bludgeoned with charm at every turn on this lovely road with no lorries to deal with.  The toll booth was hilarious—just a box by a lean-to to drop your money in!

The remainder of the trip went well, but it was a long day.  Unfortunately too long for me, as I found myself the next day in relapse, with Paul the same to a lesser extent.  Neither one of us wanted to hang around the marina so off we went—and after a very cathartic Detox bath at the Days Inn we were on our way to our present location—a superb choice by Paul.

I felt badly in more ways than one that I couldn’t give Paul a nicer celebration for his birthday…..but there’s always next year!  And at least the cake brought a smile to his face…..hope you enjoy it!

Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

If you’re new to this site you might not know about the service I launched in June 2014. I host narrowboat experience days on board my own 62′ long narrowboat James No 194. The ten hour days are a combination of discussion about the pros and cons of living on board, narrowboat designs and the best equipment for live aboard boaters, and a six to eight hour helmsmanship training cruise along the Oxford and/or Grand Union Canals.

I run my discovery days roughly on the first ten days or so of April, June August, October and December.  I realised this morning that I hadn’t added all of my dates for the first half of the year. All the dates for April and June are there now. If you are interested in joining me for a fun and information packed discovery day next year you can do so by viewing the diary here. You may want to stay locally the night before, the night after or both, in which case I highly recommend this B & B. It’s a five minute stroll from the mooring where I begin my discovery days.

In the meantime, meet recent discovery day attendee Peter Martin who kindly produced a short video of his discovery day experience for me to use on my site. The video is below followed by his comments.

“With two and half years before I can pick up my work pension, a break up of my marriage, kids now independent and need for downsizing, now seems like the time to plan what I’ve often dreamed about over the years.

Living on the cut seems to fit in very well with my lifestyle. I like the outdoors, love boating, independence and getting back to nature.

Having not spent any length of time with live aboard boaters, the Discovery Day was was really just an opportunity to pick up the vibes that go with life on the inland waterways. I needed to do this before committing myself further in the discovery process. Easier to nip things in the bud now if it didn’t appeal before my imagination runs away with itself!

It was a very enjoyable day. I particularly enjoyed the warm welcome of coming in out of the cold to sit in the heat of a toasty, warm cabin. That sold me the lifestyle straight away. It also confirmed that I definitely need a solid fuel stove as primary heat. I know it means hard work lugging coal etc., but what better way to get some outdoor exercise.  I’m also now sold on composting toilets! I never imagined I’d spend the following  week viewing endless YouTube videos of people’s loos!

The helming and boat handling were great experience. By the end of the day I had got over the intimidation of  controlling  60 feet and 20 tons of metal.  A very worthwhile 10 hours and it has confirmed that I’ll continue along this pathway.

The hard work now begins in downsizing, straightening out the finances and then the enjoyable part of finding the right boat.”

You can find out more about my discovery days and availability here.

I Need Some Help!

Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.

Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.

2016 03 20 Newsletter – Toilets and Tearooms on the Ashby Canal

I think I’m finally getting the hang of living life in the slow lane. On two week breaks away from my work at Calcutt Boats I cruised to notch up miles and locks rather than with any real interest in visiting the fascinating places I passed at the blistering speed of 4mph.

In April 2015 I left my much loved job at Calcutt Boats so that I could cruise the inland waterways network full time. After my April discovery days, I revved my old Mercedes engine, slammed the boat into gear, and raced away from the starting line.

By the end of the year I had a respectable number of locks and miles under my belt and an interesting collection of canal-side photo’s. What I didn’t have was any knowledge or experience of the hundreds of noteworthy towns, villages or other sites of interest a stone’s throw away from my brief overnight moorings. I used 99% of my diesel for propulsion rather than battery charging which demonstrated how rarely I stayed for more than one night on the same mooring.

This year, thanks to a very different attitude to continuous cruising, thanks mainly to Cynthia’s insatiable curiosity about every aspect of her new life afloat, we have cruised more sedately and less often than last year.

The canal close to Sutton Cheney Wharf

On Monday, our fourth day on a peaceful mooring close to Sutton Cheney wharf, we whiled away the hours basking in the early spring sunshine from the comfort of a conveniently placed canal-side bench.

Our leisurely, but slightly strained, sunbathing was a reward for completing a job I have been putting off for a while.

I emptied and cleaned our composting toilet.

I had the Airhead Compact composting toilet fitted in May 2015 after enduring a cassette toilet for half a decade. The new environmentally friendly toilet has been a huge improvement. We no longer have to rely on finding working Elsan disposal points or enduring the mess left by others. A composting toilet has many advantages over both cassette and pump out toilets, but the major disadvantage is that emptying the solids tank is both laborious and a little too messy for some.

I haven’t been putting off emptying the solids tank because I’m squeamish. One of my responsibilities when working at Calcutt Boats was to ensure that any blockages in the on site sewage system were removed as quickly as possible. My record for sewage rodding was seven solid hours (pun intended) on one very warm summer’s day. I spent much of it up to my knees in the brown stuff.

After years of dealing with hundreds of gallons of raw sewage, emptying a small tub of my own waste isn’t a problem.

I haven’t emptied the solids tank for four months because we’ve been moored at Calcutt Boats with access to their on site facilities. Our composting loo has been used for high days and holidays, or to accommodate a sudden and pressing need.

Last week the toilet started to smell a little even though there still appeared to be plenty of room in it. Cynthia and I have gone continental and bin our used toilet tissue rather than drop it in the solid tank which quickly fills it up, so the gap between emptying sessions is much increased.

The solid tank is a very sturdy plastic bucket which the toilet sits on, secured by four bayonet fittings held in place by four screws. To empty the solids container, the liquids container has to be unclipped and removed and then the toilet screws need undoing before the toilet is lifted off the solids container.

There’s a lid to put over the top of the solids container while it is transported outside so, I fitted that before lifting it from its restraining bracket and finding the cause of the unexpected smell.

The solids container has a sturdy spiral steel bar running through it from one side to the other. The steel bar protrudes from both sides of the plastic bucket, further on one side and shaped as a handle. This is the poo stirrer. Each time you use the loo, you give the handle a couple of turns to mix the contents and uncover any wet stuff. There’s a 12v fan connected to a hose in the side of the bucket which extracts any moisture and expels it through a roof vent.

Although our solids bucket was still only slightly more than half full, the contents had risen above the holes in the bucket sides where the steel stirrer protruded on both sides. Liquid from the container had seeped through the small gaps between plastic and steel, run down the outside of the container and pooled underneath it on the bathroom floor.

Fortunately I had oak effect laminate flooring fitted two or three years ago, so the mess was unpleasant to clean up but the process was quick and easy.

I dug a six inch deep scrape in a wooded area next to the canal, emptied the contents of the bucket into the hole, replaced the grass sods and carefully trod them down, and then spent half an hour cleaning both the solids and the liquids container, and the toilet itself with an eco bathroom spray.

An hour from start to finish and the toilet and the bathroom were odour free and ready for another month or two’s use. I never look forward to doing the job but I find it very satisfying once it has been done.

While we were cleaning the toilet, the sun came out. Once finished, we made a hot drink, collected Kindles and glasses, then plonked ourselves on the bench ready for some serious relaxation.

Minutes later we were back in the boat looking for some seat padding after both of us fell through the six inch gap between the seat’s only two planks. Armed with a couple of pillows and something comfortable for Tasha to lay on we climbed back out of the boat to the bench.

After four more trips inside the boat, we were happy that we had all the appropriate equipment; two fleece hats, two thick winter coats, scarves, gloves and a blanket. Then the sun went in so we carried it all back inside.

Isn’t the English spring weather wonderful?

Once we had sat in front of the fire for a while to recover from our spring sunbathing, we prepared ourselves for an expedition. We needed to post a letter and ensure that it reached its destination by the following day.

When you live in a house, posting a letter isn’t a big deal. There’s usually a post office, or at least a post box, a few minutes away from your home. The postal service isn’t quite so readily available on the inland waterways.

A good internet connection is essential for managing the logistics of living afloat. My Pearson guide indicated that there was a post office in Stoke Golding two miles back along the towpath, or two miles ahead of us at Market Bosworth. A quick check on t’internet confirmed that the Stoke Golding sub post office was still trading, but the search also revealed that the Market Bosworth branch ceased trading in 2015.

Two hours later, we had posted our letter, explored a quaint village neither of us had visited before, and worked up an appetite for dinner with a very pleasant four mile walk.

We moved a couple of miles along the canal to Shenton on Tuesday, stopping briefly at Sutton Cheney Wharf to top our water up for the first time in over a week.

At three hundred and fifty litres, our water tank is less than half the size of most narrowboats. When Cynthia first came on board, we needed to top up the tank every three or four days. Cynthia spends an enormous amount of time cooking. She enjoys cooking food, and I enjoy eating it. It’s a match made in heaven, but the downside is that dishes need washing three times a day. Most of our water consumption used to be from rinsing washed dishes.

Cynthia experimented with a new system a month ago. Rather than washing dishes in the sink and then rinsing them under running water, she now washes them in half sink and rinses them in a washing up bowl filled with clean water. Our water supply now lasts us at least ten days.

We moored close to Shenton aqueduct behind a private boat and a Napton Narrowboats hire boat. The crew of the private boat were busy trying to retrieve the hire boat from the centre of the canal where it had drifted after the hire boat crew had ineffectively moored using pins in wet and soft ground.

The boat’s only occupants were an elderly lady and the family dog. Because she had a cold, the rest of the family had left her in the warm boat while they explored Shenton. She was too frail and too inexperienced to consider tying the boat on her own, so she sat inside and quietly panicked while we did it for her.

Shenton is a beautiful village full of character and charm. The focal point is the very grand Shenton Hall, visible at various points in the village over high walls and through tall trees. The stately home is thought by the locals to be owned by American singing and acting legend Cher who has spent millions refurbishing the property since buying it. The enormous house is picture perfect.

Shenton Hall viewed from the church

There are two farms in the village selling meat. We visited one twice. The shop was open but despite making as much noise as possible we couldn’t attract anyone’s attention so we gave up.

Next we tried to have lunch in the tea rooms at Whitemoor’s Antique Centre in Shenton, or Shenton’s-Farmyard-Full-Of-Old-Tat as I like to call it.

We tried very hard to part with our hard earned cash, but the owner was determined to avoid taking any money from us at all. The table full of food delivered to the couple next to us was the last hot food served that day so we gave up on the idea of lunch and settled for coffees and cakes instead. We still struggled to part with any money as the cafe didn’t take credit or debit cards despite having enough seating to accommodate at least a hundred diners.

Their solution was to give us a receipt which we had to take to the antique centre’s main reception area, pay for our purchase with their machine and then take the receipt back to the cafe staff so that they could prepare our order. I can imagine the fun and games they have with this system on busy summer days.

We moved a little further north the following day to Market Bosworth and our only opportunity on the northern section of the Ashby canal to buy provisions. The town centre has a reasonable selection of small shops but reaching it requires a mile walk uphill.

A new marina has opened on the Ashby since my last visit. Bosworth marina can accommodate 150 boats, but only offers leisure berths. At £2,600 a year for a 62’ boat, the cost to stay there is £300 more than my mooring at Calcutt Boats. It’s also not as pretty, doesn’t offer as much space on site, doesn’t have any repair or blacking facilities, isn’t particularly pleasing aesthetically, and isn’t as well positioned for cruising routes. It’s not a place I would like to moor my boat, but it does have free spaces, accepts live aboard boaters for winter moorings and has a superbly equipped shower and toilet section in part of the site’s only building.

The scenery along the Ashby canal is beautiful once you pass Hinckley’s urban sprawl. Unfortunately the further north you travel, the less you can concentrate on it due to the canal’s shallow depth. I struggled to make headway with my 2’6” draught but I didn’t struggle as much as either of the two coal boats we’ve seen on the Ashby. At over 3’ deep, both of them ploughed a furrow down the canal centre’s silt. Moving was difficult for them, but mooring, or even stopping to offer services to moored boats was a real pain.

I stopped both boats this week, firstly for coal and then for diesel. I hailed both as they passed my moored boat. Because neither had any water under them, even with their boats hard astern, they were generally a couple of boat lengths away before they could stop and then begin to reverse.

Stopping hasn’t been too much of a problem for me, but twice now I’ve lost control of the boat when grounding the stern in the centre of the canal on bends. Fortunately there is so little traffic on the Ashby that the chances of meeting another boat on a bend are slim, which is just as well with my boat at forty five degrees across the navigation.

We reached the swing bridge close to the head of the Ashby canal at lunch time on Friday. No one was on duty at the Ashby Canal Society booth so we couldn’t pass through the swing bridge to cruise the extended section. James is too long to turn at the end anyway so we probably wouldn’t have bothered.

We stopped long enough to dispose of our rubbish then headed south for three hours to Shenton.

Despite their quirky financial system, we were keen to visit Whitemoor’s Antique Centre cafe again. The cake we tasted on the last visit was close to perfect. We discovered that a local semi retired high end cake maker provides all of their cakes. Neither Cynthia nor I have tasted better.

The hot food yesterday was even better than the cake. I had home made shepherd’s pie with a couple of huge chunks of wonderfully light and crusty bread. Cynthia had an equally tasty vegetable bake with garlic bread. Both meals were large enough to serve as our main meal for the day. Both were enhanced considerably by the quality bread.

Keen to find out where we could buy this delicious and, as I assured Cynthia thanks to my encyclopaedic knowledge of country cafes, obviously locally made bread, Cynthia quizzed our eastern European waitress. The waitress didn’t know but hurried off to ask the owner. She returned a few minutes later with a big smile on her face. “Bread is made locally by lady called Morrisons!” (In case you’re unfamiliar with the UK, Morrisons is a national supermarket chain and not a little old lady drawing on decades of expertise to produce baked perfection in her country cottage kitchen).

Sweets for weddings in the Victorian Sweet Shop

We didn’t think much of the centre’s antiques, but the Victorian sweet shop was worth a visit. We left the shop with bags of dark chocolate brazil nuts, mint imperials and, my very favourite childhood sweet, multi colour rice paper flying saucers filled with sherbert.

We ambled through the village past Shenton Hall on our way back to the canal – still no sign of Cher – crossed under the aqueduct, and strolled along a quiet road to Shenton station, the southern terminus of

Wild animals at Shenton railway station

the five mile long Battlefield Line.

We were both looking forward to a ten mile steam train trip. The service resumed summer service yesterday. Given that Saturday was their first day of the season I checked their web site for up to date information first. As a belt and braces exercise I phoned them. No one answered but a recorded message assured me that the service was running.

The station car park was full, as was the station cafe, but we will have to wait for our train trip. A fault on the line meant that the service was only running between two out of its three stations. A frustrating end to a wonderful day. We’ll just have to come back another day.

We began our journey back to Calcutt Boats this morning. The return trip will take twenty hours. We have to be back on Wednesday at the latest ready to pick up our new motorhome on Friday.

We stopped briefly close to Ashby Boats to stock up at the excellent Tomlinson’s Farm shop. We bought fresh baked steak and steak and kidney pies, crusty locally baked bread rolls, fresh baked scones, a pork hock, seasonal vegetables, a small organic smoked brie and, the purchase I’m most looking forward to trying, two goat burgers. The owner of the farm shop also gave us an anvil sized bone for Tasha.

Tasha with her free farm bone

That’s it for today. The sun is setting on another perfect day on the cut. The weather has been wonderful. I cruised for a couple hours without a coat, sitting on the cabin top with a warm boat under my bum watching mating ducks and budding trees. Life is GOOD!

Cynthia says…

Life is grand……on the Ashby Canal

Everyday I wake up on this cruise of the past two weeks I have to pinch myself as I realise I am truly living the dream.  We have enjoyed wonderful quiet moorings.  Our mooring at the beginning of the week was special because of the close proximity to Sutton Wharf and the amenities there, as well as the fact that we had a wonderful bench to sit on right outside our door.  It beckoned to us a couple of times, and on Monday the sunshine called to us and we made use of this bench to enjoy the benefits of the sun as well as to catch up a bit on our reading.  Tasha had her bed beside us and also enjoyed the environs.

Following a quick bite, we had to set off for a 2 1/2 mile walk along the towpath to Stoke Golding where we needed to post a letter.  It remained sunny throughout the walk with just a bit of a light breeze.  In order to make our return trip, we decided fortifications were in order and popped into the store next to the post office to purchase a couple of items.  We ended up walking through a field going back, and when we came to the bridge to rejoin the towpath, we were surprised to find there was no access from the bridge—there was a locked gate wrapped in barbed wire which presented a bit of a challenge.  Thanks to Paul’s dexterity, he was able to scramble over the gate without incurring injury  and then hoisted me over as well.  We continued on our merry way and met up with a nice gentleman who was fishing in front of his moored narrowboat. We chatted for a few minutes then walked the rest of the way home to James.  It was such a nice day.

Tuesday, unfortunately, did not turn out to be a repeat of Monday in the weather department—it was a cold and dreary day, so we did boat chores in the morning.  I had my first experience with cleaning out the composting toilet.  Not a difficult process, just a bit time consuming.  It was also vacuuming and laundry day.  We finally set off early afternoon and went about 2 miles or so where we moored up at Shenton.  There was another boat ahead of us, and a boat ahead of them where an elderly lady had been “abandoned” by the couple she was with—evidently the mooring pins became dislodged due to the damp ground and the boat drifted away.  Between the people ahead of us and Paul and me, we got her sorted out, and then decided to go explore Shenton.  

Wow.  What a lovely hamlet!   Another one of those Disneyland moments—every house was a thing of beauty, and so well kept.  We witnessed a house where a new thatched roof was in the process of being finished, and then came upon the gated entrance to a lovely mansion called Shenton Hall with immaculate grounds.  We couldn’t help but wonder to whom this belonged.  We ended up at the end of the hamlet at an enchanting spot which featured various shops housing antiques and bric-a-brac as well as a couple of galleries.  And then we discovered the lovely tearoom behind all these buildings which was delightful.  Our mouths were watering for lunch, but, alas, it was not to be.  The kitchen was closing for the day.  We did manage to have a coffee and hot chocolate and shared the best cake I’ve ever had in England.  We vowed to return for lunch another day……

We asked about Shenton Hall and who owned it, and apparently it is owned by Cher!  We also found out the whole village is owned by one person.

On our return trip to the boat we decided to follow a path across the field adjoining the Shenton Hall property.  We were able to get a little better glance of the house and of the beautiful lake and bridge beside it.  We continued across the field where we came upon a road that took us right back to the canal.  What a lovely day this was in spite of the cold and depressing weather—-we both love these kind of days that are full of exploration and discoveries.

The next day found us mooring up at Market Bosworth just a couple of miles down the canal from Shenton.  We came upon a delightful couple, David and Lesley of “Swan” who had been Discovery Day people a couple of years ago.  We then donned the rucksack (that is Paul donned it!) and away we went a mile up the hill to Market Bosworth.  What an enchanting town this is!  Right up there along with my favourite Market Harborough.  We shopped at the outdoor market for produce, then headed to the butcher shop across the square followed by the beautiful green grocer shop called Rose and Pedal.  Not only was there beautiful produce, but flowers galore.  We then did some other shopping and popped into a tearoom for coffee and a roll before heading back to our boat and then down the canal to our next mooring for the next two nights.  

We spent the next day doing things on the boat. Paul worked on the newsletter and then we took a nice stroll to Bosworth Water Park about a mile away where we enjoyed sitting by the water and watching the ducks and the world go by.  A lovely, lazy day.

Friday dawned cold and misty.  We headed off to the end of the canal then returned to a mooring outside of Shenton.  We made plans to take the steam train the next day that was stopping only a mile away.  We were both excited about this.  That night Paul made the statement he wanted to play a game of pick up sticks.  We had been making a list of games we want to bring on our trips, and this was one of the listed games.  I put on my creative hat, and remembered we had a box of matches. So we put these into action and played five games.  Paul is in the lead—-but tomorrow is another day!

Saturday was cold and dreary as well, but off we went back to the tearoom in Shenton for a most delightful lunch—we definitely made up for the lunch we’d missed on the first pass!  It was superb to be sure.  We headed off for the train station, but Paul had a sinking feeling it wasn’t running because he hadn’t heard the train’s steam whistle all day.  This is one time I wished he was wrong, but he wasn’t.  We asked in at the station and were told the tracks weren’t yet in order, and the train was only going as far as Market Bosworth that day.  We were disappointed, but vowed we would return via auto in the near future to enjoy this experience.

We are now heading home to Calcutt and then get ready for our next round of adventures.  Who knows what’s around the next bend in the canal—the world awaits us!

Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

If you’re new to this site you might not know about the service I launched in June 2014. I host narrowboat experience days on board my own 62′ long narrowboat James No 194. The ten hour days are a combination of discussion about the pros and cons of living on board, narrowboat designs and the best equipment for live aboard boaters, and a six to eight hour helmsmanship training cruise along the Oxford and/or Grand Union Canals.

I run my discovery days roughly on the first ten days or so of April, June August, October and December.  I realised this morning that I hadn’t added all of my dates for the first half of the year. All the dates for April and June are there now. If you are interested in joining me for a fun and information packed discovery day next year you can do so by viewing the diary here. You may want to stay locally the night before, the night after or both, in which case I highly recommend this B & B. It’s a five minute stroll from the mooring where I begin my discovery days.

In the meantime, meet recent discovery day attendee Peter Martin who kindly produced a short video of his discovery day experience for me to use on my site. The video is below followed by his comments.

“With two and half years before I can pick up my work pension, a break up of my marriage, kids now independent and need for downsizing, now seems like the time to plan what I’ve often dreamed about over the years.

Living on the cut seems to fit in very well with my lifestyle. I like the outdoors, love boating, independence and getting back to nature.

Having not spent any length of time with live aboard boaters, the Discovery Day was was really just an opportunity to pick up the vibes that go with life on the inland waterways. I needed to do this before committing myself further in the discovery process. Easier to nip things in the bud now if it didn’t appeal before my imagination runs away with itself!

It was a very enjoyable day. I particularly enjoyed the warm welcome of coming in out of the cold to sit in the heat of a toasty, warm cabin. That sold me the lifestyle straight away. It also confirmed that I definitely need a solid fuel stove as primary heat. I know it means hard work lugging coal etc., but what better way to get some outdoor exercise.  I’m also now sold on composting toilets! I never imagined I’d spend the following  week viewing endless YouTube videos of people’s loos!

The helming and boat handling were great experience. By the end of the day I had got over the intimidation of  controlling  60 feet and 20 tons of metal.  A very worthwhile 10 hours and it has confirmed that I’ll continue along this pathway.

The hard work now begins in downsizing, straightening out the finances and then the enjoyable part of finding the right boat.”

You can find out more about my discovery days and availability here.

I Need Some Help!

Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.

Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.

2016 0313 Newsletter – Complete Narrowboat Costs for 2015

We finally left our mooring at Calcutt Boats at 5.30pm on Monday. We spent most of the day before we left taking advantage of having a car parked close to the boat. We shopped till we dropped, and then we shopped some more. We stocked up on dry goods, fresh fruit and vegetables, bottled water, coal, gas, diesel, water, and anything else we could think of before setting sail towards our first goal of the cruising season, the Ashby canal.

I last cruised to the canal’s northern terminus four years ago, six months after spending three weeks repainting the cabin. I remember how nervous I felt negotiating the narrow canal and trying to avoid the offside blackthorn, hawthorn and brambles. Four years and many boat miles later, the occasional scratch isn’t quite so worrying.

We cruised for an hour through the gathering dusk. Just before we moored for the evening, we watched a barn owl flutter moth-like across the canal into a stand of oak on our port side. We tied up under a bankside willow, turned off the engine and basked in the unfamiliar silence after three months bombarded by boatyard noises and constant yapping from a six dog boat moored close to us.

We stayed there all day so that I could work on a variety of internet projects with the eternal hope that I can continue to earn enough to support this wonderfully relaxing lifestyle. Cynthia pottered around on the boat and took a joyous Tasha for a leisurely walk along the towpath and into nearby fields.

That evening we fell asleep to the sound of heavy rain dripping off the bare willow branches above us and plopping on the roof above. Torrential rain fell all night but, because I find it a particularly relaxing sound, I slept through it all.

We woke the following morning at 7am. I stepped out of bed for a not-so-early morning wee and promptly fell over. The boat was listing at least twenty degrees to port.

Cynthia climbed of bed and joined me in a heap on the floor. Because I am the font of all knowledge, she asked why the boat had developed such a pronounced list overnight. Because of the problems I’ve had in the past, the answer sprung to mind immediately.

I told her that I had made a mistake mooring under the willow. The heavy overnight rain had poured off the tree, raced down the boat roof towards the stern, cascaded onto the small back deck, overflowed the tiny drain in the channel beneath the rear deck hatch and flooded into the engine bay.

I leaped into action, fell over again a couple of times, dressed as quickly as possible, and then climbed into the engine room to inspect the damage. There was certainly some water in the bilge, but possibly not enough to cause such a list on a twenty tonne boat.

I keep a Draper wet and dry vacuum in the engine bay for general maintenance and emergency liquid removal. As I thought we were possibly close to sinking or turning turtle I was relieved to have the little vacuum handy. Relieved until I discovered that, even though the motor was running, the vacuum wasn’t picking anything up.

I threw the useless piece of plastic on the towpath, dug out a bucket and measuring jug, then began bailing furiously.

I didn’t have to bail for very long before I had removed all but a dribble from the bilge. A bilge which was still sloping at the same angle as it had been before I removed any water. It was only then that I noticed the glaringly obvious.

Unusually, the level of water in the canal had risen by at least five inches overnight. As usual on the canals I had my mooring lines taut. As the canal level rose under the boat, the starboard side came up but the boat’s port side remained in place.

Fortunately I use a non binding knot when I moor. The lighterman’s hitch is simple to free even when it’s under load. I undid one loop, the boat’s port side rose like a cork to join the rest of the boat, and all was well with the world.

I must book myself on a course on how to spot the blindingly obvious.

I loved every minute of our three hour cruise on Wednesday morning. The canal was in a terrible state. The towpath was completely submerged for hundreds of metres at a time, flood water cascaded off Flecknoe’s hills, over ploughed fields, surged across the canal over the towpath and ran in torrents through the fields beneath us. Spotting unoccupied boats, or boats occupied by sleeping boaters, was easy. All listed dangerously towards the towpath, held down by too tight mooring lines.

A flooded towpath close to Braunston junction

My Guy Cotten waterproofs performed faultlessly. After an hour cruising through torrential rain, I arrived at Braunston’s Midland Chandlers bone dry, enjoyed a hot drink while I waited for them to open at 10am, and then popped in to buy a hand operated bilge pump. Cynthia told me that all sail boats keep one on board. After my wet vac failure, I thought I should do the same.

The rain continued as we cruised for another two hours to the three lock flight at Hillmorton. We had the canal to ourselves. The locks struggled to cope with the volume of water flowing down the canal. Fast flowing water surged over the top of the gates so we had to use the boat to cross from one side of the lock to the other.

Other than that, the half hour passage was uneventful. We stopped for the day on the visitor moorings below the flight then continued along a calmer and much lower canal the following morning.

We stopped briefly on the appalling visitor moorings close to Rugby’s retail parks to top up at Tesco. Doesn’t Rugby want boaters to stop? The visitor moorings are often empty for a very good reason. You have to be able to leap like a gazelle three feet across shallow water onto the often dog muck covered grass to reach the mooring rings. It’s such a shame after the effort and money which has been spent to develop the adjacent retail park.

After mooring close to Brinklow marina that night, we reached Hawkesbury junction by Friday lunchtime. We popped in for a bite to eat. Cynthia had to roll me along the towpath back to the boat after I demolished the biggest plateful of ribs I’ve ever seen. I ate a week’s worth of meat in one sitting and enjoyed every minute of it.

Cynthia holding back the crowds while I take the boat through

We cruised very slowly and carefully past this sunken boat just before the junction. There was little left of the burned out boat apart from the bow and stern lines which floated completely across the canal. It’s always heartbreaking to see the demise of what was probably a boat owner’s home.

A sunken boat at Hawkesbury junction

We cruised on, first through the six inch stop lock at the junction, then past the GRP cruisers’ graveyard before making a very sharp and narrow right turn onto the Ashby canal.

We stopped for the night soon afterwards, out of sight but within earshot of the West Coast Main Line. We fell asleep to the constant rattle of passing trains. Our mooring wasn’t the most idyllic we could have chosen but, knowing that we would be able to enjoy tranquil moorings for the rest of our time on the canal, we didn’t mind too much.

Yesterday we cruised ten miles to our current mooring half a mile before Sutton Cheney Wharf. We bypassed urban Hinckley as quickly as possible, stopped for water at Lime Kilns, and then stopped for an hour to visit the Tomlinson’s farm shop close to bridge 25 opposite Ashby Boats.

Fresh vegetables at Tomlinsons farm shop

Loaded with fresh vegetables, half a dozen duck eggs, and two cartons of local ice cream which didn’t make it past the farm shop car park, we returned to the boat for the day’s last half hour leg.

Maybe an ice cream wasn’t a good idea

Cynthia’s choice of mooring is perfect. The cafe and CRT facilities at Sutton Cheney Wharf and access to Bosworth Battlefield is only a ten minute walk away, but it’s far enough away from civilization to deter all but the most determined walkers. We have wonderful views either side of us, no neighbours, and no noise. I think we’ll have a rest day and explore the battlefield properly tomorrow. All of this relaxing is wearing me out.

Cynthia says…..

Adventuring we go…..

At 4:43 PM Monday the 7th of March we finally pulled anchor and set sail down the canal.  We had a bit of a late start due to shopping errands and the like, but we were both eager to depart and head for a change of scenery, even though we ended up mooring only an hour away from Calcutt.  We found a tranquil spot and tied James snuggly to the shore.

It was so nice there we ended up staying two nights.  After spending several intense hours going over our budget, I needed a break and Tasha needed a walk so off we went down the towpath.  I decided to let her go off leash and she would spend several minutes sniffing about then run like the dickens to catch up with me.  It was a lovely spot, and a great start to our current adventure.

That night we were pummelled with rain and it was like music to our ears as we drifted into a deep and restful slumber. You will have read Paul’s account of what happened the following morning as we woke up listing to port.  I remembered having a hand operated bilge pump on our various sailboats, and immediately went searching on the Internet for one.  Luckily we didn’t have to wait for mail service, as Paul was able to procure a dandy one at the chandlery in Braunston.

After breakfast we headed on foot into town to post a letter, and as we were leaving the Post Office, I spotted what appeared to be a delightful butcher shop across the road.  It looked to me like a movie set it was so picture perfect!  I felt like I had stepped back in time when England was known as a nation of shopkeepers. We ended up spending about half an hour there speaking with the proprietors and choosing some delectable items.  The chicken and mushroom pie we had for lunch turned out to be succulent and very tasty.  We will make another pass by there in the near future to stock up.

The rest of the day remained rather dreary, but certainly interesting as we witnessed the flood waters along the canal.  After completing the locks at Hillmorton, we found a suitable, albeit not so beautiful, place to moor for the night. The next day was rather uneventful, with a stop in Rugby to shop at Tesco.  Neither of us enjoy shopping in big box stores such as this, as we much prefer farm shops and health food stores and the like—any place small with a personal touch. We made the best of it and headed out.  We found another tranquil place for the remainder of the afternoon and night, and as Paul made haste with his work at the computer, Tasha and I headed out to explore the towpath.  We found a lovely dirt road to walk along that was actually devoid of puddles, and we enjoyed the lovely farm landscape, plucking a few wild daffodils to present to Paul as we made our way back.

The next day was warmer and brighter as the sun burned off the early morning fog.  We passed through a tiny swing bridge at Rose narrowboats which I found to be delightful.  As we made our way to our lunch stop at Hawkesbury Junction, we started the game of 20 questions and had a great time coming up with the names of obscure things and professions along with definitions of out-of-the-norm words.  One of my favourite words  is sesquipedalian.  Does anyone know what this means without looking it up?   We had great fun doing this, and will continue this game on future journeys.

We moored about a mile from our lunch destination, and had a pleasant walk along the canal.  It was on this stretch that we came upon the drowned narrowboat Paul mentioned.  I was glad he was able to get a good photo of it to share.

Paul had told me about The Greyhound Pub, and I was not disappointed.  It turned out to be the quintessential English pub and I was thoroughly enchanted!  I remarked to the waitress about how beautifully bright and spotless the brass and copper fixtures were, and was amazed to hear that a lady polished all of these things once a week!  Our lunch was delightful and we ambled slowly back to James so we could carry on with our journey.  That night we found a suitable, but not very quiet spot on the Ashby canal and we enjoyed a light supper followed by our usual night at the cinema (aka our bedroom!) where we enjoyed our favourite Doc Martin, and The Good Life.

The next day we made a stop to visit Tomlinson’s Farm Stand at Stoke Golding and our timing was perfect.  We met a couple heading down the towpath who offered to give us a ride there.  They were very kind, and the shop turned out to be quite delightful and we filled Paul’s rucksack to the brim and headed back to the boat to continue on.

Off we went and enjoyed the ever-beautiful venues as we made our way to Sutton Cheney.  We are both quite taken with our tranquil mooring spot and enjoyed our visit to Sutton wharf for a quick bite to eat, followed by a stroll through Bosworth Battlefield.  There is much to see and do there, but we were both a bit weary and will have to give it a further go in more depth in the future.

Today has been get-the-newsletter-out day,  with a brief respite when we took a stroll to drop off our rubbish at the wharf, followed by a sit on the bench outside our door.  We had a small treat of cheese and crackers whilst we read and watched the world go by.

I look forward to a good rest tonight before we eagerly set off on the next adventure tomorrow.  Can’t wait to see what’s around the next bend in the waterway!

A breakdown of all my narrowboat expenses for 2015

My Narrowbudget Gold budgeting application comes preloaded with two workbooks; one populated with costs kindly provided by a live aboard boater who cruises continuously, and the other populated with my own expenses. I created the NB James workbook three years ago when I was working at Calcutt Boats full time and only cruising on high days and holidays.

I’ve just added a new workbook labelled NB James 2015. It includes all of my narrowboat expenses from last year. Last year was far different than the one I detailed in the original workbook. I continued to work for Calcutt Boats until 1st April and then cruised extensively and enthusiastically for the rest of the year. I cruised 1,700 miles and tackled 940 locks. Obviously I used much more fuel than I did when moored full time at the marina, but I also had to maintain and repair the boat far more too.

All of my expenses are broken down below, but you need to be logged in to your Narrowbudget Gold account to see most of it. If you haven’t yet invested in Narrowbudget Gold, just click on the link below. If you have already purchased Narrowbudget Gold, simply log in to your account then come back to this page.

My expenses may or may not be similar to yours. Narrowboat vary tremendously. They are different lengths, styles and configurations with different types of equipment and engines. There purpose differs widely too. A narrowboat used as a floating flat on a static mooring will have different equipment on board and incur different costs than one used for continuous off grid cruising.

My purpose here is to give you an idea of the costs. I have described how the costs apply to me in as much detail as possible so you can tailor them to meet your own requirements. Here they are…

Maintenance and Repairs

By far the largest expense category from last year was Repairs & Maintenance, but that’s because I’ve added the capital costs of a number of improvements I made. These included replacing my four 135ah leisure battery bank with more expensive but hopefully longer lasting AGM batteries, the services of a marine electrician for a day to tidy up some wiring, employing a carpenter to rebuild my engine room hatch, resolve a problem with two draughty side doors and build a bespoke sapele spice rack for Cynthia, fitting a diesel central heating system, converting my raw water engine cooling to keel cooling and, last but not least, removing the boat from the water to black and repaint the two tunnel flashes and replace the anodes. The cost of these improvements alone was £5,900.

On top of these capital costs, I paid for a number of visits by boatyard engineers to fix things that I couldn’t fix myself (just about everything actually). The total for these visits and the required parts was £1,200. The work included two separate fixes for my aging and ailing raw water cooling system before I finally had it modified to keel cooling at the end of the year.

Here are the repair and maintenance purchases.

Velcro tape – After the magnetic tape failed on my new secondary double glazing panels I resorted to a combination of Velcro tape and screws through the panel corners into the window frames.

Key safe – A wonderful idea. The key safe is bolted to the forward bulkhead next to the front doors. If I forget my keys, which I have done three or four times since the key safe was fitted, I have an easy to access but very secure set of spares.

Fuel filter and anti freeze – For engine servicing

Air filter – I purchased a ridiculously expensive new air filter for my aged Mercedes engine following an engineer’s advice. I wasted £100. All I needed to do was soak my old stainless steel air filter in petrol overnight to remove the accumulated dirt.

Nitrile disposable gloves – Used regularly for dirty engine room jobs and for painting.

Heat exchanger hose – I’ve now replaced all of the engine’s perished hoses.

Bilge paint and spray – Not one of my best ideas. I can’t remember the brand name but this stuff is used to spray the underside of cars to stop corrosion. It’s not a good idea for boat bilges because it doesn’t go off, which is a nightmare if you need to stand in the bilge to work on the engine.

12v cabin fan – I redeemed myself here. My stove has a double top plate so I can’t use an Ecofan to push stove heat towards the back of the boat. The new 12v fan is fixed to the cabin roof in line with the central walkway. When it’s on, the temperature in the back cabin increases by five degrees.

Engine degreaser – A treat for my engine. I may not know how to fix the thing, but I’m quite good at keeping it clean.

Kneel pad – I use this every day in warmer weather. I usually sit on the cabin roof next to the engine room hatch to steer. It’s a very comfortable place, apart from the numbness I feel in my skinny little behind after a couple of hours. The kneel pad, purchased from Midland Chandlers, has cured that. Cynthia now wants one as well (although she doesn’t have a bony backside like me).

Click here to find our more about Narrowbudget Gold and read the rest of this article and learn the complete costs of running a 62’ narrowboat used for extensive cruising on the inland waterways in 2015.

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Waterproof grease – For the stern gland greaser.

Undercoat, rust treatment, sandpaper – The battle against rust is never ending. I’m always touching up the paintwork.

Brush Mate – This is a really handy bit of kit. It’s a plastic box containing a chemical strip. I keep four paint brushes in there. When I have finished painting, I put the brushes in the Brush Mate without cleaning them. When I take them out weeks, or even months later. The paint is still pliable and ready to go.

Fender chain and shackles – Due to a little over enthusiastic lock paddle winding by someone who shall remain nameless, the boat surged forward so quickly in a single lock that it hit the upstream gates with considerable force and instantly snapped all but one of the restraining chains.

Wet and dry vacuum – My petit £50 Draper wet and dry vacuum has been very useful indeed. So useful in fact that I now have two. One for the cabin for dry dirt, and one stored in the engine for bilge water. The little vacuum worked wonderfully until this week when it failed to pick up anything at all. I have now invested in a hand operated bilge pump. Cynthia tells me that this piece of equipment is essential on sail boats.

Oil – I changed my engine oil three times last year at a cost of about £20 a time.

Brass mushroom – For the new vent over my composting toilet.

Braid on braid rope set – Another wasteful purchase. Braid on braid rope is very gentle on your hands due to its softness and, because it is so soft, it’s very easy to tie. The downside is that it is as absorbent as a sponge. If you run the rope through your hands on a wet day, as you do many times a day when you are cruising, you produce a spray of dirty water to soak your clothing and make a mess of your boat.

Brass polish – There’s something very satisfying about sitting on the boat roof polishing brass in the summer. It’s not such a pleasant job in the winter, which is why my brass mushrooms look a little sorry for themselves at the moment.

Tipcat fenders – These are the slug shaped fenders at the stern. I have a big rudder so, to protect it, I have two tipcat fenders and then a button fender furthest away from the boat. The tipcat fenders don’t suffer much abuse so they last a long time. At £100 each, I am very pleased that I don’t have to buy them often.

Vinyl sign writing – I had a choice last year of either paying £500-£600 to have my boat name and website address added to both sides of the cabin, or buying a set of vinyl graphics for £100. As I was considering repainting the cabin sides I decided on the cheaper option.

Two windlasses – I always have two windlasses on board, plus a recovery magnet to fish out any water dropped windlasses. During a particularly accident prone week in June I dropped one windlass in, lost the recovery magnet I used to try to fish it out, and then dropped the second windlass in on the second of a flight of seven locks. I had to use a pair of mole grips to work myself through the rest of the flight.

Recovery magnet – See above

Piling chain – I have four piling chains on board. If I am single handing on a windy day I often use three chains while I am tying up; one to secure the centre line and two more for the bow and stern. One either end is secure I take the centre line chain off. The fourth is kept as a spare.

Superglue – I used this to repair a perished sink waste in my galley. After half an hour’s careful refurbishment and leaving the glue to go off overnight, I had the pleasure of watching the waste instantly split into two pieces as soon as I used it the next morning.

Galley sink waste – See above

Fender hangers – Because my original wooden cabin has been over plated with steel, the cabin sides stick out further than on a normal narrowboat. Consequently I have to be very careful that I don’t catch them in tunnels. I lost two fender hangers when I passed a boat in the narrow confines of Husband Bosworth tunnel.

Stainless steel chimney cap – A discovery day guest inadvertently steered too close to an offside willow.

Weed hatch tape – Weed hatch tape is used to keep the hatch over the propeller watertight.

Tiller pin – I had an eagle tiller pin which, of course, I named Eddie. The screw thread on the pin into Eddie’s undercarriage vibrated loose resulting in Eddie plunging into the canal and never surfacing. Eddie Mark 2 is even bigger and more striking.

Total £1,700

Moorings

I paid for a mooring at Calcutt Boats for all of 2015. I was still working there full time until the end of March, but after we began our continuous cruising regime in April we only stayed on the mooring for half a dozen nights. We wasted our money for most of the year but I suppose we kept the mooring on as a kind of safety net in case continuous cruising didn’t suit us.

Total £2,300

Diesel

For most of the year I only used diesel for engine propulsion and topping up my five batteries. Over the course of the year I cruised 1,700 miles and negotiated 940 locks. Most of the time cruising was enough to keep the batteries topped up but, over the winter months, I ran the engine for 1.5 – 2.0 hours a day just for battery charging. On average, my engine used 1.37 litres of diesel per hour.

I had a diesel central heating system fitted half way through November. Over the winter months I had it running for six hours a day. It uses 0.5 litres per hour.

Total for heating and propulsion £1,139

Waterways License

Standard canals and rivers license for a 62’ boat with a 10% discount for prompt payment.

Total £974

Coal

My solid fuel stove isn’t particularly good, my boat’s polystyrene insulation isn’t as efficient as spray foam insulation, and I feel the cold because of the length of time I sit motionless towards the back of the boat while I work. Consequently, many boaters will use slightly less coal than I do.

Total £780

Telephony

I don’t have a very good track record with phones on board. I’m obsessed with email checking every few minutes. Consequently I’ve thrown a few in. My telephony category includes a replacement phone last year and also includes £150 for Skype calls. For much of last year I was on the Three network. Three arguably offers the best coverage on the inland waterways for mobile broadband, but one of the worst for mobile phones. I could rarely make or receive phone calls inside the boat so I used Skype extensively. Now that I am with EE I don’t use Skype much at all.

Total £728

Internet

I have used a Three mobile broadband dongle for the last five years. When I first started using their service I had to fix the dongle on the roof at the top of a four feet high wooden mast. The dongles are more powerful these days so, providing I have mine fixed to the inside of my office window, I nearly always get a signal. In all the travelling I did last year I only failed to connect to the internet on two occasions; once at the Crick Boat Show when I was hemmed in by dozens of other boats, and once in a deep cutting on the Shropshire Union canal. Sometimes I have to buy a top up when I go over my 15GB monthly allowance but that only happens if I have to download a great deal of data. I don’t use mobile broadband to stream TV programmes and films because, at 1.5GB for an hour and a half programme, I could use my data allowance very quickly indeed.

Total £266

Insurance

My boat is insured by Craftinsure for £40,000. Their policy includes boat contents calculated as 3% of the boat’s value, i.e. £1,200. I pay an additional £50 premium for an additional £5,000 contents cover.

Total £230

Electricity

I generate all of my own electricity these days but when I was living full time in the marina I paid significantly more than the national rate per unit for the pleasure of being plugged in to the National Grid.

Total £175

Gas

These days I only use gas for cooking. I’ll correct that, these days Cynthia only uses the gas for cooking. I only use it for making the occasional hot drink.

When I first moved on board, the boat had a gas central heating system and a gas water heater. I didn’t use the central heating system. Open gas heaters like mine cause condensation, and use a huge amount of gas. Many hire boats have gas central heating. They’re often purchased by live aboard boaters who are horrified to discover that they have a boat dripping condensation and an empty bank account after replacing their 13kg cylinders every three days.

For the four years I used my gas water heater, a 13kg cylinder lasted an average of three weeks. When the gas heater finally died and I switched to a combination of engine and diesel central heating system heated water, my gas consumption dropped to roughly one cylinder every two and a half months.

With Cynthia on board full time we’re using slightly more gas. I am delighted that one of Cynthia’s hobbies is cooking. She’s at it three times a day. I’ve fed very well indeed. The downside is that the boat now uses slightly more gas than in years gone by.

Total £106

Petrol

I have a Kipor IG2600 suitcase generator, purchased in September 2014 ready for our continuous cruising last year. I thought we would need the 2.6KW generator for heavy duty electrical appliances such as our hair dryer, iron or anything else which requires a great deal of power to heat. In reality it’s been a complete waste of money. It’s run for a total of half an hour in the last year and a half. I’ve only filled my petrol Gerry can once.

Total £9.66

That’s all of my expenses for last year. If you want to use them to create a workbook of your own, click on the link below to open the budget calculator.

Launch Budget Application – Gold Version

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Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

If you’re new to this site you might not know about the service I launched in June 2014. I host narrowboat experience days on board my own 62′ long narrowboat James No 194. The ten hour days are a combination of discussion about the pros and cons of living on board, narrowboat designs and the best equipment for live aboard boaters, and a six to eight hour helmsmanship training cruise along the Oxford and/or Grand Union Canals.

I run my discovery days roughly on the first ten days or so of April, June August, October and December.  I realised this morning that I hadn’t added all of my dates for the first half of the year. All the dates for April and June are there now. If you are interested in joining me for a fun and information packed discovery day next year you can do so by viewing the diary here. You may want to stay locally the night before, the night after or both, in which case I highly recommend this B & B. It’s a five minute stroll from the mooring where I begin my discovery days.

In the meantime, meet recent discovery day attendee Peter Martin who kindly produced a short video of his discovery day experience for me to use on my site. The video is below followed by his comments.

“With two and half years before I can pick up my work pension, a break up of my marriage, kids now independent and need for downsizing, now seems like the time to plan what I’ve often dreamed about over the years.

Living on the cut seems to fit in very well with my lifestyle. I like the outdoors, love boating, independence and getting back to nature.

Having not spent any length of time with live aboard boaters, the Discovery Day was was really just an opportunity to pick up the vibes that go with life on the inland waterways. I needed to do this before committing myself further in the discovery process. Easier to nip things in the bud now if it didn’t appeal before my imagination runs away with itself!

It was a very enjoyable day. I particularly enjoyed the warm welcome of coming in out of the cold to sit in the heat of a toasty, warm cabin. That sold me the lifestyle straight away. It also confirmed that I definitely need a solid fuel stove as primary heat. I know it means hard work lugging coal etc., but what better way to get some outdoor exercise.  I’m also now sold on composting toilets! I never imagined I’d spend the following  week viewing endless YouTube videos of people’s loos!

The helming and boat handling were great experience. By the end of the day I had got over the intimidation of  controlling  60 feet and 20 tons of metal.  A very worthwhile 10 hours and it has confirmed that I’ll continue along this pathway.

The hard work now begins in downsizing, straightening out the finances and then the enjoyable part of finding the right boat.”

You can find out more about my discovery days and availability here.

I Need Some Help!

Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.

Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.

2016 02 28 Newsletter – Narrowboat Communication

Excuse me while I take a minute to wash my hands. I’ve had an unexpectedly energetic start to the day.

For the last month, Sunday has been omelette day. Cynthia creates something wonderful and different every week. The fluffy mixture of herbs, spices and vegetables is always accompanied by a fresh baked croissant or two.

Cynthia’s Breakfast Omelette

This morning Cynthia left me to my own devices while she drove two miles to Napton’s vibrant village store to buy three hot-from-the-oven croissants. I was busy writing today’s newsletter so I didn’t realise that she had been away for much longer than usual until an angry rap on the window signalled something awry.

Cynthia had tried to phone me repeatedly. My phone was still in night time silent mode so I didn’t notice. Our old Mercedes rear offside tire had spectacularly deflated leaving her half way across a busy intersection with a wheel rim gouging the Tarmac.

She left the car on a grass verge close to the junction, persuaded a kind hearted passing lady motorist to give her a lift back to the marina, and then marched back to the boat to fetch her presumably deaf husband-to-be.

Changing a car wheel is just about within my capabilities so, after an interesting march back to the car past hyperthermic anglers waiting for reservoir carp to bite, and then through waterlogged and ice covered fields to the main road, we swapped wheels before heading back for breakfast.

It was a busy start to a day at the end of a very interesting week. Sadly, the week didn’t include any cruising. Cynthia has been waiting anxiously for a very important package from the States. We think it has now arrived but, as with many of the trans Atlantic packages she receives, there is a fortune in duty to pay. We’ve received written notification that the package is being held at the local Royal Mail sorting office. Hopefully we’ll pick it up on Monday.

Our week was stationary but momentous and life changing. It was a week wracked by much soul searching and debate. A week of deep and meaningful conversation as Cynthia and I mulled over the fragility of life and how our own health may disrupt our long term plans. We reached a decision and embarked on a week of checking pockets, piggy banks, under the sofa cushions and, ultimately, our joint pension pots.

After a wet and occasionally snowy drive on Friday to Oaktree Motorhomes near Nottingham, followed by two hours examining one hundred and eighty six feet of imaginatively designed living space, we negotiated a price for our new winter accommodation, a Hymer B754 motorhome.

We weren’t going to buy one until the autumn but, after determining that hiring one for two weeks for our fast approaching honeymoon road trip would cost us the best part of £2,000, we decided to invest in one now.

We think we have found a bargain. The Hymer B754 is very well respected by motorhome aficionados. It’s well designed, robust and, after a little enthusiastic negotiation, will be fully equipped for full time wild camping. Wild camping is the term given by motorhome owners to the practice of stopping for the night away from official camp sites. As official campsites can cost £15-20 per night and wild camping costs nothing, wild camping is certainly the way to go for us.

Thanks to the company advertising the vehicle on the internet for £1,000 less than they listed it on their showroom forecourt, and also advertising that it had an oven and grill when it didn’t, they further discounted the price for us. We are both very happy with the deal.

Now we’re considering the logistics of living for extended periods on the road. I’ve come to the conclusion that narrowboat owners living on the canals full time don’t have to overcome as many hurdles.

Our Hymer is one of the larger motorhomes you’ll see in the UK. It’s nothing compared to the monster wheeled palaces available in the States, or even the big buses sometimes seen on mainland Europe, but it’s large by English standards. Even so, we will have less than two hundred square feet of living space compared to three hundred square feet in our 62’ long traditional stern narrowboat.

The motorhome’s living space is small, but storage space isn’t an issue. There are cupboards and compartments everywhere. Our problem isn’t finding space to store all that we want to take with us, but being able to carry all of our possessions without exceeding the legal payload.

Payload isn’t an issue on a narrowboat. You can overload a narrowboat if you really try, but you’re unlikely to come close with everyday household appliances, cutlery, crockery, cookware and clothing.

Many motorhomes travel overloaded, especially those with bicycles and motorbikes hanging from rear racks. We’re going to have the vehicle weighed empty and then weighed again with all of our gear on board. The Hymer has a generous payload so we should be within the limits, but I would rather be safe than sorry.

There are considerable differences with electricity production, storage and use. Motorhoming is closer to camping than living in a narrowboat. Most liveaboard narrowboats have three, four or more leisure batteries. Most motorhomes have one or two. Given that we will spend most of our time under cloudless skies and that we will have two leisure batteries topped up by a solar panel, I can’t see a problem.

A hurdle which we have yet to overcome is communication while travelling and travelling in general.

Connection to the internet is very important to me. The plan is to remain on the inland waterways for six months of the year, but then head south to escape winter weather. I’ll continue blogging throughout the year so I’ll need an internet connection so that I can keep on top of my site work and manage my discovery day bookings.

On the boat, internet connectivity is simple.

I use a Three MiFi dongle which I have fixed to the inside of my office window with double sided tape. It works very well indeed. I cruised continuously last year around the Midlands, down onto the Thames as far as Lechlade, and into north Wales at Llangollen.

I’ve enjoyed a reasonable internet connection on all but two days; once at the Crick Boat Show when we were hemmed in by dozens of other boats, and once in a deep cutting on the Shropshire Union canal.

Most live aboard boaters appear to use Three’s mobile broadband service. It’s simple and it works.

Mobile broadband connectivity on the continent appears to be much more complicated. I’ve read of motorhome owners keeping a wallet full of sim cards for different service providers across Europe. Three’s “Feel at Home” service appears to fit the bill. They offer a seamless broadband service in EU countries at no extra charge. I don’t know how robust their service in Europe is yet, or whether there are any charges which I have missed, but they are a good starting point.

Providing that we have a decent internet signal, telephone calls shouldn’t be a problem either. Both Cynthia and I have an iPhone 5s. Mine works. Cynthia’s doesn’t. She embraced living on the inland waterways fully last week when she hurled both her iPhone and her iPad into the canal. At least the iPad survived. We both have phones but we won’t have to worry about prohibitively expensive roaming charges. We’ll use internet telephony via Skype instead.

We haven’t quite worked out what to do about parcel delivery yet. In the UK the Royal Mail’s Poste Restante service works reasonably well. You can have post forwarded to participating post offices along your route. They’ll keep packages posted within the UK for two weeks, and overseas parcels for a month. We don’t want to tie ourselves to one spot for too long so we’re going to try to stockpile essential supplies before we go. Neither of us use prescription medication but our vitamin supplements will need some thinking about.

We haven’t yet addressed the possible need for medical assistance abroad yet, food or medical care for a very well treated basset hound, how to deal with toxic processionary caterpillars, wide vehicles on impossibly narrow streets, motorway car park thieves, overcrowded campsites, vehicle breakdowns or a host of other problems which are easy to solve in the UK.

Fortunately we have six months to find out before we begin our 4,500km drive through France, Portugal and then down to southern Spain. In the meantime, we have some cruising to do. I am very frustrated that we haven’t been able to move already. Planning our forthcoming wedding, and now organising and equipping the Hymer, has understandably delayed us. The cruising season is starting without us, but we’re going to try very hard to catch up.

Cynthia says—–

Taking risks, making our dreams come true……

This past Friday we took a leap of faith and made one of our shared dreams come true—we looked at and bought a motorhome!  The previous evening we had both been researching vehicles, and after thoroughly combing through the adds for used German Frankia motor homes and not coming up with a suitable vehicle in our price range, I turned to the ads for used German Hymer motor homes, which are on a par quality-wise with  Frankia.  I had perused several ads and then my eyes fell upon one that showed a table and comfy chair behind the passenger seat.  The image that immediately came to mind was of Paul ensconced there writing the newsletter and tending to his other internet business.  Then I noticed it was left hand drive, and that kind of sealed it for me.  I showed it to Paul, he asked when I would like to see it.  I told him tomorrow and away we went…..

We spent about three hours on the vehicle and Paul took it for a test drive.  We fell in love and the price was right.  We have started building our “To Do” and “To Buy” lists and are making the necessary arrangements to pick it up on Monday 14 March.  The maiden voyage will be our wedding trip/honeymoon along the coast of Scotland.  A great “shakedown cruise” as they say in the sailing world.

My beloved father taught me about taking risks early on and I am thankful every day for his example of a wonderful way to live my life.  I have many dreams and the older I get, the more of them have come true.  These many dreams wouldn’t have come true had I not followed my heart–that little voice inside that tells us what we should and shouldn’t do.  I listen to it carefully and it never lets me down.

The biggest risk of all (there is a book of the same title by Walter Anderson that speaks to this—hard to find, but a very worthy read) states that the biggest risk is being honest with ones self.  Sounds simple, doesn’t it?  But the deeper you dig into this the more meaning there is to take away and apply to your life.

After the loss of my late former husband in 1999 (he died when the MiG 21 he was flying crashed into the ocean due to a catastrophic aircraft failure), I found out how precious life is and I found myself not only taking more risks, but coming up with more dreams.  Many of these have come true over the years, with the greatest of these this past year in September when Paul and I came together and decided we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together.  I most willingly gave up the life I had in the states, along with the vast majority of my possessions.  I moved here to live on James and embrace the life I have been longing for.  Did I have fears centered around this new life with a new person?  Of course I did, but I took a leap of faith and forged ahead to make the dream come true.  I have no regrets and have not looked back.

Many of my friends and family members thought I was somewhat demented for doing this, but I went ahead and followed my heart to do what I felt was right for ME.  I understand it can be very difficult to go “against the grain” so to speak and do what is right for you when there is so much at stake.  One must believe in oneself and take the bull by the horns.  Life is too short, and I long ago promised myself that I would live a full and complete life and follow my dreams.  Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid.

So.  Here I am with the love of my life, following those dreams.  We both adore the outdoors and exploring new environs.  We chatter like small children about all the things we wish to see and do.  I have full faith that when the end does come we shall have no regrets.  I wish this for each of you reading this–go forward and seize the day–Carpe Diem!!

PS For those who have written me about downsizing, I wanted to pass this on–here is the book I used to help me in my quest to live with less– “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondo.  This lady hits the nail on the head.  For those of you who decide to read it please get back to me and share your thoughts.

[ratingwidget post_id=30105]

Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

If you’re new to this site you might not know about the service I launched in June 2014. I host narrowboat experience days on board my own 62′ long narrowboat James No 194. The ten hour days are a combination of discussion about the pros and cons of living on board, narrowboat designs and the best equipment for live aboard boaters, and a six to eight hour helmsmanship training cruise along the Oxford and/or Grand Union Canals.

I run my discovery days roughly on the first ten days or so of April, June August, October and December.  I realised this morning that I hadn’t added all of my dates for the first half of the year. All the dates for April and June are there now. If you are interested in joining me for a fun and information packed discovery day next year you can do so by viewing the diary here. You may want to stay locally the night before, the night after or both, in which case I highly recommend this B & B. It’s a five minute stroll from the mooring where I begin my discovery days.

In the meantime, meet recent discovery day attendee Peter Martin who kindly produced a short video of his discovery day experience for me to use on my site. The video is below followed by his comments.

“With two and half years before I can pick up my work pension, a break up of my marriage, kids now independent and need for downsizing, now seems like the time to plan what I’ve often dreamed about over the years.

Living on the cut seems to fit in very well with my lifestyle. I like the outdoors, love boating, independence and getting back to nature.

Having not spent any length of time with live aboard boaters, the Discovery Day was was really just an opportunity to pick up the vibes that go with life on the inland waterways. I needed to do this before committing myself further in the discovery process. Easier to nip things in the bud now if it didn’t appeal before my imagination runs away with itself!

It was a very enjoyable day. I particularly enjoyed the warm welcome of coming in out of the cold to sit in the heat of a toasty, warm cabin. That sold me the lifestyle straight away. It also confirmed that I definitely need a solid fuel stove as primary heat. I know it means hard work lugging coal etc., but what better way to get some outdoor exercise.  I’m also now sold on composting toilets! I never imagined I’d spend the following  week viewing endless YouTube videos of people’s loos!

The helming and boat handling were great experience. By the end of the day I had got over the intimidation of  controlling  60 feet and 20 tons of metal.  A very worthwhile 10 hours and it has confirmed that I’ll continue along this pathway.

The hard work now begins in downsizing, straightening out the finances and then the enjoyable part of finding the right boat.”

You can find out more about my discovery days and availability here.

I Need Some Help!

Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.

Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.

2016 02 28 Newsletter – Narrowboat Heating Costs

That’s it. My last working week is over. At 4pm on Thursday I washed my last paint brush, put my sander away, and said goodbye to the staff at Calcutt Boats at a short impromptu cake tasting party organised by Cynthia in their reception area.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the last two months improving my painting and boat preparation skills, all thanks to those at Calcutt Boats more experienced than me. I’ve enjoyed the companionship, tea break banter and occasional tantrum, but I can’t honestly say that I will miss wearing a dust mask for most of the day.

The worst of the winter weather should be behind us now, not that it’s been particularly cold compared with previous years. The canal has frozen for five days in total. We’ve been moored on the canal for most of that time. The cold weather hasn’t really inconvenienced us at all, but the continuous rain has been a little painful.

The towpath and our front deck has begun to dry out now thanks to a little warmth in the sun. I really look forward to not wearing waterproof boots. Cynthia and I have become so accustomed to wearing them all of the time that we even wore them to a restaurant once.

Six winters afloat is enough. Living on a narrowboat over the winter doesn’t have to be cold or uncomfortable. Providing your boat is properly heated and insulated it should be at least as warm as most bricks and mortar homes. Life afloat isn’t uncomfortable in the winter, it’s just a little boring and laborious.

The weather is too cold or too wet to sit outside comfortably so we spend much of our time scurrying to and from our three hundred square feet of living space. On days out off the boat, we nervously study weather reports hoping for a break in the rain and perpetual cloud. On days out on the canals, we hope for ice free water and a route not blocked by stoppages.

Winter is a time for watching the days slowly pass as spring and the new cruising season draw ever closer.

I had a wonderful time on the waterways last year. By the time I finished work for Calcutt Boats at the beginning of April, and then said goodbye to the last of my discovery day guests seventeen days later, spring had sprung and all was well with the world.

I started with a mostly enjoyable and leisurely cruise of the Warwick Ring. The few parts I didn’t enjoy were at least memorable. Pushing the boat through a sea of plastic around Camp Hill locks wasn’t much fun. Nor was stopping every ten minutes to remove sodden items of clothing from the propeller. The most unpleasant part of the trip was through nearby Garrison locks, using an anti vandal key to release the paddles as I watched a group of very unsavoury characters downing cans of Special Brew for breakfast and then staggering to relieve themselves in a lockside fire damaged building.

I discovered some wonderful open spaces on our Warwick Ring trip; Kingsbury Water Park, somewhat spoiled by the motorway dissecting it, four hundred acres of tranquil ancient woodland on the outskirts of Hopwas village, and then twenty six glorious square miles of forest and heath at Cannock Chase.

In June we headed south down the Oxford canal onto the Thames. Every day was an adventure. I helped paramedics load a poor lady suffering a suspected heart attack into a waiting air ambulance at Sommerton Deep lock, narrowly avoided serious damage to the boat in a Thames lock after my centre line caught immovably on a bollard as the water rose swiftly under the boat, chased a one tonne bullock off the boat’s rear deck at Lechlade, was stung repeatedly by a swarm of angry wasps after hammering a mooring pin through their nest, and hid on the boat after confidently pushing a very large cow away from the boat until I realised that the dangly bits between its legs were testicles, not udders.

In August I headed north on the longest trip of the year; three hundred and five miles and two hundred and forty six locks to Llangollen and back to Calcutt Boats. What an adventure!

I witnessed the only anti social behaviour of the year at Westport lake to the north of Stoke on Trent. I was woken at 5am on an otherwise peaceful Sunday morning by shouting and swearing. A group of drunken idiots, no doubt staggering home after a lively Saturday night, worked their way down our row of moored boats removing planks, poles, life rings and bikes to throw in the canal. They removed items from four boats and untied the ropes on two of them. They left me alone. probably because they would have needed to step on my boat to reach my pole and plank and to untie my ropes.

I had the pleasure of negotiating the very low roofed 3km Harecastle tunnel with its bright orange water, and the endless but picturesque flight of locks on Heartbreak Hill which followed.

The route along the Shropshire Union Middlewich Branch was stunning, as was my cruise to the Llangollen canal’s western terminus six miles past Pontcysyllte aqueduct. The 1,000 feet long bridge stands one hundred and seventy feet above the raging river Dee. Taking a twenty tonne narrowboat over the valley along a seven feet wide steel trough is an unforgettable experience.

My return journey along the Shropshire Union canal with its high embankments and steep cuttings was fascinating and a wonderful finale to my season’s cruising, all  1,753 miles and 948 locks.

I can’t think of a more enjoyable way of exploring England and Wales at a leisurely pace in the summer months than on a sedate narrowboat cruise. When you’re running at your top cruising speed and walkers overtake you on the towpath, you know you’re travelling at the right pace to appreciate the sights and sounds around you.

There are an unlimited number of peaceful moorings with far reaching views and very few boats to share them with. There are currently 35,000 narrowboats on the inland waterways sharing over 2,000 miles of connected rivers and canals. Ninety per cent of them are on marina or online moorings at any one time so, once you’re off the beaten track, you can cruise for hours without seeing another moving boat.

It’s a wonderful lifestyle for the warmer months, but the English winters are so miserable. Not as miserable as the Vermont winters Cynthia has endured for the last decade though. She’s struggling to come to terms with blossom on our English trees in February. In Vermont, she has to wait until late April before nature shrugs off its cold white coat.

We’re both fed up with winter, so from now on we will be sunbirds. We’ve committed to buying a motorhome before the end of this year. Cynthia has a house in Vermont. Selling it will make buying a motorhome much easier, but we think we can scrape enough pennies together between now and October to buy something which will suit us well enough.

We’ll spend the rest of the year researching and saving as we cruise, and then when the thermometer begins its journey south, so will we. We’ll find somewhere secure for the boat over the winter, probably somewhere out of the water. Did you know that you can request a license refund for any time your boat is removed from CRT maintained waterways? After we’ve put the boat to bed we’ll swap water for wheels and head for Spain’s balmy south coast. That’s the plan and one I’ll share with you as it develops over the coming months.

In the meantime, back to the frigid waterways.

We moved the boat very briefly on Saturday to top up our diesel tank. We were moored just above Calcutt Top lock facing towards Napton junction. We needed to drop down one lock to reach the diesel point on Calcutt Boats’ wharf. Turning the boat round was too much like hard work so we went down backwards. This maneuver caused a little confusion. The single lady boater waiting to come up through the lock wore a very puzzled expression as we emerged from the lock stern first, squeezed past her, and then swung onto the wharf.

With a full diesel tank and a laptop full of data, we headed back up through the lock to our towpath mooring where I started to write the section below about the cost of heating our boat.

Narrowboat Heating Costs

I had a diesel central heating system fitted in November 2015. The only heat source until then was my thirty nine year old solid fuel stove. It did a passable job of heating the front of the boat, but my office space, the bathroom and the bedroom were always a little less than comfortable.

The stove fed three radiators down the boat’s port side. The gravity fed system wasn’t very effective. I understand that they never are. One radiator at the far end of the boat from the stove is the most efficient configuration. With my three radiators, by the time the stove’s hot water trickled forty feet to the back of the boat, it was lukewarm at best.

I had the three existing radiators removed, the stove’s back boiler disconnected, three replacement radiators fitted on the starboard side, and a large double radiator fitted under my office desk. All of the new radiators were connected to a Webasto Thermotop C diesel burner.

I chose the Webasto because it is relatively quiet and much smaller than the Hurricane heater sold by Calcutt Boats. The downside is that, because it is so compact, servicing costs more than the easily accessible Hurricane. There are other diesel central heating systems available but these were the only two I considered seriously.

As with many boats, our Webasto draws fuel from the same tank as our engine. Because both engine and heater draw from the same tank, determining either the heating or the propulsion system usage can be quite difficult.

Because my heating system has only been fitted recently, and because I am, as Cynthia lovingly describes me, anal retentive, I know that over the last year my engine has used an average of 1.4 litres an hour. Because I know how much fuel my engine uses, I can easily calculate how much fuel is now being used by the heating system. Because I have also recorded the number of hours we have had the central heating turned on each day this month, I can also calculate the system’s hourly consumption.

I added 162.4 litres to my diesel tank yesterday. I ran the engine for 36 hours for battery charging in February plus a further seven hours on a discovery day. The engine ran for a total of 43 hours at 1.4 litres per hour, so the engine used 60.2 litres. The rest, 102.2 litres, was used for heating. During the same period, we had our diesel heating running for 179 hours. We usually have it running for two hours in the morning and then a further four hours in the evening. The average fuel consumption per hour during this period has been 0.57 litres.

If you have diesel central heating, please let me know how much diesel your system uses. I think our usage will be higher than most. Our polystyrene insulation is not as effective as spray foam, so our home requires more heat than many modern boats. I also feel the cold more because of what I do. I spend many hours sitting motionless in my office space as I type, so unless the diesel heating is on I get cold very quickly.

We still have our solid fuel stove on twenty four hours a day at this time of the year but, because of the stove’s poor design, I can’t use an Ecofan to push heat towards the back of the boat. I also had the stove’s back boiler disabled when I had the Webasto heating system installed so the stove doesn’t heat the radiators.

Yesterday’s diesel cost me £0.56 per litre. We’re using the diesel heating for roughly six hours every day, so our daily diesel heating cost is 6 hours x 0.57 litres per hour x £0.56 per litre = £3.36. Our cost for a thirty day month is £100.80.

We’re burning two bags of coal a week at the moment at a cost of £10.75 a bag. Our daily coal cost is £3.07, which is £92.10 for a thirty day month.

Our total heating cost at this time of the year is just under £200. It’s a considerable amount to pay to heat just three hundred square feet of living space but, considering our home is sitting two feet six inches deep in almost freezing water, it’s not a bad price to pay for a warm and cozy home.

Living afloat can cost far more than you might expect. Our heating bill is more than some people pay to keep their bricks and mortar home warm. Of course you don’t necessarily need to pay this much.

You can buy a smaller or a more modern and therefore better insulated boat. You can also do what many live aboard boaters do and simply endure a slightly cooler boat. We’re all different. The way Cynthia and I live is probably not the same way you would choose.

All I can do is give you an idea of the costs based on my own specific circumstances. My Narrowbudget Gold package details my expenditure for a full year including mooring fees, diesel heating and propulsion costs, coal, gas, electric, telephone and broadband, council tax ( I don’t need to pay it), toilet emptying, painting and blacking, battery replacement, cratch cover repairs and/or replacement, and general boat and engine repairs.

All the information you need is there, so you can make an informed decision based on your own particular circumstances. Because everyone’s circumstances are different, I created a browser based narrowboat budget calculator which allows you to create and save an unlimited number of different scenarios and even add your own expense categories.

You may not want or be ready to live afloat full time, so the budget calculator allows you to also add your house expenses in addition to those of your boat. The application’s summary page allows you to easily and quickly determine whether you can afford the lifestyle or whether you can afford to keep a boat for occasional recreational cruising.

The package also includes nearly two dozen case studies. A diverse group of live aboard boaters tell you how they cope with life on board and both positive and negative aspects of inland waterways boating in general and life afloat in particular.

All of the information you need to determine the cost of the lifestyle is in the package. I hope that my accounts from this year’s cruises will encourage you to transform research into reality.

You can find out more about my Narrowbudget Gold package here

Cynthia says—-

Boat burglaries

I wrote about boat burglaries a couple of weeks ago. Here’s more on the same subject. I’ve copied an email sent out by CRT below about a convicted boat thief. If you see this guy, please do us all a favour and give the police a call.

“Hi folks just getting this out to as many people as I can. It would be great if we can catch him between us

This person Allan Campbell is strongly suspected of committing at least some of the recent spate of canal boat burglaries.

He did commit many in our area the last time he was out and about and now Lincs Police are looking for him

If anyone sees him please contact your local police on 101 asap not forgetting to explain exactly where you are.”

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Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

If you’re new to this site you might not know about the service I launched in June 2014. I host narrowboat experience days on board my own 62′ long narrowboat James No 194. The ten hour days are a combination of discussion about the pros and cons of living on board, narrowboat designs and the best equipment for live aboard boaters, and a six to eight hour helmsmanship training cruise along the Oxford and/or Grand Union Canals.

I run my discovery days roughly on the first ten days or so of April, June August, October and December.  I realised this morning that I hadn’t added all of my dates for the first half of the year. All the dates for April and June are there now. If you are interested in joining me for a fun and information packed discovery day next year you can do so by viewing the diary here. You may want to stay locally the night before, the night after or both, in which case I highly recommend this B & B. It’s a five minute stroll from the mooring where I begin my discovery days.

In the meantime, meet recent discovery day attendee Peter Martin who kindly produced a short video of his discovery day experience for me to use on my site. The video is below followed by his comments.

“With two and half years before I can pick up my work pension, a break up of my marriage, kids now independent and need for downsizing, now seems like the time to plan what I’ve often dreamed about over the years.

Living on the cut seems to fit in very well with my lifestyle. I like the outdoors, love boating, independence and getting back to nature.

Having not spent any length of time with live aboard boaters, the Discovery Day was was really just an opportunity to pick up the vibes that go with life on the inland waterways. I needed to do this before committing myself further in the discovery process. Easier to nip things in the bud now if it didn’t appeal before my imagination runs away with itself!

It was a very enjoyable day. I particularly enjoyed the warm welcome of coming in out of the cold to sit in the heat of a toasty, warm cabin. That sold me the lifestyle straight away. It also confirmed that I definitely need a solid fuel stove as primary heat. I know it means hard work lugging coal etc., but what better way to get some outdoor exercise.  I’m also now sold on composting toilets! I never imagined I’d spend the following  week viewing endless YouTube videos of people’s loos!

The helming and boat handling were great experience. By the end of the day I had got over the intimidation of  controlling  60 feet and 20 tons of metal.  A very worthwhile 10 hours and it has confirmed that I’ll continue along this pathway.

The hard work now begins in downsizing, straightening out the finances and then the enjoyable part of finding the right boat.”

You can find out more about my discovery days and availability here.

I Need Some Help!

Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.

Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.

2016 02 21 Newsletter – Keeping Warm In Winter

Another uneventful work week has passed as we race towards the start of this year’s cruising season. I have just four more working days until we set off on a mini cruise before returning to base and swapping boat for bus and our two week motorhome trip around the Scottish Highlands.

Cynthia wanted to head south down the Oxford canal to Oxford and some gentle and cultured exploration. Unfortunately, winter stoppages have thwarted that plan, and our plans to cruise most of the other routes available to us from our base on the Grand Union canal near Napton junction. We wanted to moor at Great Haywood so that we could explore Cannock Chase. We can’t. We considered heading northwest along the Grand Union canal towards Birmingham. Work on the Hatton flight has stopped us dead in our tracks. We thought about heading the other way along the Grand Union but, once more, stoppages won’t allow us to do so.

We’re going to take the only route open to us at the moment. We’ll brave the Braunston, Crick and Husband Bosworth tunnels, two flights of staircase locks, a couple of swing bridges and the occasional pub on our way to Market Harborough. After four trips there last year it’s a very familiar route, but it’s a beautiful and peaceful journey. We’re looking forward to it very much.

On Friday we enjoyed a very welcome break from stationary monotony on an early season discovery day. The day was dry but chilly. Climbing into the cabin’s warmth for morning coffee and then lunch two hours later was very welcome indeed.

Today is much warmer but very windy. White topped waves marching down the canal have created an unwelcome challenge for some boaters descending the Calcutt Flight behind us. The day is mild but the forecast for the coming week is for a series of sub zero nights. The coming cold spell, and my chilly Friday discovery day, has prompted me to write about keeping warm during winter months.

A common question asked of boaters is how they cope with steel boats in frigid waters. The common misconception is that life on board during the short, dark days of winter must be very cold and unpleasant.

My first winter on board was certainly very cold. Mind you, that particular year, the winter of 2010/11, everyone was very cold. It was the coldest winter ever recorded. My own external thermometer, stuck to the glass of my office space window, recorded minus eighteen degrees one night. I woke the following morning in a sub zero bedroom with a quarter of an inch of frost on the engine room’s internal cladding. I wore two fleece tops, a fleece hat and gloves at all times inside the boat, even when sitting in front of the blazing stove.

The boat sat immobile on a marina frozen under five inches of ice. One afternoon I walked on the  ice around the boat. Nothing moved on the canal network for over six weeks. Live aboard boaters unfortunate enough to be caught on the ice away from service points had to ferry shop-bought water along the towpath to their freezing homes. Water points were often frozen. Many boaters had to use public facilities to wash dirty and very cold bodies.

That winter wasn’t particularly pleasant.

This is my sixth winter. I have continuously improved the boat since I moved on board in April 2010. I’ve added more insulation and another heating system, eliminated a serious damp problem I had at the rear of the boat, eliminated draughts through side doors and hatches, improved heat distribution throughout the boat, and experimented with secondary double glazing. All of the improvements have helped, but so have much milder winters since my baptism of ice.

You probably won’t endure a winter quite as cold as my first on board, but if you’re not prepared for the colder months, life afloat can be less than pleasant. Preparation is the key to waterways success, so here are a few pointers in the right direction.

Secondary double glazing

For us, a major source of heat loss is through our windows. The windows are the original set installed in 1977 when the boat was built. They’re not very good. They have rectangular hopper panes at the top which can arc inwards twenty degrees to allow ventilation. The problem is that they now don’t keep out draughts on windy days. They are also single glazed which means that they are very poor insulators. There are ten windows and three portholes so there’s a considerable surface area leaching heat out of the boat.

I tried secondary double glazing last year. The 4mm polycarbonate panels were very effective once I managed to secure them to the window frames. They came with a magnetic tape kit but the magnets weren’t strong enough to keep the panels in place. I tried velcro too but the panels still fell off. The effective solution was to use the velcro and also screw the panels into the window frames.

This solution created another problem. Because the aged windows had loose catches securing the hoppers, every time we cruised the vibration would shake some of the hopper panes open. Closing them again was a very painful exercise. We had to unscrew the secondary glazing panels, pull the panels off the velcro, close the hopper and then put everything back together again.

Securing the window panels was a pain and removing them to constantly close hoppers was a bigger pain. In the spring when the weather improved, trying to find somewhere to store ten large and easily scratched pieces of plastic was the final straw. They had to go.

This winter has been exceptionally mild. Very wet, but quite warm. We haven’t bothered with secondary double glazing, but if we are on board in more severe winters in the future we will try secondary double glazing film. It’s a low cost heavy duty cling film which is stretched over the window frames and then warmed with a hair dryer to make it taught. Because of the low cost it can be discarded after each season’s use.

On Board Heating

The heart of any live aboard boat is its solid fuel stove. It’s a completely dependable heat source. My own stove was installed when the boat was built in 1977. In thirty nine years the flue has been replaced once and the stove glass has been changed periodically, but that’s it. There are no moving parts to break down when we need them most, and very little servicing to do.

My stove isn’t a particularly good model. The Torgem, or Torglow, I can never remember which it is, has quite a small footprint so, unlike the popular Morso Squirrel stove, I can’t use the hot top plate for heating a pot or a kettle, or for powering an Ecofan to push the stove heat towards the back of the boat.

My stove has a back boiler which used to feed three radiators fitted on the boat’s starboard side. The gravity fed radiators weren’t very effective. By the time the stove’s hot water had trickled forty feet to the last radiator in our bedroom, it had pretty much given up the will to live. The radiator, at best, was luke warm. Consequently the bedroom was too cool to use for anything other than sleeping, insulated by a thick duvet.

Because I couldn’t use an Ecofan on my stove I installed a 12v fan in the centre of the cabin roof. The fan pushed the stove heat down the central passageway and raised the temperature in the back cabin by four or five degrees.

We always burn coal briquettes. Some boaters claim that they can heat their boats effectively using wood that they find on or close to the towpath on their travels. I have never found wood to be either effective or practical.

Wood needs to be seasoned, usually for a year or more, before it is dry enough to use as an effective fuel. When first cut, oak’s water content can be as high as 50%. Ash is usually a little less, but both need to have a water content of less than 20% before they will burn properly. When wet wood is burned, more energy is used to evaporate water than generate heat. The wood sweats rather than burns which produces flue blocking tar and a nicotine-like stain from the chimney down the boat’s cabin side.

When I was working at Calcutt Boats I had access to all the wood I wanted. One of my jobs was to manage the site’s young woodland. I had to fell twenty year old ash and oak to thin out the woodland so, over a two year period, I stockpiled four or five tonnes of seasoned logs. Log burning still didn’t work for me.

My small stove needs feeding too often if I’m burning wood. A stove full of coal briquettes lasts for ten to twelve hours. A stove full of logs lasts no more than three hours. A stove full of logs doesn’t last the night. A stove full of coal does.

Even if I could adapt to feeding the fire more frequently I couldn’t carry enough logs with me when cruising. I can comfortably carry enough coal to last me 7-10 days decanted into leak proof plastic boxes stored under the cratch cover on the front deck. I can’t store bags of coal on the boat roof like some boaters because, after over plating the original wooden cabin with steel, the boat is a little top heavy to say the least. Carrying enough wood to last me a similar time is out of the question.

My stove does a reasonable job of heating the boat, but it’s not quite enough during the winter months, especially if I’m sitting motionless for hours on end typing in my office space towards the back of the boat. To improve matters I fitted a diesel central heating system in November 2015 .

I had the stove’s back boiler disconnected, the old radiators removed and three new radiators fitted down the starboard side, plus a large one on the port side under my office desk. The Webasto Thermotop C system has made a real difference on board.

We have been off grid on all but a handful of days since last April, including all of this winter. The last few months haven’t been as cold as previous years, but they’ve been cold enough to warrant having effective heating on board.

I am now always very comfortable in my office space. The bedroom space is much more pleasant too. We have a television and Blu-ray player installed there which we often use to watch films in the evening. Now we can watch them in comfort.

Insulation and Ventilation

Damp can often be an unpleasant problem on board during the winter months. Poorly heated, insulated and ventilated spaces often suffer condensation problems. During my first two years on board I endured a very damp bedroom. The bedding was often so damp it was almost wet.

Over the following four years I made many changes to improve the situation at the back of the boat.

I added more insulation to the hull when I over plated the cabin. My polystyrene insulation isn’t the best form of boat insulation. Sprayfoam is much better but I can’t change my polystyrene now. It could be better but it’s not bad.

I also fixed a thermal blanket to between the bed and the hull beneath the gunnel, made sure that all the internal doors were open to allow heat from the stove to reach the bedroom and, last November, installed a diesel central heating system with a large radiator fitted at the back of the boat. I also ensure that my roof vents remain open at all times to allow moisture laden warm air to leave the boat.

The bedroom, and the bedding, is now dry and warm.

Clothing and Footwear

Most narrowboat floors aren’t insulated effectively or at all. My floor is typical. Steel bearers run over the base plate from port to starboard. Ballast sits between the bearers. I have steel ingots. Many boats have broken paving slabs. Marine ply flooring is fitted over the bearers. That’s it. There’s roughly 75mm of icy steel and damp ply between the soles of my feet and the canal’s frigid waters.

Air trapped at the bottom of the cabin close to the floor is unpleasantly cold. If I walk through my boat in bare feet I feel the cold very quickly indeed. Carpet can be fitted to help insulate the floor but then there’s a new problem to deal with.

Carpet was fitted in my boat when I moved on board six years ago. It wasn’t pleasant. The threadbare beige covering was a dirt magnet, especially with two dogs on board. Hallway carpets see the most wear in a bricks and mortar home. A boat is all hallway so flooring throughout needs to be hard wearing.

I fitted oak effect laminate flooring three or four years ago. It looks good and is very easy to clean, but it isn’t a good insulator.

Both Cynthia and I wear Crocs when we are in the boat. Their thick rubber soles are wonderful insulators.

Crocs keep our feet warm but if we’re sitting for long periods, our legs are still cold if we have our feet on the floor. The solution is to sit with our feet up on our L shaped fitted lounge seats.

Winter cruising can be a very cold affair for even the hardiest of souls. I always ask my discovery day guests to pack plenty of warm clothes. Not all of them follow my advice.

On a chilly day last winter, my discovery day guest was a middle aged farmer. He had been a farmer all of his working life. He was used to being outdoors in all weather. The cold didn’t worry him at all.

He wore a padded shirt and heavy duty sweater for our seven hour cruise. He also wore a fleece hat. He didn’t bring a coat.

Before we set off I asked if he had a coat in his car. He told me he didn’t need one because he was capable of dealing with anything the English winter could throw at him. We set off with me wearing several more layers than him, including my bright yellow Guy Cotten waterproofs. We weren’t expecting rain, but the thick plastic smock top and bib and braces trousers are a very effective wind barrier.

What the farmer hadn’t considered was that, unlike his normal working day around the farm, he was going to spend seven hours standing still on the back of a boat. His working days usually involved plenty of heat generating activity. Steering the boat didn’t generate any heat at all.

We had to cut the cruise short and head back to base. He was mildly hyperthermic. I felt that he wasn’t getting as much out of the day as he should, so as we moored I asked him what he would like to do with his remaining time with me. He told me that all he wanted to do was to climb into his car, turn the heater on full blast and wait until he melted.

A decent hat makes all the difference. The fleece hat I used to wear worked reasonably well as an insulator, but wasn’t a patch on the aviator/trapper hat I wear now. They’re very popular on the inland waterways. There’s a wide selection available here.

Warm footwear is also very important. Walking boots are good insulators, but they aren’t very practical on board. They’re a real pain to take on and off, so for frequent short trips on and off the boat they’re a real nuisance.

I used to wear Wellington boots for wet weather cruising. My feet stayed dry but they were always cold. Cynthia introduced me to Muckboots. They’re wonderful. The neoprene boots keep my feet toasty warm. The boots are comfortable too. I have driven a car for two hours while wearing them and haven’t suffered any discomfort at all after five or six mile hikes.

Solar power

I have occasionally been asked if my solar panels help keep the boat warm in the cooler months. No they don’t. They’re very effective in the summer months for helping top up my four leisure and one starter battery bank. They don’t play any part in onboard heating though, and they are virtually useless during the winter months for anything at all. Yesterday, on a dull February day, they were producing just 1 amp compared to 20 amps on a sunny summer’s day

Escaping the UK winter for warmer climates

It’s an extreme solution for dealing with dreary winter weather, but it’s something Cynthia and I are considering seriously. We’re thinking about buying a motorhome so that we can spend our winters exploring the south of Spain.

I love living afloat now as much as I did when I first moved on board six years ago. I certainly don’t want to live in a bricks and mortar home. I want to continue exploring the waterways for as long as I can, but I’m not a big fan of cold and wet weather or inland waterways stoppages.

Winter stoppages are a real frustration. CRT do a marvellous job keeping the 200 year old waterways network in working order. Essential maintenance to locks and bridges mean that sections of canals and rivers sometimes have to be closed. The most practical time to close them is when boaters least want to use them, so all scheduled stoppages are done over the winter months.

Providing you wear appropriate clothing winter cruising is wonderful. You normally have the waterways to yourself and tranquil moorings are plentiful. The problem is that you can’t travel very far. Of the five directions I can head within a couple of hours cruising from Calcutt Boats, four have stoppages on at the moment.

Winter afloat, even for continuous cruisers, is a waiting game. Waiting for warmer weather, and waiting for the waterways to open. We would both like to do our waiting somewhere warmer.

Cynthia Says——

PLANS……

As we descend the final steps of winter and slide into spring, there are many plans in the making and they are all exciting!  Next weekend with tickets in our hot little hands, we head to Birmingham for the Motorhome show.  This will be a first for both of us, and we are excited to see what’s out there and to talk with knowledgeable people.  Paul has really been hitting the books and as I write this, he has already devoured 3 books on the subject.

We are in savings mode (except for the odd DVD purchase here and there), and are serious about tucking away our pounds, so we can make this motorhome a reality sooner rather than later.  We are of course hoping the Vermont house will sell and we can move ahead with our plans even quicker.

With the above in mind, I made contact with my real estate agent a few days ago.  Seems as though this has been a mild winter and she is actually showing houses, something pretty much unheard of in Vermont at this time of year.  If the weather holds the house will be cleaned and ready to show in March.  We are keeping our fingers crossed that the house will go quickly (I lowered the price once again), and it would be absolutely spectacular if it did, and I could close and put it all behind me.

Our wedding date of 1 April is fast approaching, and we are finalizing all of our plans.  We are both really happy that we will be spending the two weeks around the wedding date in a rented motorhome.  We plan to explore the coast as much as possible and pray to the gods for fair weather.  It will be a wonderful introduction to living aboard a “land yacht” and we will learn a lot along with seeing many beautiful vistas.

I have found a dressmaker to do my tartan skirt for the Big Day, and this week I will be seeing the lady about making our wedding cake.  We have found a stupendous restaurant on the Isle of Skye.  Our rings are being designed by a friend of mine in Vermont.  I think Paul is finally giving into the idea of wearing a kilt and that will be a highlight of the trip for me:-)

Paul’s job comes to a close this coming Thursday and then we will make our way back onto the waterways for a couple of weeks.  We were planning to head towards Oxford, but found out there are stoppages along the way, so unfortunately that is out.  I have faith we will come up with some delightful destination—we always do.  Even going back to our Christmas destination, Market Harborough would be just fine.  I wouldn’t mind at all returning to Veneto’s and departing from my diet to indulge in a bowl of my favorite Movenpick ice cream!

I think that about covers the plans we have in focus for the near future, with our eye of course on the day when we can head off into the sunset in our motorhome!  Stay tuned—-

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Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

If you’re new to this site you might not know about the service I launched in June 2014. I host narrowboat experience days on board my own 62′ long narrowboat James No 194. The ten hour days are a combination of discussion about the pros and cons of living on board, narrowboat designs and the best equipment for live aboard boaters, and a six to eight hour helmsmanship training cruise along the Oxford and/or Grand Union Canals.

I run my discovery days roughly on the first ten days or so of April, June August, October and December.  I realised this morning that I hadn’t added all of my dates for the first half of the year. All the dates for April and June are there now. If you are interested in joining me for a fun and information packed discovery day next year you can do so by viewing the diary here. You may want to stay locally the night before, the night after or both, in which case I highly recommend this B & B. It’s a five minute stroll from the mooring where I begin my discovery days.

In the meantime, meet recent discovery day attendee Peter Martin who kindly produced a short video of his discovery day experience for me to use on my site. The video is below followed by his comments.

“With two and half years before I can pick up my work pension, a break up of my marriage, kids now independent and need for downsizing, now seems like the time to plan what I’ve often dreamed about over the years.

Living on the cut seems to fit in very well with my lifestyle. I like the outdoors, love boating, independence and getting back to nature.

Having not spent any length of time with live aboard boaters, the Discovery Day was was really just an opportunity to pick up the vibes that go with life on the inland waterways. I needed to do this before committing myself further in the discovery process. Easier to nip things in the bud now if it didn’t appeal before my imagination runs away with itself!

It was a very enjoyable day. I particularly enjoyed the warm welcome of coming in out of the cold to sit in the heat of a toasty, warm cabin. That sold me the lifestyle straight away. It also confirmed that I definitely need a solid fuel stove as primary heat. I know it means hard work lugging coal etc., but what better way to get some outdoor exercise.  I’m also now sold on composting toilets! I never imagined I’d spend the following  week viewing endless YouTube videos of people’s loos!

The helming and boat handling were great experience. By the end of the day I had got over the intimidation of  controlling  60 feet and 20 tons of metal.  A very worthwhile 10 hours and it has confirmed that I’ll continue along this pathway.

The hard work now begins in downsizing, straightening out the finances and then the enjoyable part of finding the right boat.”

You can find out more about my discovery days and availability here.

I Need Some Help!

Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.

Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.

2016 02 14 Newsletter – Keeping Romance Afloat

In the words of John Paul Young in his 1978 hit, “Love is in the air, everywhere I look around. Love is in the air, in every sight and every sound”.

He’s certainly right today.

This morning was completely still and clear. A light frost melted in the early morning sun, the birds sang in hedgerows showing more than a hint of springtime green. Last week’s submerged towpath is now more solid than soggy allowing groups of happy hikers to stride slip free beside the canal’s still waters. A steady stream of happy boaters chugged happily past on romantic weekend cruises.

It’s Valentine’s day and all is well in our tiny section of the inland waterways.

All is well but, to tell you the truth, we’ve been a little bored. Once more Cynthia and I have endured rather than enjoyed a largely event free week afloat as we edge ever closer to Thursday 25th February and my last working day at Calcutt Boats. My working week included sanding, painting, scraping, needle gunning, wire brushing, more sanding and more painting, all inside and all done while wearing a claustrophobic mask, goggles or ear defenders. I’ve been close to boats but far away from the open air and tranquility I crave.

We had a little boating excitement on Friday to break the monotony. Narrowboat Magpies pulled over onto the lock landing above Calcutt’s three lock flight as we passed, so we stopped for a chat. Fred – not his real name but the one he wanted to be known as to save his embarrassment – told us about his travel plans as he confidently steadied his 67’ boat against the towpath with his centre line while his wife crossed the lock to close the offside upstream gate.

She returned, so we chatted some more for a few minutes before she hopped on board shortly followed by Fred who leaped gazelle-like onto his gunnel. Fred carried on talking as he tidied his centre line, and that was his mistake. Any man with a few decades under his belt should know that any attempt at multi tasking is going to end in tears.

As Fred pivoted on his five inch wide gunnel to bid us farewell, his heels slipped off the thin steel ribbon and he disappeared under the canal’s murky surface like a jet propelled missile.

Fred is never going to make a living as a tightrope walker, but he’s very good at holding his breath under water. He stayed down long enough for me to seriously consider fetching my camera, then floated close enough to the surface for me to grab a handful of coat to pull his head above the surface.

Completely disorientated, he splashed away from the concrete bank towards his boat before we managed to spin him round and unceremoniously haul him out of the canal. His immediate concern was the rather wet phone in his pocket and for his wife. He wasn’t worried about any anxiety she might be feeling, but rather the ribbing he was likely to receive from her. She fell into the canal from a pontoon on the Llangollen last year. He demonstrated the usual level of sympathy offered when a fellow boater falls in – none at all – so he knew that he was in for a couple of rough months.

Fortunately there was no damage done other than to his phone, so while Fred the Fish disappeared for a much needed hot shower, Cynthia and I moored the boat for them before carrying on with our day.

We don’t have the time to do any cruising at the moment but at least we managed to combine some research with a waterways fix yesterday.

Our motorhome homework is progressing well. We followed the accepted wisdom of determining a budget and sticking to it… for about five minutes. Yesterday we spent a couple of hours looking at vehicles we’ll only be able to afford if we win the lottery, rob a bank, receive an inheritance, or when Cynthia sells her Vermont house. Still, it’s good to dream of trips to warmer climates housed in a comfortable and commodious modern vehicle.

There’s so much crossover between motorhomes and narrowboats. As we walked through countless used vehicles we searched for signs of care and maintenance. In one particularly shabby van the signs of neglect were crowned by a gaping shower tray split which has no doubt been allowing water to flow into areas where it shouldn’t for months or years. We’re not in a position to buy yet but visiting as many dealers as possible to view a wide variety of vehicles is a very useful exercise.

As with narrowboats, there is a bewildering choice of manufacturers, designs, layouts, and on board equipment. As with narrowboats, most are designed for reasonably light leisure use rather than full time living.

As standard, a motor home has one 90-110ah leisure battery compared to our boat’s 4 x 160ah leisure bank. On a boat, if the craft doesn’t have a large enough battery bank, the solution is to just add more batteries. However, in a motorhome, according to the salesman we spoke to yesterday, two leisure batteries is the maximum you can safely install without running the risk of frying the on-board electrics.

Another consideration is payload. Within reason, we can pretty much carry what we want on the boat. In the motorhome we favour at the moment, the Autotrail Apache 700, the most we can have is 700kg. Although there is more than enough storage space to store everything to make our touring both comfortable and convenient, we don’t have the payload to carry it. Cynthia’s expensive range of cast iron cookware will definitely have to remain on the boat, as will our extensive selection of heavy crockery and possibly even the generator we want to use to top up our two batteries during extended wild camping trips. We’ll also have to make do with a tiny 100 litre water tank. At 350 lites our boat’s tank is considered very small. Most narrowboat water tanks 700-1,000 litres.. Out tank currently lasts us about six days, so the motorhome tank will need topping up every other day.

We co-ordinated our Huntingdon motorhome research with some waterside relaxation. Although rain scuppered our plans for a pleasant two hour meadows walk, we enjoyed a leisurely lunch at the National Trust run cafe next to Houghton Mill on the River Great Ouse.

The seventy five mile journey took us an hour and a half by car, mostly along the dreary A14 with its litter strewn hard shoulders. By boat the trip is much more interesting. According to CanalPlan, cruising for seven hours a day, the trip takes eight and a half days to negotiate one hundred and fifty nine miles of rivers and canals and seventy seven locks.

We haven’t decided yet, but this route is certainly a possibility for later on in the year. Comprehensive guides for cruising the Fens appear to be few and far between, so I’ll certainly be reading Peter Earley’s comprehensive “rough” guides on the forum. He’s done three for this area; the River Nene, the Middle Level Navigations and the River Great Ouse. They contain a wealth of information. Peter spent several months cruising this area last year. I’m sure that his experience will prove very useful to anyone considering cruising the network’s eastern reaches.

And that, my friends, is all you’re getting this week. My apologies for such a short newsletter but it’s either a short newsletter or the very real chance of me being hung, drawn and quartered for working all day on Valentine’s day. I have more important work to do.

Cynthia cooked a superb breakfast this morning. We started with her exotic One Hundred Foot Journey inspired omelette, then finished with fresh organic fruit topped with chantilly cream. After such a hearty breakfast we need some exercise so we’re just about to set off on a surprise walk. Of course, it’s not a surprise walk for both of us or we’d struggle with the directions. I’ve told Cynthia the length of the walk and that she’ll need her wellies. What I conveniently forgot to mention was that, at this time of the year, the mud’s likely to be about three feet deep. I’m sure she won’t mind. She needs to work up an appetite for the meal I’ll be cooking this evening.

Normal romance free service will be resumed next week.

Cynthia says……

THE BEST Valentines Day EVER!!

Happiest Valentines Day to all of you reading this—I hope it has been a special one that brought you happiness and love, and other good things.

Like Paul’s message today, mine will also be brief.  I wanted to share a recipe that I use quite a bit for our breakfast.  It is easy to do, tasty, and filling, so I will share it with you now.  Please give it a try if it interests you and let me know what you think—I love feedback like Paul does…..

Sautéed fruit

I cut up whatever fruit we have on hand, and this time of year I use various apples, pears, oranges, apricots (when I can find them!) and whatever else I fancy.  I am somewhat limited, as I do my best to only use organic fruit.  I also add various nuts and dried fruit.  I often use frozen berries as well, adding them at the end.  I cut everything in bite size pieces and add them all to a tablespoon or so of melted coconut oil (this is stored as energy, not fat) in a frying pan over medium heat.  I sauté them until they are just a bit tender 5-8 minutes or so.  I often add a little vanilla extract and some muesli towards the end.  It is done in less than ten minutes.

Today being Valentines Day, I wanted to make something special for Paul and since we just watched one of our favourite movies, “The Hundred Foot Journey,” I became obsessed with omelettes and decided to forge ahead and cook the one like was done in the movie.  I haven’t had much luck with the spray oils that keep food from sticking, and I refuse to use nonstick pans because the toxicity they give off.  I read that it was possible to use a good stainless steel pan, if you heated it first for a couple of minutes over medium heat, then added clarified butter and swirled it around the pan until it stated to smoke a bit, then poured the eggs in and make the omelet.  I did this procedure starting out with much trepidation, but low and behold it worked perfectly and we were rewarded with two perfect omelettes!  We complimented this dish with a fresh croissant, marmalade and organic berries and apricots topped with chantilly (whipped cream) and a touch of ground cinnamon.  We were both pleased with the results, so next time I won’t feel so intimidated when wanting to cook an omelette.  My next endeavour will be a reduction sauce.  I guess my French blood is showing itself, as I am loving cooking and learning more challenging dishes is exciting and fun.

And now as I am putting the finishing touches on this, Paul is gearing up to cook Valentines dinner for me.  I am thrilled beyond words.  This afternoon he took me on a surprise hike amidst gorgeous trees with breathtaking views across the fields.  As it was a stunning sunny day, we were able to enjoy our small lunch sitting on a fallen tree surrounded by the beauty of nature and stupendous views.

This has been the BEST Valentines Day I have ever had, and I have my dear Paul to thank.  I hope all of you have felt as well loved today as I have.

[ratingwidget post_id=30082]

Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

If you’re new to this site you might not know about the service I launched in June 2014. I host narrowboat experience days on board my own 62′ long narrowboat James No 194. The ten hour days are a combination of discussion about the pros and cons of living on board, narrowboat designs and the best equipment for live aboard boaters, and a six to eight hour helmsmanship training cruise along the Oxford and/or Grand Union Canals.

I run my discovery days roughly on the first ten days or so of April, June August, October and December.  I realised this morning that I hadn’t added all of my dates for the first half of the year. All the dates for April and June are there now. If you are interested in joining me for a fun and information packed discovery day next year you can do so by viewing the diary here. You may want to stay locally the night before, the night after or both, in which case I highly recommend this B & B. It’s a five minute stroll from the mooring where I begin my discovery days.

In the meantime, meet recent discovery day attendee Peter Martin who kindly produced a short video of his discovery day experience for me to use on my site. The video is below followed by his comments.

“With two and half years before I can pick up my work pension, a break up of my marriage, kids now independent and need for downsizing, now seems like the time to plan what I’ve often dreamed about over the years.

Living on the cut seems to fit in very well with my lifestyle. I like the outdoors, love boating, independence and getting back to nature.

Having not spent any length of time with live aboard boaters, the Discovery Day was was really just an opportunity to pick up the vibes that go with life on the inland waterways. I needed to do this before committing myself further in the discovery process. Easier to nip things in the bud now if it didn’t appeal before my imagination runs away with itself!

It was a very enjoyable day. I particularly enjoyed the warm welcome of coming in out of the cold to sit in the heat of a toasty, warm cabin. That sold me the lifestyle straight away. It also confirmed that I definitely need a solid fuel stove as primary heat. I know it means hard work lugging coal etc., but what better way to get some outdoor exercise.  I’m also now sold on composting toilets! I never imagined I’d spend the following  week viewing endless YouTube videos of people’s loos!

The helming and boat handling were great experience. By the end of the day I had got over the intimidation of  controlling  60 feet and 20 tons of metal.  A very worthwhile 10 hours and it has confirmed that I’ll continue along this pathway.

The hard work now begins in downsizing, straightening out the finances and then the enjoyable part of finding the right boat.”

You can find out more about my discovery days and availability here.

I Need Some Help!

Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.

Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.

2016 02 07 Newsletter – Building Boating Competence and Confidence

I’m slowly but surely losing my mind. I urinated on my feet this week. It’s not something I did willingly or enthusiastically. In fact the whole experience was a little unsettling.

Cynthia and I enjoyed a couple of hours away from the boat on Thursday evening with a discovery day guest from earlier in the year. Retiree Ian Kirkup wanted to find out if he could comfortably handle a narrowboat on his own. After a seven hour cruise through twelve hours of stunning Warwickshire countryside, obscured to some degree by driving rain, we spent an hour and a half negotiating three descending and then three ascending locks in the Calcutt flight.

Ian found the day very useful indeed. He decided that his limited mobility would prevent him from enjoying a life afloat. He still wanted to live a gypsy lifestyle so decided that his best option was to buy a well-equipped motorhome. It’s a beauty.

After two very pleasant hours discussing the practicalities of living for extended periods in a space which makes our 62’ boat look cavernous, we trudged back to the boat through thick mud along a darkened towpath falling down holes, tripping over roots and being raked by hedgerow brambles. We had, of course, forgotten to bring a torch with us.

Apart from tripping over the bollard our boat’s bow is tied to we climbed back on board without incident. Because of my advanced age, tennis ball sized bladder and copious quantities of tea, my most pressing need was to have a wee.

I headed for our bathroom and smiled lovingly at Cynthia as she passed me carrying a bucket sized, foul smelling plastic container, whipped my trousers down to use our composting toilet, sat down and let loose.

The composting toilet has been on board now for eight months. The first time I used it for liquids I remember thinking that the sound of water splashing into the empty container at my feet sounded very much like liquid splashing directly onto the bathroom floor. I was reminded of this initial impression again on Thursday night, moments before I realised that the sound really was liquid splashing onto the floor. The container which I had clearly seen Cynthia carrying was the missing wee bottle.

There was no harm done other than the few bruises Cynthia gained when she fell over laughing after climbing back back into the boat with the empty liquids container and saw me crawling around the bathroom floor with my trousers around my ankles busily mopping the floor with a handful of blue roll.

That was probably the highlight of our week. The problem with mooring in one spot for weeks on end is that I don’t have an awful lot to report. I work for four days, then relax for three, but I do very little boating.

All of that will change in just three short weeks when my work for Calcutt Boats ends. I’m not sure where we’ll go yet. We’ll have three weeks free before heading north to the Isle of Skye for our wedding.

We’ve decided on a rather unconventional honeymoon. We’re going to hire a motorhome so we can explore the Scottish highlands in comfort. We have an ulterior motive. We want to see how I feel living in the much smaller space available in even a large motor home after the relative spaciousness offered by the fifty feet long cabin on our 62’ narrowboat. If I can endure or even enjoy the experience we will be number crunching to see if we can afford a reasonably comfortable motorhome of our own to use to explore somewhere a little more pleasant than winter-time Britain.

We will continue to spend most of our time afloat. Even though a motor home would allow us escape for two or three months of dreary winter weather, I can’t think of a better way of spending the warmer months. A motor home may allow us to reach southern Europe in comfort but the actual travelling won’t be as peaceful or as stress free as cruising at two or three miles an hour.

Back to boating then, and a subject which I am often asked about. I appear to be a reasonably competent and confident boater now, but how did I feel when I first moved on board?

Many aspiring narrowboat owners are daunted by the prospect of handling such large and ungainly craft on their own. They are worried about mooring techniques, which knots to use, waterways etiquette and rules, lock negotiation, and the many differences between living in a house and living afloat. If you’re considering moving afloat and are overwhelmed by the prospect, I hope that the following summary of my experiences to date will reassure you that if I can do it, anyone can.

I moved onto my current boat on 2nd April 2010. I knew nothing about boats. In fact, I wasn’t particularly interested in boats or living afloat. I just needed somewhere, anywhere, to live away from my matrimonial home. After a disastrous business failure culminating in bankruptcy, the resulting financial strain was the last nail in my marriage’s coffin.

I had no savings and very little income. Six months before moving afloat I started working part time at a marina. I loved working on the extensive grounds there but I earned very little. I needed to move out of my house, but I couldn’t afford to rent the most modest of flats. Because of my bankruptcy I probably wouldn’t have passed the letting agents’ screening anyway.

There are 250 boats moored at Calcutt Boats on two marinas. My daily work involved working close to the boats cleaning and repairing the wooden piers and sometimes moving the boats from their moorings so that they could be repaired or painted. Some appeared to be neglected and unused. One, on a quiet mooring at the western end of Calcutt Boats’ Meadows marina, was in a particularly dilapidated condition.

Paint hung in ribbons off the boat’s windward port side. The gunnels were thick with flaking rust. A tattered lichen smeared cratch cover sagged over the front deck’s peeling paint. The edges of the cabin’s five masonite roof panels curled towards the sky allowing rain to pour into the boat in all but the lightest showers. Ill fitting and rotting wooden hatches over two pairs of side doors and the engine room allowed rainwater to flow down the internal parana pine cladding. The boat was a mess.

The engine room doors were unlocked so, on a cold February day, I climbed over a rickety coffin shaped wooden box covering the dusty engine, swept aside thick floor to ceiling cobwebs and stepped inside.

I didn’t particularly like the boat’s interior. In the depths of winter the boat’s cabin was very cold. Rainwater dripped from discoloured patches in the pine clad roof, dead flies dotted every surface, mould-covered curtains and seating, the stove flue was cracked and the stove glass was broken. What probably bothered me most was a large brown stain in the centre of a sagging mattress on the fixed double bed in the rear cabin.

I didn’t like the boat or know anything about boating. I didn’t really want to live afloat. All I needed was somewhere to live away from the woman who was slowly but surely driving me mad. I’m sure she felt the same about me.

I discovered that the boat was owned by my boss, marina owner Roger Preen. After a short meeting with Roger and his wife Rosemary they agreed that I could pay them a nominal rent to live on board. I moved on board on my fiftieth birthday.

The boat was barely habitable. I spent a week running a powerful dehumidifier for twelve hours a day to try and remove the damp, and then had to do it all again after I inadvertently flooded the rear cabin after discovering that (a) a 350 litre tank doesn’t take an hour to fill and (b) a split filler hose between water tank and deck was allowing the excess to drain into the cabin bilge, flow back to the engine bilge and then slowly fill up the inside of the boat from the rear.

That aside, my first six months were idyllic. Grassed banks carpeted by a stunning array of wildflowers stretched in front of my mooring. Behind me, a half acre tree-studded island rose from twenty feet of clear water filled with shoals of roach, predatory pike and perch, and small groups of battleship sized carp. Mallards squabbled over mates, coots bolted comically through the bankside reeds and an ungainly cob swan chased a dozen Canada geese across the sparkling water.

Each day I finished work at 5.30pm, strolled along a woodland path back to my new home and then sat reading for hours in the early evening sun at a table on the front deck. I very quickly fell in love with the lifestyle.

With very little money coming in from a hugely enjoyable but low paid outdoor job I couldn’t afford to remedy any of the boat’s many ailments. I had no confidence in the engine, the unstable construction covering it was dangerous, water poured through the rapidly deteriorating roof and through ill fitting hatches, the absurd bath was just deep enough to wash a very small baby, the gas water heater was so temperamental that showering was as unpleasant as it was dangerous, the water tank filler hose leaked, the stove flue was cracked and the original electrical system, installed in 1977, was woefully inadequate.

I loved the boat as a home but I had no interest in using it to explore the waterways network. In fact, I was only vaguely aware that a network existed at all. The boat was a reasonably acceptable floating home. It was somewhere to lick my wounds while I considered what to do next, but the options I considered didn’t include waterways cruising.

The thought of using the boat for anything other than a floating flat frightened me. I didn’t take the boat out of the marina for eighteen months and then when I did, I broke down twice. The first breakdown was due to a blocked and almost inaccessible fuel filter. The second breakdown occurred after my gearbox oil leaked out of two perished hoses.

If I had known the first thing about engines I would have realised that after spending thirteen years languishing unused on a marina mooring, all of the perishable pipes and hoses needed replacing.

During my first few months on board I learned an enormous amount about narrowboats in general and mine in particular. Every day I worked with engineers, marine electricians, fitters and painters, many of them boat owners themselves. Every day I discovered more about the boat I lived on and what a beautiful and well appointed boat is used to be.

I learned from the people around me, and I learned by making plenty of mistakes.

I flooded the boat from the bow twice thanks to a split and inaccessible filler hose. I almost flooded the boat three times from the rear when the raw water cooling system failed and dumped gallons of canal water into the engine room bilge in just a few minutes.

Most of the time I worked on the water at the marina. Sometimes, inadvertently, I worked in it too. I have fallen into the marina or the canal spectacularly on three different occasions. The first, two months after I started working there, was on a bitterly cold winter’s day. An icy crust covered the water, catching the hull of the boat I was trying to pull towards me against a lively north westerly. The painful lesson I learned that day was not to lean backwards over water while pulling on a centre line with all my might. The knot slipped causing me to do a backward somersault through the ice into the muddy water beneath, much to the amusement of those around me. I suffered no injuries other than a bruised ego, dented pride and a mild case of hypothermia.

A very important lesson I learned in the early days was how to handle locks safely. Locks caused me no end of confusion and anxiety initially but I was very lucky. A very pleasant part of my job at Calcutt Boats was moving narrowboats between wharf and marina. ThIs involved negotiating two wide locks, initially with another member of staff.

I found locks very confusing. I wasn’t sure which paddles to raise or why I needed to raise them. I sometimes opened paddles in the wrong order or both upstream and downstream paddles at the same time, much to the amusement of the more experienced members of staff who accompanied me.

Shortly after I had mastered the basics of passing through a lock safely, the company asked me to take a brand new boat they had just built on a thirty nine hour cruise down the south Oxford canal and onto the Thames where it was being exhibited at the IWA boat show at Beale Park near Reading. I lost their pride and joy at the first lock I encountered.

I left my twelve year old son on board making tea while I moored the new boat beneath the bottom lock in the Napton flight then left it to set the lock. I was so busy concentrating on manfully winding up the paddle as fast as I could to notice the effect that the surge of water leaving the lock was having on my poorly tied boat.

The knot came adrift allowing the boat to float into the middle of the canal, my son, Brook, standing trembling lipped on the front deck with steaming mug of tea in his hand. Two laughing local boaters brought the boat back to me.

The mishap was at the beginning of three very long but hugely enjoyable cruising days. My son was with me to help with locks and lift bridges. He was too weak to work the locks and too light to lift the bridges. I had to do everything myself. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing but both passengers and boat made it to Beale Park in one piece, despite being pinned against a Thames weir as soon as I left the canal’s comparative calm

Over the months which followed I became a proficient boat handler and full time liveaboard boater. One of the most important pieces in the jigsaw was understanding on board electrics and how they differed enormously from those in a bricks and mortar home. I learned about the relationship between power generation, storage and consumption and how balancing the three is the most difficult aspect of liveaboard life.

I made many mistakes when I first started boating. I still make some now. It’s very easy to be distracted by the wonderful scenery or wildlife as I cruise but I don’t mind. Narrowboats are very forgiving vehicles. The occasional bump or scrape isn’t going to do any harm.

All of this is very good news for you. I don’t pick new skills up particularly quickly, I am rubbish at DIY, and I make many silly mistakes. If I can competently manage living afloat and steer my boat along the inland waterways, you can too. Once you have mastered the basics you can begin to relax and enjoy exploring the wonderful inland waterways network at a very gentle pace.

You will make many mistakes when you first start boating. You will make less if you invest in a little training first. There are many companies offering RYA accredited helmsmanship courses for the inland waterways. Alternatively you can join me for a more comprehensive discovery day and learn about the practicalities of living afloat as well as boat handling. You can find out more about my days here.

Boat Thefts

All is not well with local online moorers. There’s a thief about. A spineless b****d, or maybe two or more of them, has broken into two boats moored on the combined Oxford/Grand Union canal running between Napton and Braunston junctions. Is there a name for a group of thieves? You have a troop of monkeys, a pack of dogs or a herd of cows. How about a vermin of thieves?

One of the boats, owned by newsletter reader Chris Dobbie, was moored close to Tomlow bridge between Napton and Braunston junctions. The thief forced a side hatch to gain entry then stole a waterproof coat, a quilted coat, walking boats, a beanie hat, gloves and a pair of old trainers. Unusually, they left behind other items which would have been easier for them to dispose of. A rucksack was stolen from the second boat before a dog scared them off.

We can only hope that the thief trips over while wearing the unfamiliar walking boots and falls into the canal, but not until he has knocked himself unconscious first. I sincerely hope that he encounters one or two boat owners who are more than happy to deal with his antisocial behavior  and save the local police force the trouble of turning up far too late and then promising to do nothing at all.

In case you think I’m being a little too harsh, I’ve been burgled five times in the past. The thieves have never been caught.

Cynthia says…..

The Best of Both Worlds—

I don’t know about all of you out there, but in the past I used to be in a quandary over how to choose the best thing to do.  This would include where to vacation, or perhaps which museum to visit or how should I spend my day.

After much hand-wringing and soul-searching and a lot of research, I started entertaining the thought of why not do both?  With a bit of imagination and open-mindedness, it often worked out that when I was in doubt about what to do, I found with a little artful manoeuvring I could do both!

The reason I bring this up, is because Paul and I have been discussing on and off over the winter how nice it would be to plant ourselves in the warmer climes and soak up the sun, instead of slogging through the mud, leaning into the biting wind and cold as we make our way to wherever we need to be.

We started discussing motorhomes in earnest this past week, and now it seems to be the reigning topic at hand.  We have spent hours surfing the Internet and reading the various blogs describing all aspects of motorhome traveling and living.

Yesterday (Saturday) was rather nasty weather-wise, and we decided to forego our usual National Trust property visit and head to Weedon (30 minutes drive from us) to see some of these beauties firsthand.  The people there were very accommodating and gave us free rein to look at the vehicles that we fancied.  Well, the first one provided everything we were looking for, so even though we glanced at several other models, we knew we had found the one that resonated best with us.

After returning home Paul was able to locate the same model and layout online, but a few years older and much more in line price-wise for us.  So now we begin the process of putting the pieces of the puzzle together to make this work……we will keep you posted!

I love discovering ways to find a balance in all aspects of my life, but particularly when it comes to making choices about where to go, what to eat etc.  I remember once when I was on a Paris layover I had spotted the dessert tray when we walked in the door.  They had a mouth-watering lemon tart, as well as an equally delectable apple tart.  I wanted a little of each, so I asked our server if this was possible and the next thing I knew voila, I was able to enjoy both.

Applying this to continuous cruising, think about the opportunities to see many things along the way.  With enough flexibility and use of your imagination you can extend your horizons and enjoy much more than you thought possible.  Just give it a try….

Several people have asked if I might include a recipe with the weekly newsletter, but we decided against this as Paul has said in the past there really hasn’t been must interest.  However, with that in mind, for those of you who are interested in such culinary delights, here is the blog I use so much for what I cook—www.eatliverun.com.

Wishing you a good week of creative imagination—go out and make things happen!

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Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

If you’re new to this site you might not know about the service I launched in June 2014. I host narrowboat experience days on board my own 62′ long narrowboat James No 194. The ten hour days are a combination of discussion about the pros and cons of living on board, narrowboat designs and the best equipment for live aboard boaters, and a six to eight hour helmsmanship training cruise along the Oxford and/or Grand Union Canals.

I run my discovery days roughly on the first ten days or so of April, June August, October and December.  If you are interested in joining me for a fun and information packed discovery day next year you can do so by viewing the diary here. You may want to stay locally the night before, the night after or both, in which case I highly recommend this B & B. It’s a five minute stroll from the mooring where I begin my discovery days.

In the meantime, meet recent discovery day attendee Peter Martin who kindly produced a short video of his discovery day experience for me to use on my site. The video is below followed by his comments.

“With two and half years before I can pick up my work pension, a break up of my marriage, kids now independent and need for downsizing, now seems like the time to plan what I’ve often dreamed about over the years.

Living on the cut seems to fit in very well with my lifestyle. I like the outdoors, love boating, independence and getting back to nature.

Having not spent any length of time with live aboard boaters, the Discovery Day was was really just an opportunity to pick up the vibes that go with life on the inland waterways. I needed to do this before committing myself further in the discovery process. Easier to nip things in the bud now if it didn’t appeal before my imagination runs away with itself!

It was a very enjoyable day. I particularly enjoyed the warm welcome of coming in out of the cold to sit in the heat of a toasty, warm cabin. That sold me the lifestyle straight away. It also confirmed that I definitely need a solid fuel stove as primary heat. I know it means hard work lugging coal etc., but what better way to get some outdoor exercise.  I’m also now sold on composting toilets! I never imagined I’d spend the following  week viewing endless YouTube videos of people’s loos!

The helming and boat handling were great experience. By the end of the day I had got over the intimidation of  controlling  60 feet and 20 tons of metal.  A very worthwhile 10 hours and it has confirmed that I’ll continue along this pathway.

The hard work now begins in downsizing, straightening out the finances and then the enjoyable part of finding the right boat.”

You can find out more about my discovery days and availability here.

I Need Some Help!

Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.

Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.

2016 01 31 Newsletter – Essential Narrowboat Tools

With another work week successfully completed I’m now just four weeks away from the start of this year’s extended cruise. I can’t wait. Much as I enjoy the winter work I have been doing at Calcutt Boats, being stuck in one spot for months on end is driving me mad after nine months of continuous cruising last year. I have very itchy feet which need a darn good scratching.

There hasn’t been much boat related activity on board over the last week. The highlight was probably a torrential downpour on Friday night. It was by far the heaviest and most prolonged rain we’ve had this winter. We woke on Saturday morning to an underwater towpath. As you can appreciate, with a dog on board which needs to use the towpath several times a day for toilet breaks, being moored next to one which is under water is a bit of a problem.

Fortunately the canal bank has a slightly raised concrete edge where we are tied up, so basset Tasha walked precariously along the dry edge in search of a patch of almost dry grass while I waited for my early morning guest.

A few weeks ago I wrote about a problem I thought I had with my Kipor suitcase generator not charging my battery bank. I tried to use the generator after my alternator failed during our Christmas cruise. I ran the Kipor for two hours but turned it off after my Smartgauge battery monitor failed to show any increase in the bank’s capacity. I assumed my charger wasn’t working properly or at all.

Fellow Calcutt Boats moorer Graham Mills offered to help. He arrived equipped with two things I don’t possess; a multi meter and the ability to use it.

Within a few minutes he established what many people who emailed me had suspected. The generator is working fine. So is the charger. Unfortunately the 20amp charger just isn’t up to the job of replenishing depleted batteries on a liveaboard narrowboat. It’s capable of topping up the batteries of a leisure cruiser left for months on end on a marina mooring, but not much good for me. I think another battery charger needs to go on our shopping list and, maybe, a multi meter as well to add to my collection of rarely used tools.

I’m probably not the best person on the inland waterways to wax lyrical about the best tools to keep on board your narrowboat. Historically my on board DIY skills have been on a par with those of Rowan Atkinson in Mr. Bean.

I’m more inept than lazy. I can’t understand it at all. My father was chief engineer on a merchant navy ship for many years before I came along. All through my childhood I remember him building, repairing and refurbishing anything he could get his hands on. He could break an engine down into a thousand pieces, improve it and rebuild it seemingly without effort. This kind of proficiency looked like witchcraft to me. It still does. Why don’t I have the same skills? I look more and more like my father as I grow older, I endure the same spells of forgetfulness and aimless wandering and I enjoy many of life’s pleasures that he does. I just can’t fix anything. It’s not fair.

While I acknowledge that anything more than fixing a bulkhead coat hook is probably too much for me, I realise that I am very organised and tidy. These two attributes are very important when you live in such a small space. Having somewhere secure and out of sight to store all of your on board tools is also very useful, which is why I am such a fan of traditional stern narrowboats for liveaboard boaters.

In case you are unfamiliar with narrowboat sterns, there are three types; traditional stern, semi traditional stern and cruiser stern.

Cruiser sterns are what you see on the majority of hire boats. They have large open decks at the back of the boat, usually protected by a rail. They are perfect for groups of people who want to stand with the helmsman as he weaves nervously along the canal. The downside for a liveaboard boater is that they reduce the amount of secure and weather protected internal storage space.

Semi traditional stern narrowboats look like traditional stern boats from a distance. The boat’s cabin sides extend nearly all the way to the stern, but the roof only extends as far back as the roof on a cruiser stern boat. The semi trad boat therefore has two protective wings, usually with lockers inside the wings which double as seats. The lockers can be used to store tools but they aren’t usually either secure or weather proof.

A traditional stern narrowboat has a fully enclosed cabin which extends almost to the back of the boat. The rear deck is just two or three feet deep so only two people, three at a push, can stand at the helm. Trad stern boats aren’t really suitable for groups of holiday boaters but are arguably the best configuration if you’re going to be living on board full time.

Some traditional stern narrowboats have the engine housed in its own space forward of a rear “boatman’s cabin”. You can often see the engines in these boats through side hatches polished to gleaming perfection.

The other and, to me, more useable configuration is with the engine at the back of the boat. That’s what I have. My engine sits under insulated boards slightly in front and below me as I stand and steer. The deck boards above it hide the engine and deaden its noise, and leave me with quite a large secure and dry space to store my tools.

Here are photo’s of my engine room taken from four different angles. The port cabin side houses all of the boat’s electrics; a Sterling 20amp charger and a separate Sterling 1600w pure sine inverter, an MPPT controller for the 300w solar array and a switch for changing from shore to boat 240v power.

All of the other space in the engine room is used to store tools and equipment. My engine room has plenty of storage space but it’s hopeless as a point of access into the boat from the rear deck. You have to be as flexible as a very slippery eel to be able to use the narrow doorway from the engine room into  the back cabin. It’s fine for Cynthia and me. Both of us are whippet thin but for anyone more generously proportioned it’s quite a challenge.

Even though I’m not entirely sure what to do with them, I have a reasonably comprehensive range of tools. With my traditional stern I can store my tools out of sight, under cover and securely. If I had a cruiser stern boat, the tools would have to be stored in an insecure and often wet engine bay, or take up valuable space inside the boat. I would have a similar problem with a semi trad stern boat.

The door from the engine room to the bedroom

Here’s the rather tight entrance from the engine room through to the cabin. A coat rack further obscures the narrow entrance but provides dry storage for our wet weather gear (and a rather fetching pair of my heavy duty work trousers).

Plenty of racking for bulky items

The starboard cabin side is used for storing bulky stuff. There are hooks for our shore line and a shorter 5m lead which I use with the generator, and for my stern mooring line while the boat is moving. I’m not one of those brave souls who hangs their mooring line off the tiller. After recently catching one of my centre lines around the propeller and spending an hour hacking iron taught rope off the drive shaft, I want to keep my lines away from the back end of the boat. I also keep two spare alternator belts there as well as another for the water pump. I just wish I knew how to change them.

There’s a roll of ratchet spanners neatly screwed to the cabin side easily visible and ready for use. I think I’ve used a 13mm spanner once but at least I know where the rest are.

Shelves for pots and polishes

I use this lot quite often. There’s a box of black nitrile gloves on the top shelf for working on the engine and for painting. On the next shelf down there are two tubs of waterproof grease for the stern gland greaser and a narrow bladed wallpaper scraper to help pack the greaser. There’s also a spare fuel filter and a broken torch I thought I had thrown away months ago. Below are a variety of brass polishes, three in one and WD40 oils, a reel of paracord, my recovery magnet and some cleaning cloths.

out of the way storage for essential tools

This is where all the manly tools are stored. I am actually able to use one or two of them. I have a cordless drill with a wide range of bits, mole grips, screwdrivers, a junior hacksaw and wood saw, claw hammer, awl, chisel and bolt croppers. A head torch allows me to work hands free in the dim depths of the engine bay and a jumbo blue paper roll is close at hand for inevitable oil drips and smears.

That’s pretty much all I can say about my own tools. At the front of the boat under the deck next to my water tank I keep my tins of external cabin paint, paint brushes and sandpaper. I used to keep the paint in the engine bay until I discovered that, due to the engine heat, the paint hardened almost overnight.

I may not know much about tools and how to use them, but many boat owners who use this site have been kind enough to complete a survey I created a few months ago. I asked what tools they carry on board with them. Here’s what they wrote…

Mole wrench. Club hammer. Hand drill and drill bits. Centre punch. Lots of torches and spare batteries. Small mirror. Screwdriver set, inc. posidrive. Litter picker, everything you drop will be just out of reach! Pliers. Wire cutters. Carving knife. Secateurs, shears. Multimeter. Funnel. Assorted polythene pipe. Loads of “oily rags”. Magnet.

Too many to list because I still have a house and tools come and go between my 2 tool boxes. I am ready to deal with all electrical and plumbing challenges and of course removing and replacing panelling to gain access. So, wire cutters, wire strippers, crimping tool, long nose pliers, regular pliers, wide jaw pliers, 8″ and 10″ adjustable spanners, a range of screw drivers, bradawl, hacksaw, chisel, Stanley knife, craft knives. If WD40 counts as a tool then that too. I don’t carry a hammer but use my mallet on the occasions when it is needed. I also carry a decent supply of brass screws in various different sizes. The boat fitters used steel screws and they invariably come out slightly corroded so I replace them with brass screws as and when I encounter them. On the odd occasion when a screw doesn’t hold, I can replace it with a longer or wider one.

Winter specific tools: flue brush small splitting axe selection of hammers (very small through rubber mallet to lump hammer) a good knife (much easier for dealing with coal sacks, and will find many other uses) enough coal or wood to last you six weeks (you don’t know if the fuel boat is going to be able to get through — ice and flooding can both interrupt supplies) working smoke and CO alarms enough tea and/or coffee for six weeks Year round tools (essential in winter because if something breaks the weather will make it harder to buy tools if you don’t already own them, and we all know things like to go wrong at the very worst moment): hacksaw and spare blades screwdrivers (at least small and large slot and small and large phillips) strap wrench (for changing the oil filter — you’ll probably want to do this in march and september) enough clean oil for a complete oil change (engine and gearbox) plus excess for top ups “waterproof grease” (isn’t grease waterproof by definition?) set of ring/combination spanners adjustable spanner (or another set of combination spanners) set of hex/allen keys socket set multimeter one spare set of everything (belts, pumps, fuel cut off cables, …) General stuff which really comes into its own in winter: Books (or magazines, or something to read when there’s no internet or other reception Non-electrical hobby stuff (musical instruments, sketch pad and pencil, notebook and pencil, whatever you are into that you can do to keep yourself and loved ones entertained when everything seems to be against you)

Screwdrivers, adjustable spanners, a good pair of end cutters for general use and help with clearing the prop. A set of spanners that match your engine. spare empty plastic milk containers for cutting up to collect drips, as a baler and bleeding radiators etc.

When equipping our new boat I got a handyman tool kit from Screwfix. It was comprehensive (screw drivers/files/tape measure/clamps/pliers/knife/etc etc) and very well priced and included a decent bag. I then added specifics such as: Combination spanner set (good to have both ring and open ended for awkward places) Allen key set (make sure you have one big enough for all the bolts eg Beta alternator belt adjustment (ours fell off at 25 hours from new which is when I discovered it was BIG!)) Hand suction pump to get oil out of the gearbox when you change it (much easier than getting to the drain plug and will pay for itself on first use) Oil filter spanner. Best is Draper mole wrench style (I’ve used others … let me save you the grief) as it doesn’t puncture the canister and make a mess and the grip and range of movement is excellent. Clamp on multi meter that can measure DC as well as AC (really useful for clamping to the alternator output so you can see what’s going on and how engine revs impact output … if at all! Mine paid for itself in first week of non wasted fuel) Good old WD40 Spare set of all fuel and oil filters and all belts. Big roll of garage type blue absorbent towelling. Water proof grease for stern gland and general use. Antifreeze (engine and heating system). Various ‘dip sticks’ for fuel and water levels if you don’t have guages. Gas bottle key (at least two!). Roll of insulation tape. Roll of ‘duct’ tape (aka duck tape). Small roll of electrical wire and connection blocks (temp / emergency electrical fault fixing). Really good rubber gloves (only one thing worse than toilet trouble is realising you have no gloves). Powerful rechargeable LED torch. Assortment of jubilee clips. Assortment of tie wraps. Magnet for retrieving dropped items from canal / engine hole. Ball of twine.

Axe/hatchet and log splitting wedge Chimney brush (I sweep fortnightly!) Chainsaw (mine is battery powered) and chain file to sharpen it cordless drill Full socket and spanner set Lump hammer Normal size claw hammer small hammer Hacksaw Bow saw Adjustable wrench and mole grips Set of files Box of assorted screws, nuts (esp nyloc), washers and bolts Full set of spare filters for air, fuel and oil, and spare belts I also carry (but would not consider essential!) blowtorch angle grinder chain hoist (if I need to do any lifting of engine/gearbox, e.g. to change engine feet, driveplate)

Basic electrical set up, test meter, spare fuses, decent wire strippers, side piars, small screwdrivers. decent socket and spanner set. DO check you have the right sizes for the most used sizes on your boat (AF or Metric). An extra rope and stell bucket. A handy firefighting tool when the neighbouring boats hot ashes burst into flame at 3 in the morning and try to take your boat, their boat and a 100 feet of hedge and trees with them!

Wood and metal saws. Spanners from very small to very big. Multitude of Philips and flat nosed screwdrivers. Electric sander Hand and electric drills Small work bench Electric connectors and crimper’s The new hand held Karcher used for cleaning windows but gets condensation cleaned in a short time, great tool. Hand held vac

I have a long paint roller handle used for painting behind radiators. I have curved the end into a hook shape. This is used when feeding a mooring chain through Armco pilings. Lower the small end of the chain behind the horizontal support for the Armco. Using the hook end grab the small end of the chain and bring it up on the outside of the support. Place small ring through the large one then pass your mooring rope through the small ring. Job done without too much bending or kneeling on wet grass, or worse still, Paul’s favourite muddy towpaths.

Leatherman Wave Multi-Tool, on belt at all times. Zippo Lighter. Large Axe. Folding Wood Saw. Hacksaw with Blades by Bahco Sandflex, very flexible. KNIPEX Heavy Duty Wire Cutters. Flexible Jubilee Clip Driver. Changeable bit Screwdriver and bits. Socket and Spanner Set. Mole Grips. Cordless Drill. OX 10″ Pro Claw Bar/Hammer. Multi-meter Electrical Tester. Manual Bilge Pump. Sea Searcher Magnet. TV Signal Finder….

The tools I have used is a strong LED head light that allows you to keep your hands free. A good set of screwdrivers. Spare lock key. A box full of various screws. Thread tape Electrical meter Various spanners

socket set, screwdrivers of every type, Stillson wrench, adjustable spanner, soldering iron, hacksaw, WD40 gaffer type, Allen keys, G clamp. Will probably take the electric chain saw too. Tools I wish I had – electric multi meter, strap wrench for changing filters.

Wire cutters, knife etc for clearing weed hatch Spanners, Allen keys, adjustable, screw drivers, pliers, filter wrench for engine maintenance. Paint, brushes, wet and dry, wire brush, Temporary pipe repair tape / putty. Stilton, tap spanner Multimeter, electrical connectors and crimp told, insulating tape.

battery drill. hammer .various size spanners. adjustable wrench. socket set. speed clamps’ sharp knives sorted screwdrivers. mole grips. pliers multi meter.hacksaws. axe. magnet on a rope. flexi mirror. drill bits.tape. glues. sealers .

lump hammer, claw hammer, adjustable open ended & ring spanners, screw drivers large & small flat & philips, pliers,mole grips, tape measure, pencil, socket set, spare hoses & clips, gear & throttle cables, oil & filter, spare diesel & filter, plumbers tape, insulation tape, hack saw, hand saw, log saw,spare fenders & rope, various size nails & screws.

Stanley knife. Cordless drill, bits and assorted screwdriver bits. Bikers combination tool. Set of spanners. Plastic tubing. Duct tape. Insulation tape. Assorted screwdrivers. Test lamp or multimeter. Saws-hacksaw, junior hacksaw, joiners saw. Mole grips. Quick clamp. Combination square. Crowbar. Blowlamp. Extra rope. Electric wire. Stacking boxes with tools labelled on each box. Paint brushes. Thinners. Paint. Sealant and sealant gun. Head torch. Ordinary torch.

Magnet on a chain. Two open ended spanners to adjust the stern gland. Cable ties. Circuit tester. Toolbox with mixture of screwdrivers, stanley knife, hammer, Spare fan belt, spare bulbs, spare windlass, spare mooring rope

I have a good Black and Decker tool box with a general selection of tools – pliers, hammer, drill etc with a good range of screws. I have a jigsaw for general wood repairs and making. Other ‘tools’ include spare mooring lines, black heat resistant paint, varnish, paint etc.

Spare windlasses, torches, candles, firelighters, beer, wine, bottle opener, toilet roll, solar charger for a mobile phone, curry paste and toilet blue

I’ve got a boxed section under the dinette with a hinged front flap – it’s only about 5 cm high but very long – I have 4 large tupperware boxes full of tools – electrical in one, heavy in another etc – they are in a train tied by bungee cord so I pull one out and the others follow . . . it just makes use of the space and obviates the need for a huge trad-sized toolbox.

Test meter. Pliers. Spanners. Duct tape. Wire cutters. Electric and manual drills. Drill bits.

Does a head torch count…. it does not go far from me when I am on board. Otherwise is it decent too, box so tools can be found easily. As to tools depends on what you are prepared to have a go at – I’ll go at most things, but the tap and die set I brough from screwfix has seen a lot of use.

A two-tube metal epoxy kit – this is sometimes two separate tubes and other times two tubes in a sort of builtin hypodermic type injector. When you squeeze out matching amounts of the paste [two different colors] you mix until they become one solid color. Now you have about 15 minutes to apply. Notice I said METAL epoxy… you might wish to consider two kits – one for copper/brass and one for iron/steel. When dry this epoxy can actually be machined! These kits can provide temporary crucial repairs while you are off your mooring – enough that the engine will run safely, the loo will flush without flooding the engine room, or seal a leaking hull seam after a “lock bump” and so on. US cost about $6.00 per set.

Mole grips – especially small ones.

Various screwdrivers , mid sized hammer , adjustable spanner , pliers , side cutters , hacksaw , small socket set , always have a roll of insulation tape , mole grips . being a mechanic I carry a lot more than this , but this should get you by without too much space wasted

spanners, adjustable wrenches, club hammer, bow saw, sea magnet, battery powered drill/driver, hand axe, battery terminal puller

Small socket set, small and large adjustable wrench,monkey wrench, pliers, assorted screwdrivers, telescopic magnet(for picking up screws etc dropped in awkward places) junior hacksaw, sharp knife, multi-meter

All the usual hand tools, hammer, pliers, etc. Bolt croppers, hacksaw, wood saw. Stanley knife and blades. Cordless drill. Spanner and socket set. Plumbing tools and some spare pipe and fittings, PTFE tape etc. Electrical kit, fuses, wire, crimper, insulation tape and fittings.

I have a replica dutch barge not a narrow boat. Not a comprehensive list but some tools which, for the most part, get reasonable use: A stubby adjustable spanner A set of box spanners A crimping tool and spare connectors A simple multi-meter A grease gun Plenty of rags A sturdy emergency knife (I have a riggers/seaman’s knife in a sheath – never been used, fingers crossed)

Electrical. Set of spanners set of screwdrivers hammer mallet adjustables mole grips

There you go. If you’re thinking of moving onto your own boat you now know all the tools to take with you. If you’re already a boat owner you may well have spotted one or two items to add to your shopping list.

Cynthia says—

Getting in gear….

This past week brought several good changes and both of us have benefitted.  We shall carry forward and see if this is sustainable.  We shifted into a more disciplined gear/mode and decided that we would turn off the lights earlier at night and get up earlier in the morning, which is the most productive time of the day for both of us on many levels.

We start the day with Paul working on his site and on the newsletter while I am preparing our breakfast.  Whilst partaking of this healthy repast, we jot down the days goals….I have my goals to accomplish while Paul is at work, and he has his goals for after returning from work which may or may not involve me.  We were able to accomplish a number of things, especially around James—putting up our new bespoke brass latches on the engine door and on the toilet door, replacing the inappropriate but worked-in-a-pinch bungee cord.  They look so nice and are very functional.

Paul took the opportunity to see if the brass drawer pulls would polish up, and low and behold they did beautifully!  Please see photos…and tell us what you think!  He is now on a mission to polish every last piece of brass in the place, and I have done the research to find the appropriate non VOC lacquer so that we will no longer need to polish them.  We both agree this small detail makes a big impact.

Bespoke brass latch

We are gearing up for the future and putting our thoughtful positive energy into getting my house sold this coming spring/summer.  Unfortunately, the market in Vermont has been rather depressed now for a number of years and is coming back slowly.  I have a well-priced and charming house that by American standards is very old…built in the 1760’s.  “Hawley” is the oldest house in town, has a rich history and has water views of the famous fly fishing creek, the Battenkill.  Anyone out there looking for a lovely second home New England?

Whilst visiting the gorgeous National Trust property, Stowe, yesterday, we finished up our lovely walk around the property by paying a visit to their charming gift shop.  While I was perusing the postcards, Paul found the most beautiful book entitled “The National Trust book of the Coast,” and we parted with the necessary £20 so we could take it home.  Just remember, an intense want becomes a justifiable need!

When we returned home last evening and were eating our light dinner, Paul had a great idea inspired by the above mentioned book.  Why don’t we take a couple of months and tour the entire coast of the U.K.?  I became quickly enchanted with the idea, and now we are chattering about the possibilities and logistics of making this happen.   Anyone out there know where we could rent/buy a good motor home?  Selling my Vermont house will give us the necessary funds to make this dream a reality.  Life is an adventure and at the end of this piece I will provide my favourite quote that speaks to this…..

As Paul is taking the opportunity to provide you with needed gear aboard a narrowboat, we thought it might be a good idea for me to suggest a few items for the kitchen, so here we go—-

My most useful appliance is my beloved Vitamix which helps me to whip up our smoothies, soups, nut milks and many other things.  They are pricey but a necessity if one is serious about eating healthfully.  A simple food processor is also handy for many jobs.  And for storing our spices and everything from quinoa to dog treats, the Kilner jars are just so nice—and beautiful to look at.  See the photo of our spice collection and please take note of the gorgeous bespoke rack in which to store them!

We are also gearing up to have some extensive joinery work done on James and perhaps some new non-leaky windows will be in the offing.

It’s always fun to plan and dream and as we approach Spring it’s a perfect time to turn our thoughts in these directions…..and dream of a land yacht in our future:-))

See you in February!

And for the promised quote:

Taken from the book “Loki and Loon” by Gifford Pinchot

Advice from the writer’s father:

“He convinced me that taking on adventure was one of man’s most important obligations, as well as being a source of great satisfaction.  You can always find plenty of reasons for following the conventional safe and easy path, but if you do, you will miss some of the very best of life, and never even know it.”  Amen!!

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Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

If you’re new to this site you might not know about the service I launched in June 2014. I host narrowboat experience days on board my own 62′ long narrowboat James No 194. The ten hour days are a combination of discussion about the pros and cons of living on board, narrowboat designs and the best equipment for live aboard boaters, and a six to eight hour helmsmanship training cruise along the Oxford and/or Grand Union Canals.

I run my discovery days roughly on the first ten days or so of April, June August, October and December.  If you are interested in joining me for a fun and information packed discovery day next year you can do so by viewing the diary here. You may want to stay locally the night before, the night after or both, in which case I highly recommend this B & B. It’s a five minute stroll from the mooring where I begin my discovery days.

In the meantime, meet recent discovery day attendee Peter Martin who kindly produced a short video of his discovery day experience for me to use on my site. The video is below followed by his comments.

“With two and half years before I can pick up my work pension, a break up of my marriage, kids now independent and need for downsizing, now seems like the time to plan what I’ve often dreamed about over the years.

Living on the cut seems to fit in very well with my lifestyle. I like the outdoors, love boating, independence and getting back to nature.

Having not spent any length of time with live aboard boaters, the Discovery Day was was really just an opportunity to pick up the vibes that go with life on the inland waterways. I needed to do this before committing myself further in the discovery process. Easier to nip things in the bud now if it didn’t appeal before my imagination runs away with itself!

It was a very enjoyable day. I particularly enjoyed the warm welcome of coming in out of the cold to sit in the heat of a toasty, warm cabin. That sold me the lifestyle straight away. It also confirmed that I definitely need a solid fuel stove as primary heat. I know it means hard work lugging coal etc., but what better way to get some outdoor exercise.  I’m also now sold on composting toilets! I never imagined I’d spend the following  week viewing endless YouTube videos of people’s loos!

The helming and boat handling were great experience. By the end of the day I had got over the intimidation of  controlling  60 feet and 20 tons of metal.  A very worthwhile 10 hours and it has confirmed that I’ll continue along this pathway.

The hard work now begins in downsizing, straightening out the finances and then the enjoyable part of finding the right boat.”

You can find out more about my discovery days and availability here.

I Need Some Help!

Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.

Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.

2016 01 24 Newsletter – Stuck In Ice

DUE TO INTERNET CONNECTIVITY ISSUES ALL PHOTO’S WILL BE ADDED TOMORROW…

There’s SO much to do. A hire boat takes a considerable amount of punishment during the cruising season. The handover to new holiday hirers at Calcutt Boats is considered very thorough for the inland waterways. The novice crews, often tired after spending half the day fighting their way through heavy traffic, then have to endure information overload for an hour while they are shown how to operate the inverter, television, radio, central heating, toilet and shower. Then they’re shown how to fill up with water, turn off the gas supply if there’s a leak, how and when to pump out the toilet and top up with fuel, how to perform the daily engine checks and then, for the last quarter of an hour before they’re released onto the inland waterways, how to actually steer an articulated lorry sized boat.

Consequently and understandably, at the end of the season many hire boats have an impressive collection of battle scars. The hull takes most of the punishment but narrowboat hulls take punishment very well indeed because of their design. The thick steel is protected by “rubbing strakes”. They’re half rounded strips of steel welded to the hull, more pronounced at the bow, running down either side of the hull. The rubbing strakes constantly make contact with concrete, brick, wood and steel as the often inexperienced helmsmen negotiate bridges, locks and towpath moorings.

Hull scuffs and scrapes are easy to repair once the boat is lifted out of the water. Two or three roller applied coats of bitumen and the hull looks as good as new again. The more troublesome scuffs and scrapes are on the cabin.

Many new boaters underestimate the destructive capability of offside vegetation. Contractors working for CRT do a very good job of maintaining thousands of miles of towpath bank. Whippet thin staff wielding industrial mowers and strimmers march tirelessly along the towpath during the growing season to ensure that the canalside vegetation is kept in check. Tree surgeons remove unhealthy or unsafe trees from the towpath and, where wind blown, diseased or aged trees are hazardous or obstruct the canal, also on the offside bank. Unfortunately CRT simply doesn’t have the resources to to keep the offside bank clear of vegetation so it grows unchecked.

The easiest and safest part of the canal to navigate is usually close to the towpath where the water is deeper and there is less bankside vegetation. All too often though, novice boaters stray far too close to the offside. Bramble, hawthorn and blackthorn scour the cabin sides. Overhanging willow, oak and ash scratch the roof and sweep unsecured items into the canal. Poles, planks, boat hooks, and life rings are all at risk, as are coffee mugs, cameras, phones, maps, binoculars and boaters’ hats. Twice last year I had to quickly stop my boat mid stream and then reverse a hundred metres along the canal to retrieve a snagged fleece hat hanging from brambles eight feet above the canal.

By the year’s end many hire boats are in a sorry state. The boats here at Calcutt are no exception. With the help of Calcutt’s premier boat painter, Rob, I’ve just repainted the most deserving boat in the fleet. We stripped off the sign writing, sanded the boat back to bare metal in many places, sanded the paint thoroughly everywhere else, removed and treated some rust patches, removed, cleaned and replaced all of the windows and then carefully repainted the whole boat. The process took a month, thanks in part, to my own inexperience and Rob’s frequent absence when called away to do other work.

We passed our completed boat over to the engineers on Wednesday then pulled another boat into our wet dock to begin the whole process again. This one doesn’t require quite so much work so we should finish that one and then a third before I finish my work for the company at the end of next month.

The canal froze again on Tuesday. After a mild and very wet winter so far, firm and frosty mud underfoot was a pleasure after months of wading through brown sludge. The front of the boat looks more like a mud bath than a well deck. The short cold spell made for easier walking and far quicker post walk and toilet break doggy paw cleaning.

Being on a boat stuck in the ice is very peaceful. There were no boats surging past us for three days, not that there are many of those at all this time of the year. Half a dozen boats during the day is busy but, as soon as ice forms over the water, boaters, conscious of the damage ice can do to tar based bitumen paint, resign themselves to a few unscheduled rest days and stay where they are.

The only difficulty we have on our current mooring in a cold snap is topping up our water tank. Our tiny 350 litre tank had just about enough in it on Wednesday to wet the bottom of a flea’s flip flops, so one way or another, we had to top it up.

We had a choice. We could either break the ice behind us for a hundred and fifty feet so that we could reverse along the towpath until we were opposite the water point by Calcutt Top lock, or we could leave the boat firmly stuck in the ice and try and somehow haul our hose across a slightly wider stretch of canal between us and a water point on the opposite bank inside Calcutt Boats’ grounds.

The problem with moving the boat back along the towpath was breaking the ice behind us. I didn’t want to use my rudder as an ice breaker so the technique would have been a quick burst of throttle with the engine in forward gear to create a surge of underwater propellor wash to break the ice, move back into clear water, rinse and repeat. The problem was that the technique is time consuming and, as the canal side back towards the water point curved considerably, the boat was likely to become wedged between the bank and sections of unbroken ice. The easier option was to find a way of carrying our hose across the frozen canal to the water point on the opposite bank.

Because I used to be a boy scout – before being thrown out of the scouts for introducing the rest of the troop to the local pub – I’m always prepared. Along with a wide array of other useful equipment, I keep a 100m long reel of paracord in the engine room. It’s a useful bit of kit for manufacturing temporary washing lines, belts, shoelaces, as a sturdy line for my recovery magnet and, in this case, as a lightweight leader to throw across the canal.

I unravelled the paracord reel, tied the magnet to one end and then bounced the magnet over the ice until it stuck to the hull beneath where Cynthia stood on the front deck, congratulated myself on a job well done, and then asked Cynthia to heave on the paracord line to pull the hose over. Then, remembering that I hadn’t actually tied paracord to hose, hastily told Cynthia to stop pulling on the line just as the last of it slipped off the bank onto the ice.

As I lay face down on the frozen bank I was attacked by a pack of savage dogs. A lady boater on a boat opposite us collects dogs for a living. She has, I think, six on board at the moment. They are a nightmare. Individually, most of them are harmless, but collectively they are a bit of a pain, especially when they are lead by a vindictive little shit of a pug with a very bad case of little dog syndrome.

He bounced up to me barking and snarling as I stood up and cautiously offered him a friendly hand. He bit it and then went for my ankles. While he attacked from the front, two of his collie pals tried to sneak behind me to nip at my heels. I gave the pug a none too gentle prod with my wellie to fend him off. His owner reinforced my prod with a hefty kick and then, without a word of apology, ineffectively screamed at the pack to draw them away from me.

An aggressive pug – The one I met this week wasn’t quite so cute.

No harm was done other than me skinning my knuckles, denting my pride and wetting my pants, but being set upon by a pack of out of control dogs presided over by a screaming and largely uncaring owner isn’t a particularly pleasant experience.

The rest of the tank filling exercise was uneventful if time consuming. Everything is time consuming when you live afloat. It’s not a problem when you have all day to complete your tasks, but at the end of a hard day at work, I sometimes wish that I could enjoy the convenience of plumbed in utilities.

Where we are moored is generally very quiet, apart from the occasional irritating barking from the demented dog pack opposite, and especially quiet during the icy spell. When you live on a boat you become very sensitive to sounds. When you’re cruising, you become familiar with the exact sound of your engine and how it chances when you pass through bridges, deep cuttings and tunnels. You start to panic whenever you hear an unfamiliar rattle. More than once I’ve momentarily considered pulling over and turning the engine off before realising that the unexpected din was coming from a tractor hidden behind a high hedge.

You become obsessed with the sound of dripping water. Outside is always better than in. Internal drips may be a plumbing leak but more often than not on James, in the early morning quiet, it’s a slow drip I hear from the stern gland or the calorifier pressure relief valve into the engine room bilge just feet behind our heads as we sleep.

The wind blows and I hear soft scratching on my roof from overhanging branches, rain pattering against the windows and reeds brushing against the cabin sides. The sound of the wind differs depending on direction. The wind blows from the stern and I hear the slap, slap, slap of waves driving under the counter. If the wind blows from either side I hear a more muted slap against the hull as I drift off to sleep… unless ice on the canal is thawing.

On Wednesday night I thought the ever present ducks and swans were causing the noise which was slowly driving me mad. Water birds often eat the organic growth which forms on the hull at the waterline. The sound of frantic beaks scraping on steel is a common sound on board. On this occasion though I realised that the noise was the result of a combination of the rising temperature and an impatient boater.

Earlier in the day the first boat in nearly three days announced its approach from several hundred metres along the cut. The canal looked deceptively clear of ice but, as is usually the case, the surface ice had melted leaving an inch thick sheet under half an inch of water.

The new boat owner smiled happily as he crunched through the ice, probably unaware of the paint stripping being done on his waterline. As he passed, shards of broken ice crashed against my hull. Fortunately my hull is steel. GRP cruisers can suffer considerable damage from ice forced into them from passing boats.

The nighttime noise which I first mistook for foraging ducks was in fact small chunks of ice being blown by the wind into my starboard side. It wasn’t the most relaxing sound to listen to while trying to count my mental sheep.

After a busy working week we relaxed in style with a little non boating activity. We drove an hour to Rothschild family owned Waddesdon Manor on the A41 between Bicester and Aylesbury. Sadly the house doesn’t open until March but we spent a thoroughly enjoyable four hours wandering around 165 acres of grounds left to the National Trust by the Rothschilds. I’m afraid I’m not very sophisticated but I appreciate good food and wine. We had a first class lunch in The Stables restaurant before exploring the wine cellars where over 10,000 bottles of unfortunately inaccessible wine are stored. We had a wonderful day out but, as usual, I would have been happier out on the inland waterways.

All that lovely wine!

Cruising Guides

Two of the most popular and comprehensive guides to the inland waterways are by Pearson and Nicholson. Each has its own merits. Both contain a huge amount of essential information about the canals and the facilities along the way. My personal favourites are the Pearson guides, purely because they’re what I’m used to. Both sets of guides are very comprehensive, but they don’t tell you the little things which make cruising so much easier; the best places to moor and which areas to stay away from, lock lengths, restrictions and peculiarities, which boating clubs to join on navigations where mooring is a problem, the quality of pubs and restaurants along the way and which rivers are prone to flooding and what to do if you get stuck.

Thanks to the ever helpful boaters using the site forum, there’s a wealth of additional information in the Cruising Guide section of the forum. One of the latest posts in this section is A Rough Guide to the River Nene written by Peter Earley. If you’re thinking of heading east onto the Fens it’s a very useful read.

Join Me On A Virtual Cruise Through Summertime Rural Warwickshire

Mike Shacklock flew from Canada to the UK last June. While he was here he joined me on a beautiful summer’s day cruise to Braunston. He brought his GoPro Hero 3+ video camera with him. Mike claims that he didn’t really know what he was doing with the camera but he still managed to capture some stunning footage. The video is twenty six minutes long. It begins with a gentle cruise along a sinuous canal, passing happy, waving boaters on oncoming boats, and then finishes with a view from the cockpit as the boat drops down the three locks in the Calcutt flight and then ascends the flight again. There’s an option to watch the video in high definition. If you would like to watch it, set the definition as high as your internet connection will allow. The video quality and the accompanying soundtrack are a delight. If you enjoy it as much as I did, maybe you would like to join me later in the year for the real thing.

The video is here. You can find out more about my discovery days here.

Cynthia Says…

Discoveries–Moving forward—

A week ago Sunday we awoke to yet another morning with a fully iced over canal around us….beautiful in its own right to be sure.  It brought to mind the stories of skaters in the Netherlands and in Quebec, Canada skating for miles at a time, gliding quietly down the rivers.  What a joy that would be to do on our waterways!  But, alas, unless one weighed 250 grams or less, one would quickly find themselves in the teeth-chattering frigid water—not an enviable place to be.

I am still adjusting to the loss of my beloved Bromley, and one of the ways I like to grieve is by taking long walks and taking in all the sights and sounds.  This week brought some mild weather and some lovely sunshine so the outdoors were particularly inviting.  I found that being surrounded by such beauty along with the birdsong and the sunshine helped to heal my grieving heart.  Wednesday was so warm I was even able to sit on the bow and enjoy the sunset as I eagerly awaited Paul’s arrival back from work.  It was heaven and a peek at things to come as we move ever closer to spring and more welcome daylight.

I made some lovely discoveries during these walks, and will share a few photos at the end of my text.  It was fun to see the frost on the various bushes and trees around the towpath and on the ropes and pigeon box of James.  Everything looked as though someone had painstakingly sugar frosted everything with great skill and attention to detail.

I have noticed in many places that certain bulbs and buds on trees are beginning their push to the light.  I am so excited for all that there will be to discover in spring!

I made myself a promise last Monday that I would make the shopping trip to Rugby in the car by myself (albeit with Tasha in tow for moral support!), and it was a breeze.  I am discovering that each time I go out I learn a little more and become (somewhat) more comfortable.  My next moving-forward step will be to ease my way onto a motorway and see how that feels.  I actually think it will be OK–it’s just the roundabouts that ruffle my spirit.

I love discovering new ways of attacking challenges having to do with living on James and this week gave me a great opportunity.  We needed to fill the water tank, and as we were iced in, an alternate solution needed to be found.  Wednesday night I envisioned strings attached to hoses bridging the gap from spigot to boat.  As I was looking out the window to our neighbors boat across the canal I noticed their hose.  I had never seen them get their water from the water point on the canal so figured they had another source, and low and behold they did!  I went to the dump barge to get one of our long hose reels, and when Paul returned home from work he found a reel of nylon cord and tied a heavy metal magnet on one end with the hose attached to the other end of the line.  He then skidded the line and hose across the ice and the tank was quickly filled.  It sure beat the option of forging ahead through the ice and shaving the hull paint off James!

Our big discovery yesterday was Waddeston Manor near Aylesbury.  What a breathtaking place!  The grounds are to die for and we so enjoyed our walk, as well as discovering their magnificent wine cellar and the stable restaurant where we enjoyed a relaxing and delicious lunch.  This is a definite must-return spot for the spring/summer season!

Each day there is something new to discover, even if it is just something within ourselves, as well as in the out-of-doors.  For me this week it was both.  A week of internal grieving balanced by the beautiful outdoors and all it has to offer.  Each day is a special gift and I am just so happy I have someone who loves to discover and explore as much as I do!

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Discovery Day And Narrowboat Helmsmanship Training

If you’re new to this site you might not know about the service I launched in June 2014. I host narrowboat experience days on board my own 62′ long narrowboat James No 194. The ten hour days are a combination of discussion about the pros and cons of living on board, narrowboat designs and the best equipment for live aboard boaters, and a six to eight hour helmsmanship training cruise along the Oxford and/or Grand Union Canals.

I run my discovery days roughly on the first ten days or so of April, June August, October and December.  If you are interested in joining me for a fun and information packed discovery day next year you can do so by viewing the diary here. You may want to stay locally the night before, the night after or both, in which case I highly recommend this B & B. It’s a five minute stroll from the mooring where I begin my discovery days.

In the meantime, meet recent discovery day attendee Peter Martin who kindly produced a short video of his discovery day experience for me to use on my site. The video is below followed by his comments.

“With two and half years before I can pick up my work pension, a break up of my marriage, kids now independent and need for downsizing, now seems like the time to plan what I’ve often dreamed about over the years.

Living on the cut seems to fit in very well with my lifestyle. I like the outdoors, love boating, independence and getting back to nature.

Having not spent any length of time with live aboard boaters, the Discovery Day was was really just an opportunity to pick up the vibes that go with life on the inland waterways. I needed to do this before committing myself further in the discovery process. Easier to nip things in the bud now if it didn’t appeal before my imagination runs away with itself!

It was a very enjoyable day. I particularly enjoyed the warm welcome of coming in out of the cold to sit in the heat of a toasty, warm cabin. That sold me the lifestyle straight away. It also confirmed that I definitely need a solid fuel stove as primary heat. I know it means hard work lugging coal etc., but what better way to get some outdoor exercise.  I’m also now sold on composting toilets! I never imagined I’d spend the following  week viewing endless YouTube videos of people’s loos!

The helming and boat handling were great experience. By the end of the day I had got over the intimidation of  controlling  60 feet and 20 tons of metal.  A very worthwhile 10 hours and it has confirmed that I’ll continue along this pathway.

The hard work now begins in downsizing, straightening out the finances and then the enjoyable part of finding the right boat.”

You can find out more about my discovery days and availability here.

I Need Some Help!

Each time I write a newsletter, I tick another subject off the list of things which those new to boating have told me that they want to read about. The hardest part of the process isn’t the writing itself, it’s constantly thinking of new content for each issue. The trouble is, I don’t know what you want to read. I think I keep the newsletters reasonably interesting but I don’t know for sure. That’s where I need your help.

Can you let me know what you would like to read in the future? Are there any areas of narrowboat life you don’t think I’ve covered enough or areas which I’ve missed completely? Please let me know what you want to read about. Thanks for your help.