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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.

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.

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).

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

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.

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!

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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.

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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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.

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.

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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.

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.

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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.