What to do on a narrowboat when the canal is closed?

We were let down by the Canal and River Trust (CRT) this week. After a lovely weekend on the Montgomery Canal in Wales, we set off back along the Lllangollen with the aim to get to a mooring in Chester this Saturday. Unfortunately, when we got to Grindley Brook locks on Monday afternoon, we received this email from CRT:

There is a reality that with a 250 year old canal network, there will be times when things break unexpectedly. But in this case it was planned work, and we should have been notified well in advance. I am set up so that I get emails about any stoppages on the canals we travel, so that we can plan around them, and if this notice had been issued on 17th March, as it should have, we would have been well beyond the area before work started. But apparently they had a “system issue” which I suspect was more likely a “forgot to press the button issue”, so we did not know until too late.

This gave me two challenges. Firstly how to react to the CRT cock up. Should I get angry and shout at the poor agent on the end of the CRT helpline? Should I move the boat up to the stoppage area and shout at the workmen to work faster? Neither would have any impact except perhaps to make me feel better. No, after reflection we decided to treat the incident as one of those things that happens when you live on a narrowboat, and to make the most of it.

So my second challenge was how to make the most of it. I have been able to get a few jobs done on the boat – touching up some scratched paint, adding diesel bug inhibitor to my fuel tank, checking my weed hatch, getting a load of shopping. But much more fun has been a couple of bus adventures to local towns – Whitchurch and Shrewsbury. Shrewsbury in particular is a really lovely town, with Roman remains, a Norman mott and bailey castle, Medieval and Tudor shop fronts, and a bustling indoor market full of craft and food stalls.

The way I look at it is that if CRT had not made their mistake, I would never have had these extra few days, and to have had my adventures.

But I still hope that the work completes this afternoon and we can get back on our way. Living on a narrowboat is fun. Travelling on a narrowboat is more fun.

March 31, 2023 0

Is it boring being on a narrowboat?

It is surprising how often I get asked if it is boring being on a narrowboat. I think people assume that one day is like another, and when you are cruising along there is nothing to do. In fact, you are always busy. Steering several tons of steel is not fundamentally difficult because it is so slow, but if you lose concentration for just a few seconds, you find yourself in the side of a canal, or hitting a bridge, or worse, another boat. So when we are moving we are always focused. When we are moored we find ourselves physically quite tired and there are always jobs to do – finding a shop for some bread, checking the grease on the propellor shaft, changing over the gas bottles, or just exploring the area.

It is also not boring because you see interesting things. Just this week we have seen a giant teddy that waves to you when you go past:

A hobbit hole in someone’s garden:

A weird old woman in another:

Possibly the scariest aqueduct in the world:

Several spooky tunnels:

A chained up rock:

An extremely short railway:

Boring? Never on a narrowboat.

March 24, 2023 0

Losing my glasses

We are now properly set off for our 2023 narrowboat adventure. Our first canal is the Llangollen, one of the prettiest navigations in the UK. It gets extremely busy during the summer, so an early season visit makes sense. The weather has been a bit drizzly, but nothing we can’t cope with, and the scenery is beautiful. But on our first day out (Wednesday) I made the massive mistake of dropping my glasses in the canal.

These are expensive glasses and the only pair I have on the boat, so as they sank under the water, more than a few expletives came from my mouth. Fortunately we were just mooring at the time, so I knew pretty much where they had gone in. Unfortunately, my magnet fishing line did not find them – possibly no steel in the frames. I was not willing to give up, so I stripped down to my underwear and a T Shirt, and got in.

Boy it was cold, but I was determined, and after about ten minutes feeling along the silt with my feet, I discovered something that could be what I wanted, so I dipped under the water to pick up whatever it was – and it was my glasses!

A hot shower and fresh clothes, and a wash of my glasses and everything turned out well. No scratches, on me or the specs. I realise I was fortunate, and am grateful everything turned out well. Lesson learnt – don’t wear glasses when playing with ropes over the rear of a boat.

Have you ever lost and found something important? How did you feel?

March 17, 2023 2

It may be snowing but it’s cozy inside the narrowboat

It is so good to be back on the boat.

It has been convenient to live in a house over winter. Easy to keep clean. Things don’t break as often. Plenty of space. But I have missed the boat.

The new kitchen was finally finished on Tuesday, so I drove down Wednesday with a car full of everything we need for a season – clothes, towels, crockery, cutlery, bedding. I am very pleased with the work the boat yard have done and they have kept the boat relatively tidy. Last year I had to clean lots of mould from surfaces. But this year a quick steam clean of the floor, a wipe of the insides of the cupboards, and we are fine. I have learnt that the key is to allow plenty of air circulation, so moving the bed away from the wall, having several windows open a little, and giving everything a good clean before we leave the boat in the autumn. All these things have helped.

I’m heading back to Scotland later, and then will return with Mandy and the dogs over the weekend. My plan was to get going early next week, with our first trip on the Lllangollen and Montgomery canals through Wales. But the forecast is that the current snow and sleet will continue all week, so I will have to do some pretty fancy negotiating to persuade Mandy that it is better to travel than to hunker down with the cozy stove in the boat.

Gongoozlers (people who like to watch the boats but don’t have one) often ask me if it is cold living on a narrowboat. You might think so because there is just a single metal skin and little insulation. But in fact they are very easy to keep warm and do not use much energy because there is such a small airspace inside. As I write this, it is lovely to watch the snow falling outside while feeling cozy and warm inside, with the boat very gently rocking in the wind.

But I have a list of jobs to be done. I would like to give the kitchen walls a quick coat of paint to make them look as fresh as the new units for when Mandy arrives.

I’m ready for the summer – in the snow. Are you?

March 10, 2023 0

When can I go back to the narrowboat?

I was hoping that this week’s blog would be about my return to the narrowboat, after having a new kitchen fitted over winter. I know the washing machine has not yet arrived but that is not urgent, and I really want to get the boat set up for the summer season. Unfortunately I found out on Wednesday that the new cooker is installed but is not yet converted to bottled gas, so I would have no way of making food or boiling a kettle. The limited electricity on a boat means that things like electric kettles and microwaves are rarely used.

I am hoping that on Monday the new “jets” will be installed and I can travel down to the boat on Tuesday. I am bracing myself because I have not been on the boat since November, so something is sure to be broken. But we have plans for travelling the west of England this year, so the sooner I get back, the sooner we can resolve any issues and get going.

Last year we travelled for seven months, all around the South of England. This year we plan a more mixed summer, where we travel for 5-6 weeks and then return to the house for 1-2 weeks before repeating. That way we can keep the house in good order, and still make the most of the boat. It will also help us work around some events this year, such as my niece’s wedding and a weekend at the London E-Prix (Formula 1 for electric cars).

On the boat we also have targets – to spend time around Gloucester docks, to see our younger son in Tewkesbury, to cross the Pontcysyllt Aqueduct and navigate the recently reopened stretch of the Montgomery canal. I also want to return to the boat museum in Ellesmere Port, and possibly to explore the many canals of Birmingham.

So hopefully by next week’s blog I will be back… We will see.

March 3, 2023 0