End of season narrowboat blues

After seven months cruising the cut this year we are nearing the end of our 2023 narrowboat adventure. The boat is berthed in its over-winter marina, near Stone in Staffordshire. We are back in our house in Scotland, And in a couple of weeks I will return to the boat to clean it. This last activity is important on a boat, because otherwise mould can grown on surfaces and fabrics during the cold damp months.

We have had a really lovely time this year, travelling the western canals of England. Starting in the snow near Chester, we had a spring visit to the Llangollen and the Montgomery in Wales. Then across the Middlewich arm and up the Macclesfield and the very beautiful Peak Forest to one of the most historic moorings in Bugsworth basin. From there we travelled down the Trent and Mersey, Staffs & Worcester onto the river Severn at Stourport. Taking care on the tidal stretch we made it down to Gloucester and Sharpness, the southernmost point of the journey. Then back up the Severn and Avon to Stratford, and from there up through Birmingham, to visit Coventry and for a leisurely week up the quiet Ashby. We finished the trip with a reprise of the Four Counties Ring and the Chester canal up to Ellesmere Port Boat Museum.

So many happy memories made and enjoyed. Mandy says she doesn’t want to face the real world now, she just wants to go back and hide on the boat. It does feel sad. But there are things to do that are hard on the boat – doctors and dentists appointments, and hopefully to sell the house and move closer to the boat.

And the boat itself will have a little adventure in November – being lifted out of the water, having its bottom “blacked” with bitumen, and its roof stripped down and repainted. The engine will be fully serviced, and it will hopefully be sharp and read for whatever 2024 may bring us. Watch this space!