A New Beginning

Where will I wander and wonder?

Nobody knows

But wherever I’m a going

I’ll go in search of the rose.

Whatever the will of the weather

Whether it shines or snows

Wherever I’m a going

I’ll go in search of the rose.

I don’t know where it’s found

But I don’t mind

As long as the world spins around

I’ll take my time.

I’ll savour the softness of summer

I’ll wrap up when winter blows

Wherever I’m going

I’ll go in search of the rose.

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The above are not my words but the words of a Waterboys song I listened to recently, but they epitomise my views and thoughts for the next couple of years as I embark on a new challenge and set off on a trip around the canals of England and Wales, to where I don’t know, but in search of the spirit of life.

This blog will trace my progress, hopefully not through the form of a diary, but a reflection of life of it’s experiences on the canals and also an account of the people I meet along the way.

So let me give you a little background of my boating experience to date. In my early twenties I fished on the Norfolk Broads from rowing boats and since then I have been on a few ferries, one or two have even been overnight ferries...how exciting! Er, that’s about it really. On one of those overnight ferries in Indonesia I did join the cooks on the rear deck as they prepared food and they allowed me to sleep in the crew’s cabin, but they wouldn’t let me steer the thing!

Recently I have been reading a lot about narrow boats, including how various people have gone about finding their dream boat. Most seem to have been enthusiasts who enjoyed hiring boats during the summer months so much that they have eventually bought their own after years of planning and visiting boat shows. I had never even stepped foot on a narrow boat. The most common advice seemed to be “Try hiring a boat for a couple of weeks to see if you like it first”, but it seemed far more appropriate to jump in at the deep end, knowing nothing, just seeing what happened, seeing where I would be taken.

In March 2010 I returned home having cycled 37,000 miles around the world, passing through 30 countries in the process, some of you may have read my account of the trip (www.cyclingtoaustralia.blogspot.com). As time passed I learned to go wherever ‘felt right’, and so often everything fell into place, I never worried about where I would stay for the night, but that’s easy when you are carrying a tent. Travelling that way I met so many wonderful people who showed incredible generosity and kindness to a complete stranger. When I returned home I vowed to try and live the same way, head in the direction that felt right. For a few months nothing much happened and I guessed in a year or two I would be off cycling again, may be from north to south through the Americas, or from Oxford overland to South Africa. In July Judith and Andre from Germany came over to the UK for a cycling tour. We originally met in Istanbul and cycled together for three months through Iran, U.A.E and India before heading our separate ways. I knew we would meet again someday. We set off from Oxford, through the Cotswolds to Bath, over the Severn Bridge to Wales and on to Snowdonia before heading back through Ludlow to finish up in Aylesbury. As we cycled we crossed canals and I told them how people lived on the boats and spent holidays afloat and what an idyllic life it must be. Before long each time we crossed a canal bridge I would point to the boats and shout out “There’s my house.” I was only joking but the day after I returned home I looked at a few boats on the internet, it had caught my imagination...there would be no turning back.

Within a couple of week I knew what I wanted, a cruiser style narrowboat so that I could be sociable. I was itching to look at a few and spent a day touring around the brokers in the Northampton area. I didn’t find the boat of my dreams but it provided food for thought and made me think about what I really needed to live on a boat and my sights soon changed to a boat with a traditional stern as the living and storage space at the back would be invaluable. The months passed by with very few trads coming on the market, either there weren’t as many, they were not as popular, or they were loved so much they were never sold. Those I did see never ticked all the right boxes, very few had the pullman dinette I required, the kitchen was too small, not enough battery power, no washing machine or underpowered engines. In November I found one that was almost spot on, Rainbow Lorikeet moored as Stourport-on-Severn canal basin. The only thing I could find wrong with it was an “L” shaped dinette rather than the desired pullman.. I put in an offer which was accepted straight away.

My house was already on the market and sold within a few days for the asking price. It had to be the easiest sale ever with the buyers having already sold and living in rented accommodation so there would be no chain. After five weeks and just two days after paying cash for various applianced they pulled out as Lucy had become unexpectedly pregnant and they could no longer afford it on one income. It sold again within a week. With the sale progressing slowly the boat become officially mine on 22nd December, just 5 months after the idea first entered my little head. I had a few days to finish clearing out the house before I moved onto the boat on January 3rd 2011. My time was being eaten away by visiting my sister Aoiffe in hospital, then a heavy dumping of snow stopping me from shifting anything from the house.

After my first Christmas in the UK for four years I returned home on 28th December and entered the house to the sound of running water in the lounge! The attached house next door, having recently be renovated and the new owners about to move in had suffered a burst water pipe in the attic during the big freeze, so with nobody in either house the water flowed freely for hours passing through the the wall into my lounge and bathroom. Who said life was supposed to be easy!

But I managed to move onto the boat, leaving the house unfinished and awaiting a surveyor’s visit. There were only a few boxes to move on but I was already meeting the local boaters before I could finish. Rick and his wife Marilyn were on a boat two boats down,

“I am terrible with names,” I told Rick “So I apologise if I get you name wrong”

“Don’t worry I am the same” he replied “What’s your excuse?”

“I’ve got a bad memory.”

“Well I have had a couple of strokes which affects my memory.”

“Oh, I think you have the better excuse then.”

He told me about the other boat owners, “That guy there used to work in the motor industry, at least that is what he says. He said we worked for Rover, then in Europe with other manufactures, but I don’t believe him, he is useless. He knows how to buy a tin of polish from Halfords and that’s about it.” Well that makes him better qualified than me based on my old car called Shiny Red, an ironic name as it had faded and gone a dull mat colour.

Cathy helped me move on, but we wouldn’t be going out for a little cruise as the canal is frozen solid. At least that’s my excuse that hides the fact that I don’t even know where the engine is and I haven’t found the steering wheel yet either. We took a stroll and the basin and town. For some reason I was filled with dread and the overwhelming thought of “What the f… am I doing? I must be barking mad!” Later a mail from a boating friend eased my mind, she confirmed that I am barking mad, pretty much a prerequisite for anybody looking to live on the canals.

Stourport-on-Severn is an interesting little town that has a seaside resort feel to it, complete with a permanent fairground and cheap greasy spoon cafes. It grew up in the canal industrial era, though the basin is now home purely to leisure craft that line the sides end on just inches away from each other. Some are lived in permanently, others are winterised and remain empty. Those lived in have an empty boat each side to afford a little privacy so that nobody can hear you belch as you eat your dinner, or fart afterwards.

So after just 2 nights I had to leave to return home to sort out the mess I left behind at the house. Rick kindly showed me how to turn off the water and drain the pipes just in case there is another freeze. I didn’t want to leave, it already feels like home.