Boat update

[galadhir]

Blimey. It seems I haven't made an entry since 13th July when we turned the boat round and revealed the new paint job to Fox's boatyard.

That was three and a half months ago, and since then we have finished the paint job including all the decks and doors.

DH here putting a purple spiral on the tiller.

Then in August Son triumphantly left Fox's boatyard while I proudly waved him off, only to realize that he had my car keys on the boat.

That seemed a very fitting end to this part of the endeavour.

Over the course of August, Son, DH and I navigated the newly named Drake's Return back up the River Nene almost to the junction with the Northampton arm of the Grand Union:

The embankment in Peterborough - a nice spot, with a water point, though there was a sunk narrowboat occupying one of the spots, which was a little unnerving.

This one was very rural and you had to walk across a wheat field to get to the car. Also it was very close to a lock where a large number of youths were playing. Some worry that if they managed to open the lock, the water would have drained away, leaving the tied up boat to tilt over, fill up and sink.

Fortunately this did not happen to Son on this occassion, though we've heard from other people to whom it did.

This mooring is at the bottom of a pub garden, also with a watering point. We had a very nice dinner here.

Pull up to the Britannia Inn and you can stay overnight as long as you use the pub. So we had a nice halloumi burger from them.

Until we finally arrived in Northampton marina on August 21st

It's a great location, in the middle of a park near Northampton University. It has shore power and a water point between every two boats. There's a utilities building with showers, toilets, bins and pump-out/Elsan facilities. There's even a guy who comes round selling wood and coal during the winter.

Also - and very fortunately considering how high the river is atm - all the moorings are on floating pontoons, and go up when the water level goes up.

With that accomplished we had a couple of weeks of nervous prostration to recover, taking us to September.

In September we went over to help Son put insulating film on all the windows and the door into the engine room. Then he decided it was time to start decorating the interior too, so son and I stripped the paint off the living room and sanded off the grout where the tiles had fallen off the wall in the kitchen.

(That six months where it stood unheated in the boatyard last winter while the guy tried to fix the engine did not do the interior any favours.)

Anyway, Son has now added filler to all the bits where the filler fell out, (in the living room) and has painted it with primer and a rather startling green. The beams are to be painted a dusky raspberry. (The overall theme is 'Bird of Paradise!')

So much achieved, so much still to go!

Comments

[galadhir]

Thank you! It really has been exhausting and nerve-wracking. I think that's partly because we've had to learn so much so quickly. The narrowboat community is full of stories of things that went wrong for them, so I think it's the sort of thing you have to expect every now and again. But of course we started on hard mode as the boat was already semi-wrecked and we knew nothing. Should have started with an easier boat and then learning as we went along wouldn't have been so full-on.

They're such beautiful boats though, aren't they? I'm happy to say that we still haven't lost the sense of romance that you get when you see them. And the narrowboat community itself is very welcoming :)

[xancredible]

I would certainly love to spend some time on one some day. I'll have to look into whether that's an option for a holiday. I have no license to drive one but I sure would enjoy staying on one as we make our way along the Thames some time.

I'm glad the romance is still alive and well for y'all. I'd hate to see you lose it in the process of reviving it. It'd be a shame to go through all of that trouble only to want nothing to do with it anymore.

[galadhir]

It absolutely is an option for a holiday. There are a lot of boat hire places, and you don't need a license for them. They give you about half an hour's training before you start and then they turn you loose with them! (It's a bit scary tbh, although you soon get the hang of it.)

We went on a narrowboat hire holiday when the covid rules relaxed enough to allow people to hang out in 'bubbles'. We formed a bubble of one family (4 people) and took a narrowboat out for a week. And that was what started us all on this boating lark - we enjoyed ourselves so much that Son decided to get his own.

I would start on a canal first, though. They're designed for canals, and rivers can be tricky and dangerous in comparison. The Thames sounds like starting in hard mode.

[xancredible]

Ooooh, I'm not sure I'd want to be in charge of driving it myself lmao. I can't afford it in the near future anyway, but it is good to know you can easily rent a narrowboat and go on a little holiday!

[galadhir]

If you go in a group there's usually someone on board who likes to steer, and then you can do your bit by opening and shutting the lock gates and jumping on and off with ropes :)

[watervole]

It only takes an hour to become familiar with steering a narrowboat. Usually takes a couple of days before you get smooth at operating locks, but it's not difficult.

It's a wonderfully relaxing way to have a holiday.