My home town was a village of about 400 people at the start of the 1780s. The local lord redeveloped it so that mills (using water power) could be built, In 1792 a canal connecting the town to Manchester was opened. By the 1820s the town had a population of 20,000. In the 1990s the last mill closed.
Roads at the time were not paved or maintained well, perhaps some were but tolls would be need to be paid! & would turn into a mud bath from October to May any transport on wheels would be very difficult, we get a lot of rain with little sun to dry it out in winter .
One of the biggest supporters of the canals was Josiah Wedgwood. He realised that pottery could be bulk transported easily for the first time. It had been uneconomiccand impractical to transport large quantities of breakable items on the long, rough tracks that connected towns and cities. Canals provided a smooth, safe means of transport. He also invented the production line method of manufacture.
There are two well known actors in the UK, Timothy West and Prunella Scales, who have been narrow boating all of their married life, this being their solution for winding down from their busy theatrical lives. Tim is 89 now and Pru, 92 and sadly, Pru has dementia, but she was able enough until recently to feature with Tim in a series of TV shows called "Great Canal Journeys." I thoroughly recommend tuning into these, if possible. Not only are the canal journeys fascinating in their own right but also poignant, given their ages and Pru's condition, that these are probably the last journeys together in the lives of such a lovely and engaging couple.
Lots of smaller ones were filled in and had rail tracks laid over them. I think the Croydon Canal (near me) wasn't finished long before being turned into a railway?
I lived close to the Brecon/Monmouth canal and grew up playing on, and in (Yeuch) the canal system. I’m surprised I didn’t pick up something nasty. Most kids in my area had a bucket of tadpoles, frogs, newts, etc in the back garden. We made plenty of rafts, and rope swings, and had to go home when the street lights came on. I’m very glad I had that kind of childhood. We moved from just outside a city centre, and my childhood would’ve been very different if we’d stayed there.
Canals were dug by men with spades, so they were only made as wide as they had to be. The workers were know as Navvies from "navigator". The Navvies went on to build the railways and the first motorways in the UK.
@@vladd6787 In the UK navvy comes from the fact that early canals were essentially rivers subject to engineering interventions so as to be made navigable, and subsequently called navigations, e.g. the Aire and Calder Navigation, therefore 'navigators' were the men who dug them. Since it was hard manual work and in part made up of Irishmen, giving them the title of 'engineer' in C18th/C19th Britain would have been to vastly overstate their status.
My dad lived on a narrow boat for the last ten years of his life he loved every minute of it sadly he died at the age of 83 from lug cancer but spent his final years living his dream life on his narrow boat
To add one more thing, the boating community along the canals are all the nicest, friendliest people EVER and will go out their way to help anyone if they need it x
This is quite true. I was taking my little dog for a walk down the canal bank when I tripped and fell over. A lovely couple came off their narrow boat, scooped me up and took me and my dog onto their boat for a lovely cup of tea and a biscuit.
Heard that, it is a way of life - a simple life that must be SO rewarding and chilled, ok loads pf hard work dewatering etc etc and locks but adds to the adventure, must be great for mental health all the fresh air and wildlife so close
@@LB-my1ej Yeah.. They really are!, Even more so with fellow boaters. Mostly all complete strangers, but when you see another boater, especially people on hired ones because typically they’re not very experienced, or confident on certain parts. We always ask when passing how they are, and if they need any help with anything! I once seen a guy moor up his own boat (going in the opposite direction) to jump on and help a couple on a hired one to navigate through 15 narrow bridges, roughly 2 hours out of his way. Where he then had a random boater pick him up and bring him all the way back to his own boat! Everyone does really look out for each other.. it’s an amazing community! x
@@mattbentley9270 it’s not that bad filling water tank and that. The only really nasty part is doing the pump out, but as long as you don’t go mental wasting water n that, doesn’t need done too often. Even just spending a couple of hours on the canal instantly distresses and chills you out.. don’t know if it’s to do with being around water, but you always get the best night sleep after it as well lol x
On my first holiday in the UK from NZ my friend and I hired a narrow boat for a week. The guy at the hire company was happy to hear that we were Kiwis as we nearly all grow up with boats and he told us a few horror stories of customers who had never been on the water before. It's a great way to have a holiday, moving at your own pace, eating at canal side pubs and often meeting interesting fellow travellers at overnight mooring. You asked if you could swim in the canal, we were strongly advised not to allow the water to get into open wounds so I think that would be a no. We never had any problems with the facilities, grey water storage on board is more than adequate and disposal is easy and water is readily replaced if required. I strongly recommend this experience to anyone who gets an opportunity to do so.
My parents live on a narrowboat. You have to have eco friendly soap and detergent etc and the gray water goes into the canal as well as vegetable food waste. Brown water you empty your cassette into places at the marinas and that’s where you fill up water and fuel 😊
Thing is with small fridges, in the UK, most people are within a few minutes walk of a store. Even if you lived in the sticks you are only 5-10 minutes drive from the nearest village. So we don't need to stockpile our fridges. Stuff like milk you can just "pop to the shop" and buy on a daily basis
You can get milk, eggs and other products delivered to your door everyday if you want. It's been that way for decades, well before the likes of Amazon etc.
@@Ghengiskhansmum well that too. Either from the milkman, or home delivery from the supermarket. I can totally understand in the US why even with a small family I would want a big double fridge because for many people the nearest store could be 30 miles away, so you do a big shop, and if you forget something or run low on something, its a long trip to restock, but for the majority of Brits, they can literally walk to the end of their street and find a Londis, or Nisa, or Spar or something at the very least.
@@stephenlee5929 Both narrowboats and milkmen have been around for a long time, it wouldn't surprise me if they have accommodations for that. Remember that daily milk delivery was the norm before refrigeration and UHT processing, and people living on boats would still want that. Wouldn't surprise me at all these days if there was an app that would automatically update the milkman with where you were moored that morning using GPS and the internet.
Harrison Ford holidayed on the midlands canals and crossed the "waterway in the sky" the aquaduct which tales the canal (I think) to Llangollen in Wales, a great relaxed holiday travelling at 5 miled per hour seeng the countryside at a leisurely place, out of the rat race for a while.😂
That's Fran and Richard (known as Rich). They have been permanent cruisers for a good few years and this vlog is them showing their new boat Laura Maisie (named after their mums). Fran foragers a lot for herbs, fruit etc! There is 2,000 miles of connected canals and rivers in England and Wales that continuous cruisers can travel along. Imagine moving your home - and view - whenever and to wherever you fancy! It's an amazing life!! The canals were hand dug before the railways came and were the highways to transport goods around the country around the time of the Industrial Revolution.
it not completely free you do have to pay a fee to the waterway people, yes you can pretty much pull up where you want, you can only stay in one place for a mximum of two weeks, then you have to move, the reason for this, is to keep boats moving, moving also stirs up the water, preventing it becomeing stagnant, you can moor in a marina for longer, but is more cost, you have water refil stations along the canals, as well as areas for toilet waste, with the cassette toilets
Yes, you pay a fee to sail on the canals which allows you to use temporary moorings and you can buy/rent permanent moorings which could cost thousands, a lot of people for example in London just live on their boats at moorings (which could cost hundreds of thousands) and dont go anywhere because its cheaper than buying a flat in central London and you don't pay council tax living on the water.
Wow! - that is definitely a brand new "Rolls Royce" in the world of narrow boats! I've a friend in Norfolk who's lived on a narrow boat nearly all his life, and he loves it. He's an agricultural machinery operator, and chugs along the canals from one farm job to the next. He came up to London for the first time a couple of years ago (he's 60!), and it was his first time on a train too, bless him.
That’s a massive coincidence!!! I live on a narrowboat, travelling the country. I am currently 3 miles outside of Stratford upon Avon, literally moored up 100 yards behind the boat in the video. Typically, narrowboats will have 100 - 150 gal water tank. Grey water goes straight into the canal. Some boats have a black water pump out tank, my boat uses a cassette system. I have a collapsible rotary drying line that stands up on the back rail of my boat. In winter, I dry my clothes over my wood burner.
There’s water points along the way, along with lots of other facilities - including places to empty toilets. You can get composting toilets on boats too. Often people use environmentally safe soaps that can drain straight into the canal.
One way to get through the tunnels would be to go old school. Before narrow boats were fitted with engines they used horses to pull them along which is why there is a walkway called a towpath along the side of every canal. However, for the smaller tunnels they couldn't get horses through so they had to lay on their backs on the roof of the boat, push against the ceiling of the tunnel and walk the boat through. It certainly takes your mind off where you are.
I'm nearly 80 years old and I've seen a boatman "walk" a narrow boat with a cargo of wheat under a bridge. Incidentally, although he died before I was born so I never knew him, my grandfather was a boatman.
Laying on your back on the roof/top of a narrowboat was called 'legging'. Some claim that the slang for making an escape "legging it" actually comes from the canals.
I’m from the Black Country where narrowboats and canals are a ubiquitous part of our lives, every school child is taken on a trip to leg a boat, and I mean every child. It’s weird how it’s pretty much the one thing we all have in common here.
I have a 70 foot one and so does my son. We moor next door to each other on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal. They are the most comfortable things to live on and sooooo warm in winter.
We live in one for 6 months of the year. It is very comfortable, fully electric with all the mod-cons, insulated, double glazing, central heating, washing machine, dryer etc. You are only limited by your imagination.
There have been 3 series of programmes called Canal Boat Diaries by Robbie Cummings which I think are on RU-vid. He lives on his narrow boat and travels the canals. They are well worth finding.
The boat you featured is owned by vloggers ' Floating our Boat'. You can follow their canal journeys. You need a license to have your boat in the water, but moorings are usually free. There are also marinas where some live aboard permanently, but most choose to continuously cruise.
For drying clothes, the top of the boat (if not raining) there are poles that make a temp clothes line. Narrowboat life can be tricky but ultimately very rewarding
I’ve seen 2 snakes in my 40 plus years but I did live out in the Suffolk countryside: a grass snake very harmless and an adder. Both were sunning themselves in the afternoon sun near the compost heap and gooseberry bush of my childhood garden. Saw lots of slow worms too.
Funny to think the last time l saw a snake (4/5ft grass snake) was when l was with friends on a canal boat. The snake swam across the canal in front of us. My mate cut the motor and drifted for a while to make sure we didn't go over the snake. The wild life you get to see is amazing 23:16
There are lots of boaters with RU-vid channels if this kind of thing err floats your boat, but Robbie Cumming is The Man. His tv series, Canal Boat Diaries, is awesome too.
Video on YT called Fred Dibnah’s The Building of Britain: Canals, which shows you the history, construction, technology, where the network runs etc We see water as a barrier today, whether it’s an ocean to fly over or a river to build a bridge over for cars and trains. Back then, it was water that connected people and made travel possible, as there were no steam engines let alone cars. You could travel from Great Britain to Ireland and the Isle of Man, as the Celts did across there, Scotland and Wales. The canals just brought that facility in land. Suddenly horses could pull larger numbers of people and heavy goods around. The work that was involved is incalculable. Hundreds and hundreds of men lost their lives in the construction of them, especially with all the tunnelling. At the bottom of every canal is a couple of feet of clay, right the way around the network, which keeps the water in them. Thousands of miles of canals (I think it’s about 7,000 miles) with a couple of feet of clay up the bottom… that is some serious infrastructure project when you don’t have any machinery. Dug by hand, tunnelled by hand. The design of the locks and the aqueducts is just incredible… basically making water go uphill over hills and crossing other waterways.
It really is mindblowing when you think of it like that...wait, they were dug by hand?! Am I reading that correctly? And thanks for the recommendation, as always. :)
I’ve never seen a narrowboat that doesn’t have solid looking interiors Those types of fires are common on narrowboats, and fridges tend to be smaller here anyway (we shop more frequently than you tend to in the US) - plus with fewer additives in certain foods they don’t last as long anyway (no bad thing).
Narrowboat holidays are fantastic. The hire boats aren't as nice as this example but they all have everything you need. Anglo-Welsh are a well regarded hire company.
I spent ten days on a narrow boat in 1985, we started at Middlewich and did a loop through six counties. It was a hoot. We stopped at every pub we could see, I fell off the boat at least once a day.
Oh you are going down a new portal now - try finding Foxes Afloat ( the old stuff), Country House Gent, Minimalist, Robbie Cumming, Weir on the Move and on and on. A great life style if are a bit of a vagabond. 'Cruising the Cut' did his own vlogs back a few years but is now focusing on the unusual and explains the fuel boats or the wider narrowboats and other material. Cruising the Cut (David) also answers a lot of your questions over his many vlogs. Looking forward to you finding these.
Foxes Afloat! Love Colin and Shaun. Was watching their live vlog last night. As a widow with mobility issues, watching them and their followers interacting live is like a social evening. But the boating stuff is brilliant.
Snakes are not an issue here and anyone bothered by the tunnels can sit inside and read a book. Only the one steering the boat needs to be out on deck.
@@reactingtomyroots We only have three snake species in the UK, and only one of them is venomous, but even then the venom is so mild that it's only really a concern if you have allergies or other such issues. In the past 145 years only 14 people have died due to Adder bites. You are generally completely safe just going outside and frolicking in nature lol.
I am a narrowboat dweller full time. There are many variations of waste management and the benefits and embuggerances are fiercely debated. Personally I have a blackwater tank which fills slowly over 4 months approx. Grey water goes into the canal. We do pay an annual licence fee which is calculated on boat length. I have a 64 ft boat and is about 1350 GBP per annum at todays rates for my size of boat. The boat in the vid was seriously high end and new and at a rough guess was probably about 13000 GBP brand new and built to their specs
In the UK we also have the alternative living styles you speak of and over here RV's are known as Campervans. These can range from big vehicles to a Volkswagon and even a refitted van which blew up in popularity during Covid.
Their boat would have cost somewhere between £160,000 and £200,000 especially as it was built by a quality boat builder and is a bespoke build. Narrowboat's last for 40-50 years or more and you can get a decent 20 year old 58ft long boat (the same as theirs) for around £50 - 60k. Narrowboat lengths vary from about 20ft to a maximum of 72ft, but anything over 57ft won't fit into some of the locks on some canals meaning you couldn't travel on them.
There are 2 licences for boats, home mooring when you live on the mooring permanently and just go off for trips or a cheaper continuous cruising licence where you can still moor up for 14 days but must move on afterwards and not reuse the first mooring for a period of time. Waste water and sewage can be pumped out at a service point.
Some of the static houseboats are really luxurious, two storey. Sun lounges. Sun decks and little gardens. You can hire narrowboats for holidays, they are lovely. Especially the older ones.
Most often a washing line can be strung up from one end of the barge to the other to dry clothes other people have a wherley line on dry land next to the barge
I think in Britain most people would use a clothes line. I have always preferred to dry clothes in the open air with the sun and the breeze. Obviously, there are times when that doesn't always suffice.
Washer dryers are not common in the uk and they have their downsides, and would not recommend them ,so I would imagine they would have a metal folding clothes horse (rack) for drying.
The speed limit on inland waterways is 4mph, unless told otherwise. Like the Norfolk Broads is around 7mph, because the area of water is larger, and can take a harsher wash against the bank.
My friend lives in a narrow boat full time , I think she paid about £60k for her current boat. It's fantastic. She has to move it every 2 weeks, but not far, there are water taps every so often along the canal.
New ones like in this video will cost you £150,000 or more. They are beautiful. Ours was much cheaper. You get what you pay for as in many things in life
I work on a canal boat for a few months of the year. Nothing beats travelling the inland waterways by barge.. is so tranquil and absolutely stunning scenery that you just don’t get to see travelling any other way x
I live on a narrowboat. The water tank is big enough for a person to get inside it. A new narrowboat is probably around £180k. I see lots of Americans taking vacations on hired narrowboats and having a great time. Come and have a go.
I went on holiday to the Norfolk Broads. We hired a canal boat that had two ensuite bedrooms, kitchen and a large living area. All the windows were double glazed and it had central heating. The roof which was all glass over the living area slid back so we were sitting out in the sun watching the wildlife. All mooring was free until you got into the towns and you had to pay a small fee. There were so many pubs along the broads that served excellent food which we went to for evening meals. We cooked our own breakfast and had snacks and drinks onboard. Everyone was so friendly and willing to give a helping hand as we did too. It was a wonderful relaxing week and I would recommend it to everyone.
Try some George Clarke Amazing Spaces videos. They are full of segments showing ordinary people converting all manner of small things into amazing homes etc. eg, buses, vans, sheds etc
my dad who sadly passed away LOVED these, I as a child used to steer and drive it while he did what ever in the boat, when on vacation, I used to be all " DAD I am going to crash oh no!!" only to hear the thumping of his feet as he ran through the boat only to get a "hah just joking" XD, we used to fish from the boat too, one time there was a competition to get the biggest fish, I ended up getting the biggest AND the smallest ^.^ fond memories, it is honestly TRULY amazing to be in them, it is so cozy, and the gentle sways of the boat is so relaxing and calming, the locks can be daunting though so prefered not to go in them, and often you get the sounds of birds in the morning due to trees and bushes ect ect, it is honestly an amazing experience that I feel everyone should try it.
Only just subscribed to your channel but i'm so pleased i did, you're both so interested in all the things you watch, looking forward to watching with you in the future ❤
I've been on boats on and off all my life. Off up to the Llangollen canal in 3 weeks! Whilst these look like 'luxury' boats, bear in mind, when they were working boats, the family lived in a cabin about 12 feet long x 6' 10" wide by 5 foot high. That would be Mum, Dad and up to 4 kids. Think about it!
My Mum was born on a boat . During the haulage times in the 1920s . The family had a boat and butty pulled by horse . The family was parent 10 children . This was usual in those times . They had to sleep in the equivilent of two bin shelters .
@@sallyannwheeler6327 I know…been up there 3 or 4 times in the past. Steve & Lindsay…look at going over the Pontcysllte aqueduct…not for the faint hearted!!
There’s a TV series called Canal Boat diaries which features one man and his life in his narrow boat, it’s lovely. There’s another called Narrow Escapes which features all kinds of different people, boats and lifestyles on the canals. There annual fees/license to be paid to use the canals. Some are for permanent mooring and others you have to keep moving and not stopping for too long in each place. There are different families featured on Narrow Escapes too that travel from place to place.
When you hire boats for a holiday, they come with multiple cabins, so sleep 4, 6, 8 or even 10. They go at 4mph. And you can hire one for a week for around £800. Its lovely.
We had a weeks holiday on a widebeam boat a few years ago, on the Norfolk Broads. One of the biggest uk canal networks. U can only go at 4mph, about walking speed. One of the best holidays we ever had! We could go where ever we wanted, can stop off at alot of places for free. But we stopped at a canal side pub and paid 5 pounds to moor up for the night. We had an hours boat lesson, then we were on our own!! After a week travelling at 4mph, getting back in the car and driving on roads, was so scary!!
Narrowboats allow people to travel around the entire canal network, which cover the whole country as effectively as our motorways (as that's what they were in their day). However, if you don't need the *whole* network, and are happy with just a few hundred miles (covering various counties and cities) then you might much prefer a widebeam. Widebeams are literally double the width (up to 12 feet wide by 70 feet long), and thus are genuinely like a full apartment, and a spacious one, that floats and allows touring. The inside of most widebeams really will remind you of a modern apartment with all the modern conveniences (other than a garage for a car).
I should add, the original canal network started construction very, very early in what would become The Industrial Revolution, long before machines to do the digging were around. So all those miles of canals (and tunnels) were dug by hand, by teams of men with picks and shovels. As such, keeping it relatively narrow was absolutely essential for being able to manage it at all. Thus narrowboats are just over 6 feet wide (6'6" outside measurement). However, in the years that followed, many canals were widened, if only to allow passing traffic both ways, and so Widebeams are a realistic choice for those more popular canals and of course, for many rivers.
Loved this so much, took me back to my childhood, in the early 90s, with my mum walking down towpaths watching my sister practice canoeing. All times of year, in all weathers, in the early morning with mist hanging low over the water. Late evening watching the sunset and mum getting annoyed/worried when she wouldn't stop. Many times we ended up carrying the canoe back up to the road in the dark. One of the best moments was really deep in winter mum had to walk ahead of her breaking the ice with an oar so she could paddle. Also, I remember my dad working with a family that was re-fitting/redesigning a narrowboat. It was amazing all the truly clever/unique ideas they came up with between the three of them to get the most out of the space. By the way really wouldn't recommend swimming in canals (unless things have changed a whole lot since then). They were really dangerous places. People loved dumpling junk in there so you never know what was lurking beneath the water, also an area where loads of rats live. So some pretty nasty illnesses about especially in the water. Never get any canal water in your mouth. You would regret it. I recommend looking up canal locks fascinating devices and amazing to visit but can be deadly dangerous places, especially for badly supervised children and people not using common sense (though I doubt that would be a problem for you.)
Hi guys, My friend lives on a narrowboat. All boats are licensed by the canal and river trust. If you do not have a permanent mooring you must move every 14 days. My friend has his narrowboat on a mooring on the edge of London which I believe costs him around £10k a year but he has access to a water, electric and internet point. There are waiting lists for mooring spots around London.
I work on England's oldest continuously trading narrowboat - NB Alton serves coal, cylinder gas, logs, kindling, diesel, chandlery and toilet pump outs to people who live in narrowboats on the upper Macclesfield and Peak Forest canals.
A lot of the stuff you need to keep in the fridge in warmer climates can quite safely be kept at room temperature in the UK, so a smaller fridge is not too much of an issue. Obviously you would have to do weekly shopping instead of monthly shopping because of space.
Until 2 years ago I lived near the Kennet and Avon Canal, there were quite a few Narrow Boats lived in. Now I've moved back to the North, which is beautiful
A friend retired shortly before the Pandemic. He had a narrowboat custom built (in Nottingham) for about £250,000 (~$310,000), beautifully fitted but another £25,000 for "moveable" furnshings.
Grey water goes into the canal, there are service areas to dispose of toilet waste. Water points are dotted along the canal to fill your water tank. You can be a constant cruiser and travel the canals or can choose to live on a marina!
How do they dry their clothes? The washing machine is most likely a Washer/Dryer. When the wash cycle is done the clothes are spun to get as much water out as possible, it then goes into dyer mode the clothes being dried by warm/hot air. Simple, job done.
Grey water goes into the canal, black water goes into a tank or cassette or composting toilet, service blocks are dotted around the canal system for disposal. You can stay most places for 14 days free, some moorings are restricted to 24/48 hrs in busy areas. You pay a licence for the year which covers all of the above. A great way of life x
The nature journal of a narrow boater. Vanessa Thomas. This is a fabulous watch!! She covers nature, and the history along the canals. You will love watching her journey. It’s so calming, and interesting. Not forgetting her companion dog Zephyr.
Last time I looked, renting a decent boat in an interesting costs over £1000 a week. Helps to have friends who own them! As for the cost of this boat, it probably didn't leave much change from £200k.
With any sort of breeze coming off the water, air conditioning would rarely be necessary. There is a speed limit on the canals of 4 mph, a bit higher on most rivers.
You asked about the water tank for the fresh water. On most narrowboats the tank is situated under the deck at the very front end of the boat in the triangular area in front of the doors that the boat owner said that they liked to open then lay in bed in the morning. It is filled by connecting an ordinary hose to the water supply point into a filling hole located in the corner of the deck by the front wall of the cabin. The fuel tank is located at the stern of the boat near the steering position. Boats like this are sometimes fitted with a small thruster at the front under the water tank, to make it easier to make the boat turn around by forcing a stream of water from one side to the other, but older boats don’t have the advantage of a thruster and have to be turned around by using the main motor and a rope manipulated by a person working on the towpath.
I live around the corner from a canal and a marina. Some people have permanent moorings and others carry on travelling . There is also somewhere for people to fill up with water. It is very calming just watching the narrowboats going by, manoeuvring the locks and looking at the wildlife .
They’ll put the wet washing on the radiators! That’s how we dry things in the colder months in the UK, if we’re looking to keep energy costs down. It means you’re using the radiators for more than one thing - heating the area and drying clothing!
Before I retired, I was thinking of buying a canal boat to live on and sail up and down the country. There are fresh water stations all along the canal system with pumps for black and grey water, it depends on what system you have installed on your boat, if you have a fixed ankering station that has a monthly cost, but if you are travelling, tying up for the night doesn't cost anything, you don't need a large fridge really because you eat fresh everyday, the fridge is for milk, butter, eggs, cheese and cold beer, all you need is a driving licence to use a boat up to a certain bhp, but seeing your top speed is around 5 to 8 miles per hour, in some places even slower, but it's a good idea to get lessons to operate the boat comfortably, that way you will have a great time, travelling through the cities and country side, stopping off at a pub for a meal and a beer, now ten years ago you could get a 35 to 40 footer from 20 to 25 thousand pounds in good condition, now you have to pay that for a boat that has to be completely restored, of course there is no limit apart from how big your wallet is, there are two types of canal boats, there's the narrow boat in different lengths, some up to 50 feet, then there's the wide boats, with those you are restricted to certain canals because of the width, the price of those can go in the hundreds of thousands, before I retired I wanted one so in summer I could rent it out, and with that money travel to Australia for a few months per year, but as my luck would have it, came covid and the prices almost doubled so my dreams where shattered, all together now AAWWWWWW😅
Had one of the best holidays of my life in 1980 - a week on a narrowboat in the Black country (region south of Birmingham, the old pottery making district). Lots of locks!
The fridge has a small freezer section that you could keep those little ice pack things in that you could use in a cooler, swapping them over every 24 hours keeps the cooler always cool to give you more fridge space.
We have the same terms for different waste. Black = poo, grey = shower / bathroom / kitchen water waste. Most camper / motor homes have air con but not many canal boats. Back in the victoriana age, goods were moved about the country via a network of canals.
Travelling on a narrow boat is like going for a drive in the countryside at a very leisurely pace. Many years ago I spent a week's holiday with some mates on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. We had a great time.
We were 4 couples in our 50' s and 60's and for about 10 years we went on canal boat holidays. We did the Norfolk Broads to the Caledonian canal in Scotland and many in between and it was absolutely amazing. Mind you we were all very close thankfully because there is absolutely no privacy on the boats. You hear every sound and mornings with 4 blokes waking up after a few beers the night before can be a bit traumatic 😅. We had disasters and problems but we also had so so many more hilarious moments. Memories i will always cherish.
At 4:07 that's a long barge pole (used to push the boat away from land or vertically to push on the canal bottom to manoeuvre the boat. Hence the well known British expression: "I wouldn't touch him with a barge pole." (I want nothing to do with this person).
Stayed 2 weeks on a narrow boat every summer with extended family when I was younger, there were 2 adults, 4 of us kids, 2 cats and a parrot. It was so much fun, travelling from Loughborough to Leicester and going through all the locks, stopping at the little pubs along the way for some lunch if the sun was out, great times, great memories but the best part was sleeping in the bow of the boat which had a glass roof and being able to see the stars at night whilst laying in a odd shaped bed, such an experience!
