The Inter-tidal article effort this month has had to be wrenched out of me, writers block, tiredness or just old age has been dogging me for ages now. I’ve wanted to share some bits and bats with you, but struggled putting anything down, without boring everyone!

So the inter-tidal connection is history and heritage, again on the banks of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal within the Wigan environs. Actually, around the township of Ince, to be more specific. Not the most obvious tit-bits of information and learning, as we have a bomb dropped by a zeppelin and one of the largest companies in Europe in earlier days, putting Wigan on the map and as a target for our old foes, the Germans! (bless em) Incidentally and maybe topically, I’ve had some help with the article through Artificial Intelligence or ‘AI’. Not to write my article for me, but to assist me with structure and grammar as a poorly educated Lancashire lad. I will probably write an article for the next edition on AI, as it may be of value to some of my/our readers to know what that is all about and to see if it can help folks out with some of their chores… I digress, sorry.

Geography:   I’m on the ‘Wigan Flight’. The Wigan Flight is a renowned flight of 21 locks on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. It raises the canal over 200 feet (61 meters) across a distance of two and a half miles (4 kilometres). Built in 1816, the flight marked the completion of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. At the bottom of the flight you can turn off to go down the Leigh Branch, which in turn brings you to the Bridgewater Canal or Worsley fame and Barton Aqueduct over the Manchester Ship Canal. A series of 21 locks which are numbered from 65 at the top to 86 at the bottom. The locks were numbered chronologically as they were constructed.
The milestone gives you a first class datum point of where we are. Leeds 90mls, Liverpool 37mls.

The Kirkless Iron & Steel Works, later known as the Wigan Coal and Iron Company, was established in 1858 on the banks of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in Higher Ince. It was once one of the largest iron works in Europe, starting with five blast furnaces and expanding to ten by 1886. The canal played a crucial role in transporting raw materials and finished products, making it an essential part of the industrial landscape.

Over time, demand for steel declined, and production was curtailed in 1930. Today, much of the site has been repurposed into Kirkless industrial estate, while other areas have been reclaimed by nature, forming a unique habitat. The Friends of Kirkless group has been working to preserve the site's environmental and historical significance. The whole reclaimed habitat and green spaces are now part of the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside, along with other nearby nature reserves.

*In a modern context, these historic waterways have taken on an additional role as community assets. Initiatives like the Pennine Lancashire Linear Park project are actively seeking to repurpose sections of the canal as green corridors and recreational spaces. Such projects aim to harness the historic legacy of the canal while simultaneously addressing contemporary community needs—providing safe, traffic-free routes for pedestrians and cyclists, preserving local heritage, and stimulating economic revitalisation through tourism and leisure activities. This adaptive reuse not only fosters a sense of pride in the industrial past but also builds a bridge toward a greener and more sustainable future.* I am sure there will be others, but this area of the tow path contains the very first designated picnic area, with 2 benches and fruit trees, that I have seen.

The Wigan Coal and Iron Company, later known as the Wigan Coal Corporation, (see Kirkless Industrial Estate on map), was a major force in the Wigan Coalfield, and a key area in the Lancashire Coalfield. The company formed in 1865 by merging collieries, including those of Lord Crawford, with others like Kirkless Hall and Standish. This merger led to the creation of a significant enterprise, eventually becoming the largest joint stock company in Britain. The company built and maintained its own locomotives at its Kirkless workshops, with some locomotives also being built by other contractors. Many of the administration buildings can still be seen, in use, from the gates of the industrial estate on the eastern side of the canal and over the road bridge.

Further south on the eastern banks you will find paths and trails throughout the now reclaimed slag heaps and oven waste, known locally as rabbit hills. A truly amazing green space ideal for stretching your legs or walking the dog whilst moored close by, waiting for pound water or a ‘buddy’ to traverse the locks with.

Finally, an extract from https://www.iancastlezeppelin.co.uk/12/13-april-1918

(1918) Continuing to the north, Ehrlich now must have seen the glare from the furnaces at the Wigan Coal & Iron Company about 10 miles ahead, which Ehrlich concluded was Sheffield. The area had not received an air raid warning.
At about 11.30pm L 61 reached Ince on the southern edge of Wigan and Ehrlich commenced his bombing run. An incendiary smashed through the roof of 12 Preston Street setting the house on fire and destroying all the furniture. At the same time another incendiary crashed through the roof of 7 Frederick Street, just 25 yards away, but it failed to ignite. More bombs followed by the railway. An incendiary smashed into a signal box 400 yards west of Ince station and an HE bomb landed 200 yards west of the station, damaging a section of track and destroying two trucks of a stationary goods train loaded with coal. 

The Kirkless Hall Inn should also be on the list of things to do and see when enjoying the history and heritage of this stretch of the Leeds & Liverpool.

It's a good local pub with excellent Sunday lunches and beers to suit. Friendly clientele and excellent surrounds, be it winter or summer.

Did she jump?
Or was she pushed?
That, dear reader, is the question.

There is a reason for this story which is just over a year old. I’ll let you know what that is after I’ve recounted this rather soggy tale (or should that be tail? – sorry, I digress already).

It begins on a rather overcast and distinctly chilly February morning. Not the sort of day that you’d want to fall into the canal.

Watch this space 🙄

Being the responsible pet owner that I am, I decided to take the dogs out for their early doors constitutional.

I wrapped up warmly, and, aware of her advancing years, wrapped terrier Milly in her smart red jacket for the jaunt.

Border Collie, Blue, mad as ever and eager to go, needed no such covering. He leapt the gate as usual, leapt back and repeated the process until he’d obviously built up enough of a sweat to keep himself warm for the duration of the trip.

We set off, up the road, turn right at the end, up to old bridge number 38 and down onto the towpath.

I cried ‘Havoc’ and let loose the dogs of war, much to the consternation of a resident fisherman, a passing mountain biker and the local heron.

Blue, unleashed, shot off up the grass verge at just under the speed of sound – I could tell that because his bark had a certain booming resonance. That seemed to concern the cyclist even more as he wobbled disconcertingly.

Milly was already lagging behind, determined as ever to piddle on every blade of grass.
I walked on, only a few yards (apologies dear reader, I refuse to go metric). Blue sped past in the opposite direction toward Milly.

I strode on.
There was a splash.
Blue hurtled by again.
I turned, expecting to see a duck launched into the cold, grey water.
If only!
It was Milly, frantically dog paddling (well what else would she do?) like crazy alongside the canal bank. Had she stumbled in? Or, more likely, had Blue knocked her overboard?
I tutted.
I raised my eyes to the heavens to show my annoyance.
I retraced my steps toward the elderly, part submerged canine and knelt on the damp grass verge as I reached to retrieve her.
Perhaps sensing that the knees of my trousers were nowhere as wet as she was and seeking to level the playing field, she struck out for the opposite bank like an Olympic swimmer on speed.
What the..!
Decision time.
Run up and over the bridge and through the jungle which infests the other side of the waterway?
Not an option. I wasn’t sure she’d stay afloat that long.
Throw Blue in to rescue her?
I wasn’t sure he could swim.
Jump in myself?
You must be bloody joking!
But I wasn’t sure about that either.
I took a deep breath and took a leap of shear stupidity (I was going to say ‘faith’, but perhaps that’s overdoing it a bit).
Bloody Nora, it was cold!🥶
Blame that on February I suppose.
I was stood in the silt with water up to my midriff.
Milly by now was midstream. I struck out in pursuit, wading purposefully in her wake.
By now up to my chin (and I’m not a short person let me tell you) I lunged, arms outstretched to grab her.
Bad move.
I knocked her under the surface and promptly followed her myself.
Did I mention it was cold! 🥶
Blindly flailing about I managed to grab hold of her coat and pull her up – which sent me under again.
I struggled manfully, holding her aloft, praying that I wouldn’t have to give her mouth to mouth when we got to dry land (she’d had a rather smelly breakfast!)
Inching back, with one last reserve of strength I hurled her ashore, where she stood on the bank and regarded me balefully before shaking herself dry and resuming her routine of sniffing and peeing as if nothing had happened.
Have you ever tried to haul yourself out of the cut in walking boots, waterproof trousers over your jeans, tee shirt, thick woolen jumper, a fleece and heavy waterproof jacket?
No, I didn’t think so!
After what seemed like hours, but was probably a bit less, I collapsed onto the canal side like a beached whale and lay there gasping – yes gasping I tell you – for breath as I tried to take in the enormity of what had just happened.
Needless to say I will not be applying to join the RNLI anytime soon.
Blue seemed mildly annoyed and Milly blissfully oblivious as I soggily lead us home and hurled myself into the shower, praying that I had not somehow contracted cholera, typhus or some other water borne disease.
It was at this point that I realised my phone had been in my trouser pocket during the whole sorry adventure.
Bugger!

And the reason for this rather soggy story?

Unfortunately, a few months ago Milly left us.
Cancer is a real bastard!

I miss her.

On some level I’m sure Blue does too.

What I wouldn’t give to hurl myself into the icy waters of the cut again and to have her treat me with total indifference for my heroic lifesaving attempt.

Sleep well little girl x

It’s almost 4 years since we decided to sell our house, cars, caravan and pretty much all of our possessions to have a narrow boat built to live on, so how has that decision played out in reality? Is this nomadic way of life what we thought it would be?

The decision to do something completely off piste (for us at least) happened as a result of being at home in lockdown and ‘seeing’ a life in the future that looked a little too predictable; as we were both self employed and in our 60’s, it felt like time for a change.

Sometimes, it’s the big decisions we make in life that feel absolutely right, even when people around you are scratching their heads wondering what on earth you’re thinking of.

Our ‘why’ was mostly based upon wanting to challenge ourselves by living a totally different way of life, having an opportunity to see new places from a different perspective i.e. the canals, being immersed in nature most of the time and living a life where every day is different.

We did consider whether to buy a big motorhome instead, but decided against it because we wanted (at that time) to get away from the madness of busy roads and traffic…..we didn’t know what was ahead!

I bumped into someone yesterday who used to come to my Pilates classes and she said ‘you’re living a lovely life’ and we are, but as with any type of lifestyle, it does have it’s drawbacks and limitations.

The first canals in England were built in the late 1790’s and much of the network is over 200 years old; the canals were originally built as transport routes in the industrial heartlands of the north and the Midlands. After falling into disrepair with the advent of steam trains, they began to be resurrected again for the use of leisure boats in the 1970’s.

The canal system requires a huge amount of maintenance which is costly and time consuming; although the Canal & River Trust manage the system, a reduction in government funding year on year means the system is slowly failing, which can make life difficult for those of us who live on the water.

Many reservoirs that feed the canals also require heavy maintenance programmes and when reservoirs are low in water, canal water levels suffer accordingly.

It’s becomingly increasing difficult to navigate the northern canals, largely due to breaches on the Bridgewater and Macclesfield Canals; most hire boat companies selling holidays on their boats have usually been able to offer circular routes for their customers (called a ring) but with the closure of navigable waterways, businesses are struggling too as people choose not to hire boats any longer.

It sounds as if the outlook is all doom and gloom which isn’t entirely true as there are still many miles of waterways to travel which are peaceful and beautiful too, but there is a definite deterioration in the system overall.

So, is boat life still meeting our expectations? Like all aspects of life for any of us, we have to be flexible, adaptable and open to change.

As the canal and river network doesn’t allow us to access places we still want to visit, we made the decision to add another mode of transport to extend our nomadic lifestyle even further…..who knew we’d be back on the roads 4 years after saying we wanted to get away from them?!

You might imagine retirement to be a time of settling down into a peaceful routine…not quite pipe and slippers, but not travelling around all over the place, but our motto is ‘if not now, when?’

The logistics of boat and van life are new to us, but we’re finding our way around being able to cruise on the boat and planning trips to places we can’t get to on the boat in the van.

We love being able to walk in the Peak District and it’s difficult to get there on the boat at the minute due to closures on the Macclesfield Canal; so, out comes the van and off we go.

Both the van and the boat meet our 'why, what and how' needs...seeing different places, walking in nature and enjoying the peace and quiet of the countryside.

Who knows how long we’ll live this nomadic life for, but for now, there are places to go and things to do….now, where next?

Even though we’re often moving around, we’re always ‘at home’ as we’re living in our own places and surrounded by our own things. This suits us better than hiring a car and renting accommodation; despite being nomads, we are homebodies.

I wanted to challenge myself in retirement, to step outside my comfort zone a little and to test my mettle. After decades of feeling I needed to control every aspect of my life, I’m learning to go with the flow, to trust more and to be comfortable with, rather than fear uncertainty.
To live a life of variety, to be able to travel, to challenge ourselves, to keep active, to enjoy an outdoor lifestyle and to take life one day at a time is a privilege we never take for granted.

This follows my previous article on the building of the Kennet and Avon canal and its great success initially. For instance, in 1816, the Bath stone to build St. Lawrence’s church, Hungerford, was brought along the canal to the building site alongside the towpath. However, the canal’s use declined after the railway came through in 1847. Of course, it was in the interest of the railway companies that the canals should fall into disuse.

Nationalisation in 1948 put the canals in the ‘care’ of consecutive organisations, which eventually became the current Canal & River Trust. Initially, these organisations had little interest in the canals and did not consider they had a future, but the 1950s saw the start of the canal restoration movement, whose aim was to use the canals as pleasure waterways.

One saving factor for the K&A was barge operator John Gould of Newbury, who won a legal case because the 1794 Act demanded the right of navigation in perpetuity. So the canal was saved in principle, but in reality it was a total mess. Long stretches without water were filled with undergrowth, broken and rotting lock gates, crumbling banks, locks filled with deep mud, and so on.

Restoration in earnest started in the early 1970s with volunteers working in weekend gangs. As skilled as they became, the task was totally beyond them and most of the work had to be done by contractors.

The main task for the volunteers was then raising vast amounts of money. Fortunately, the National Lottery came up trumps, providing £25 million, one of its largest grants. After nearly 20 years, the restoration was complete and the entire Kennet and Avon canal was reopened by Queen Elizabeth II on the 8th August 1990.

Today the work of the Trust is focused on maintenance. Dredging is on a 3-year cycle. Wooden lock gates last about 25 years. Steel gates were tried but proved to be a disaster.

However, as reported in the Newbury Weekly News dated 23rd March 2000:

Members of the Newbury Britain in Bloom committee were joined by local canoeists, residents, representatives of the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust and canal enthusiasts, actors Timothy West and Prunella Scales, for the sixth annual River and Environmental Space Clean Up Event (RESCUE). On Saturday, the volunteers worked on the canal, using grappling hooks and ropes to dredge the bottom.

Passers-by were amazed at what came out and soon a crowd gathered to watch. The newspaper reported that, among the items pulled out of Newbury’s rivers and canals at the weekend, were eighty-five shopping trolleys, two armchairs, a tractor tyre, and security fencing and signposts, complete with concrete foundations.

“It just got to the point where we just threw the grappling hooks in and would pull something out. It was a lucky dip,” said one of the organisers.

Hopefully, our 2,000 miles of waterways in England and Wales will now be kept in good repair and continue to provide homes and leisure pursuits for all who wish to use them.
Iris Lloyd

“Let’s moor here for the night,” Amanda smiled.
It felt strangely hedonistic to stop because they felt like stopping, but they were simply enjoying their journey.
“We could do with a few provisions.. Butter at the very least,” Amanda said as they wandered round the old stone and brick buildings of the town centre.
“We’re in the right place,” Jim replied, pointing to a shop front.
“The Buttery,” it said. “Fine foods and wines for discerning palettes.”
“We’ve ruined ours with frying everything,” Amanda laughed.
“That such places as these have not caught up with the latest in gourmet cuisine is hardly our fault,” Jim replied, his absurd fake upper middle class accent sending Amanda further into her giggling, setting him off too.
Inside was a wide selection of expensive treats, a lot of which contained various unspeakable parts of rather unfortunate animals. There was also plenty to attract Amanda’s interest, and she browsed for some time as Jim just soaked up the atmosphere of age and money.

“Can I help you?” The proprietor, who looked like she was running the place as a hobby, asked.
Amanda jumped slightly.
“Well, err, yes,” she stammered. “I’d like a jar of Kalamata olives, and, I think, some green as well, and some capers.”
Jim looked a little puzzled.
“Treats Jim. I’m not being all posh, well not really. The corner shop I worked at. I think the owner was born in the Mediterranean. Well, not in it, she’d have been a fish, but you know what I mean, she introduced me to them. Oh, and cakes.” she added, turning her attention back to the shopping. “We’d like a couple of nice cakes for afternoon tea.”
“And, um, butter,” Jim said.
The effect on Amanda was unintentional. She was giggling again, with eyes watering. She’d also set Jim off, but he faced away pretending to look at whatever was on the shelves before him.
“I’m sorry, I can’t sell you or your sister any alcohol,” the woman said as kindly as she could, mistaking Jim’s posture for concentration on the wines in front of him.
“I think we’re daft enough already,” Amanda replied. “Cakes, olives and capers will do fine. Just a few treats. And,” digging nails into the palm of her hand. “Butter.”
“Did your mother give you a list?” the woman asked politely.
“Well. No, um, I don’t, um.. live,” Amanda faltered.
“You’re a bit old to be playing picnics,” the woman said.
“You’re always too old or too young for something don’t you think,” Jim replied quietly.
“That’s true,” the woman smiled.

As Amanda sorted through her purse for the the right money, her engagement ring sparkled in the light. Seeing it, and the gold wedding band nestling by it, made her smile.
“You’re a bit young to,” the woman stopped short, then continued. “He’s very astute, your.”
“Um..” Amanda faltered again
“Last Saturday,” Jim smiled. “I’m sure I’ll like olives and capers, and the other stuff. Amanda’s usually right about me.”
“That closeness takes a long time,” the woman replied.
“Time’s relative,” Jim said patiently. “Some scientist said, before he decided that being a watchmaker was a safer occupation. I’d like some good coffee. I was shown how to make it when some wonderful people looked after me.”
“Oh,” the woman replied. “What sort do you want?”
“They used a small pan. A briki. The milk pan on Mayfly would do.” Jim smiled at the memory. “It was a long time ago but.”
The woman looked surprised by the revelation.
“It sounds like Greek or Turkish coffee. We have some good beans here if you don’t mind waiting while I grind them,” she replied.
Amanda looked curiously at her husband.
“It was a treat for doing my homework well. I think you’d like it Mand. Sorry if I remembered a bit late,” he smiled briefly.
“It does take time to know someone,” Amanda said softly. “But it’s not so bad finding out.”
“I’ve only done a small bag because it goes off quite quickly.” the shopkeeper said. “You should have the proper cups and pot though,” she added placing couple of dusty looking coffee cups and a small briki on the counter. I’ve had these in stock for too long, and they’re a bit shop soiled. Call them a wedding gift.”
“Well, thanks,” Jim replied, his face warmed by a smile. “And sorry for being daft.”
“If you can’t laugh together at things only you find funny it’s going to be a dull marriage,” the woman smiled. “Come here and laugh at any time.”

“That was a pretty odd a shopping trip,” Amanda said as the two relaxed in the pleasant afternoon warmth enjoying the view down river from the back of the Mayfly.
“We can expect that if we behave like Pinky and Perky,” Jim replied as he sipped the coffee that he’d carefully prepared, its bitter-sweet taste complimenting the cakes that Amanda had chosen.
Jim had remembered with unusual accuracy the way to prepare the brew, and replicated it with an attention to detail that the casual observer might have called obsessive.
“How many times are you going to do that?” Amanda asked, lazily stretching her legs out towards the stern.
“I can brew another if you want,” Jim replied.
“Not what I meant,” she continued. “There was me trying to impress you with exotic treats, and then you do this. I mean, just like a professional. Then there was the honeymoon room, I didn’t see that coming either.”
“Well, technically riverside pubs don’t move, but everything’s relative, so it’s possible that Mayfly at that point was actually stationary in the whole of space, and everything else was moving, in which case I guess the place was coming at us,” Jim smiled.
“So, Jimbo. Why did I just marry a lunatic? Tell me?” Amanda said, trying to avoid yet more giggling.
“Because I make good coffee,” Jim smiled contentedly.
“I didn’t know that then!” Amanda mocked protest.

My previous post told the story of how our life aboard Art Deco ended and I thought that maybe it is a good idea to tell the story of how it started. How two relatively sane people of pensionable age decide to give up bricks and mortar, sell everything they possessed and invest in what is essentially tin can floating on water.

It all started with a chance meeting back in the spring of 2011. At that time my wife, Joyce and myself were the owners of a small cafe that we had started after being made redundant. Over time the cafe became a meeting place for the local community, mainly because we served excellent food and coffee courtesy of Joyce, but also because of the five computer terminals we had installed, offering customers free access to the internet. This had been my idea, to offer something unique in the hope of generating custom, which indeed it did. I was on hand to help folks who weren’t that computer literate to navigate the internet and generally offer encouragement and advice.

One Wednesday morning in May of that year a lady came in, ordered a coffee and asked if I could help her with the computer, she wanted to find out if there were any moorings available for canal boats in London. As we searched the internet we chatted and she told me that she was having a boat built in Tyler Wilson's yard on the canal in Sheffield and planned to take it down to London and live on it. I did not know it at the time but that one chance meeting would be the start of an amazing adventure.

The lady, Rosemary was her name, became a regular customer of the cafe and one day she invited us onto her boat for drinks. We were living in an apartment in the Old Grain Warehouse right by the Sheffield Canal Basin so we knew exactly where the boat builder was, in fact we frequently spent time chatting to the boaters who moored there. The cafe was closed on Sundays so the following weekend we made the first of many visits to her boat, which was in the final stage of the internal fit out with just a few ‘snags’ to sort out before she went on her way to a mooring in central London that we had found on the internet. Her son and family lived in the Camden area and she wanted to be close to them but couldn’t afford property prices and living on a boat seemed to tick all the boxes for her.

It was a lovely summer that year and we spent many a happy Sunday afternoon on Rosemary’s boat enjoying a glass of wine and each others company. On one occasion we were chatting away when the conversation led to what our careers had been before retirement. Rosemary and her late husband had been in the hospitality trade all their working lives, managing pubs and later small hotels. As we chatted she stopped, looked around her boat and said, “you know, a boat like this would be perfect as a floating hotel”.

I heard the words and immediately a light flashed on in my mind, I had an idea! We had been successful running the cafe, really busy with lots of trade, but it was proving very hard work. We loved the interaction with the customers but we were only just about earning the minimum wage even though we were working very long hours and it was beginning to tell, we were both in our early sixties for heavens sake! For some time we had been thinking of what our next move would be, where would we go, what would we do next. Our two children had left home, Adrianne was registrar at the Baltic Gallery of Contemporary Art in Newcastle and David was in Sheffield working as a digital graphic designer, so with no responsibilities we felt that we could do whatever we wanted and go wherever we pleased. I had been self-employed in the eighties, running my own graphic design studio, so I was familiar with going it alone and not afraid to take a chance. Rosemary’s suggestion of the floating hotel had fixed itself in my mind and I couldn’t let it go, it was an itch that I had to scratch!

I had no experience of the boating world, a couple of holidays on the Norfolk Broads was the limit of my boating knowledge, so a steep learning curve was going to be necessary if I wanted to scratch the itch and follow my dream. Joyce had agreed that in principal the concept was sound, her reservations were around the logistics and practicalities of catering for guests in the small space that a canal boat offered. We needed to know more about what we would be getting in to and the internet has made it extremely easy do. Research used to involve a trip to the local library, searching through books and magazines, finding and talking to people with relevant experience. Now courtesy of Google it can all be achieved from the comfort of your own living room.

The amount of information relevant to our needs was staggering, everything from individual blogs by boaters to detailed articles written by experts, and of course companies advertising their latest products. We spent many hours on our research and slowly a plan came together. It soon became clear that the ‘off the shelf’ option of a boat from one of the commercial builders would not meet our requirements, we needed a bespoke design to suit our project. As I mentioned earlier, I had been a graphic designer and although retired, I still had my Mac computer and design software and enjoyed creating illustrations, purely for pleasure. It was no big leap to transfer these skills to designing the internal layout and overall design of a canal boat.

The first decision to be made was the size of the craft. It would be our home we decided on a wide beam craft, 12 foot wide, as opposed to the standard narrowboat size of 6 foot 10 inches wide. (canal boat builders still use imperial measurements) This decision would limit our cruising range and we would have to decide whether to base ourselves on the northern or southern waters, Birmingham being the ‘pinch point’. The canals around this area were the first to be developed and the locks on them were built to accommodate the narrow boats, but as the network widened and trade grew, larger locks were constructed, enabling larger boats with more freight carrying capability to be built. Most of the older locks were never widened to accommodate wide beam craft resulting in the fact that Birmingham still remains a ‘pinch point’ in the canal system to this day. We decided to go south, mainly because the climate would be warmer, but it also gave us the option to cruise the river Thames as well as the canals.

With those decisions made, I started working on the internal layout. Our plan was to offer a few days cruising experience to just two adults at any one time, so we would need a craft that could accommodate: two double cabins, one for ourselves and one for guests, along with a galley, saloon and bathrooms. Most wide beam craft have the main bedroom cabin in the bow and an open plan saloon and galley at the stern, with bathroom and bedroom cabins in between. Having no previous knowledge of internal boat layouts, I could not understand the logic of this layout, and still don’t. My layout would turn this design on its head, literally, I would put the saloon in the bow, with the galley at the stern and the cabins and bathrooms in between. My logic being that our guests would be able to sit in the comfort of the saloon, watching the world cruise by through the patio doors, while the cooking and it’s associated odours would be confined to the rear of the boat.

Another reason for putting the galley at the rear is that Joyce would be spending much of the day there, as we planned to offer guests all their meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I would be on the rear deck skippering the boat, so we would easily be able to communicate with each other, essential, as I would need her on deck to help through the locks and bridges.

We decided to install a walk-in wet room and toilet in the guest cabin, with a separate small toilet cabin for our use when we had guests aboard. Given that our plan was not to have guests aboard full time, and only for a maximum of five days, and more importantly to save space, we thought we could get away with one shower, we would have plenty of opportunity to make use of the guest cabins facilities.

With the internal design finalised, we were in a position to determine the length and this was always going to be a compromise. It had to be long enough to accommodate all the rooms, but short enough to be easily handled. After much ‘tweaking’ we finally had a layout we were happy with resulting in a craft that was 12 foot wide and 60 foot long.

I could now turn my attention to the technical requirements and I had done quite a bit of research on canal boat engines. Joyce had insisted that if she was to provide three meals a day for guests she needed a well equipped galley, not the usual two ring gas hob with small oven that most boats have. I had read about a company who had adapted a Beta 75 marine engine to run as a hybrid system, providing both diesel and electric motive power. More importantly to me, they stated that their system could provide masses of 240 volt AC power, more than enough, they said, to power the galley that Joyce wanted. I contacted them and we entered into discussion regarding our requirements and after much debate we had exactly what Joyce required in her galley: 4 ring induction hob, oven, warming drawer, fridge freezer, microwave, dishwasher, cooker hood and washing machine. All full size A* power rated domestic appliances. The hybrid adaption powered all these appliances, along with 240 volt plug sockets throughout the boat.

The way it worked was simple; a 48 volt alternator was fitted to the standard Beta 75 marine engine, belt driven from the flywheel. This charged a bank of 24 x 2 volt motive power batteries, connected to a Victron Energy Charger/Inverter, Multiplus 48v, 5000 VA, 70 Amp. There was also a 48 volt electric motor in the drive chain which gave motive power when engaged. The only flaw with the system was that the batteries were only charged when the diesel engine was running or when the boat was connected to shore power. This should not be a problem for us as we intended to be ‘continuous cruisers’, out on the canals/rivers 24/7.

We had the design complete and from my drawings Art Deco looked a great craft, all that was needed now was for someone to turn the drawings into reality! During the summer of 2012 we compiled a list of boat builders who looked, on paper that is, likely candidates. We visited all of them over a period of few weeks working our way through the list before deciding on a builder who was based near Manchester, we placed the order and set the wheels in motion. The reason for our choice was that this builder seemed to be flexible and willing to follow my drawings and more importantly he was willing to allow me to paint the graphics. I wanted to have some physical input into the build and the graphics were my way of doing that. I also had a second, more devious reason though, it would allow me to be at the builders every day, able to ensure that I had the boat that I wanted, not the one the builder wanted.

By the autumn of 2012 we had said good by to our previous life, sold our apartment, (furniture included), car and motorbike and taken a 6 month lease on a flat in south Manchester, near to the boat builder.

The shell of the boat had been built by a yard in Stafford and was delivered to Manchester in November, ready for the fit out. The builders started immediately but I had to wait a few weeks while the shell of the boat was prepared, primed and painted with the base colour, a process that was not helped by the cream colour we had chosen for the upper part of the boat. Eight coats had to be applied before the finish was acceptable. By the time I started on the graphics it was mid-winter and the temperature was freezing, colder in the builder's shed than outside! In fact on occasions it was too cold for the paint to flow properly. It was slow and hard going, but at least I had an excuse to be at the yard every day, ready to answer the many queries and questions that inevitably cropped up. Had I not been on hand the build time would have slipped back and more importantly I would have had a boat the builder wanted, not the one I wanted.

The gods at last seemed to be smiling on us for once and the build progressed, a little slowly I have to say and over time I came to realise that our builder was defiantly ‘old school’, working at a pace that would have been acceptable in the 19th century. He didn’t understand the concept of a deadline, and we certainly had one. Our good luck didn’t last long though, the engineer from the hybrid company contacted me to say he had broken his ankle, was out of action for at least 3 weeks and would not be able to commission the engine. This was bad news indeed; the fit out of the boat was complete, the engine was in place and we were ready to go. After many heated telephone conversations it was agreed that he would come to the marina at Roydon and commission her there. The problem with that scenario was that we had to get ourselves and Art Deco there. Garry, the engineer who had installed the engine was confident it would be alright, the diesel engine he said was working fine. So without any practical knowledge regarding the hybrid side of things we reluctantly agreed, we had no choice, by this time we were homeless.

Eventually by late May 2014 Art Deco was completed and ready to make the journey south for her launch into the Grand Union canal. Our son, David, had created a website for Art Deco, ready for us to market her as a short break destination and I took the opportunity to record the build as it went along. What follows are the posts that I put on the website and they document the events as they happened, warts and all. I should point out that all names have been changed to protect the guilty!!

1st November 2013

Well it’s been a long time coming, but at last here it is, the first blog following the build of the wide beam canal boat "Art Deco". We have had a few set backs along the way, all did not go to plan, perhaps we were a little too optimistic, but now we are over the Pennines in Lancashire, living in a rented apartment in Salford for six months whilst the boat is fitted out. The shell is complete and will be transported by road from Stafford to Manchester where Brian the boat fitter will fit out the interior. This should be completed by early Spring of 2014 and then the finished boat will again be transported by road (it is too wide to pass through the locks around Birmingham) and put in the Grand Union Canal around Watford, from where we will cruise to our mooring at Roydon Marina on the river Stort in the Lea Valley Country Park.

5th December 2013

The boat shell arrived in Manchester yesterday, HOORAY!! And what a stressful day it was, I should have been prepared due to the history of this project, but I wasn’t. All is now ready for the final fit out which should take around twelve weeks so we are on course for a launch just before Easter next year. This deadline is set in stone, as we have to be out of our rented apartment by 16th April and we don’t want to extend this. Joyce has told Brian that we will live on the boat at the yard if necessary!

11th December 2013

The shell is now in the workshop, the inside being fitted out and the outside painted in our chosen colours by Brian and his team. After applying up to four coats, which will take about three weeks, the outside will be ready for me to paint the graphics, something I am really looking forward to doing. I intend to start painting the graphics in the first week of January so I will be on site to watch the progress of the build as it turns from a great hunk of metal into a beautiful boat.

20th December 2013

Into the third week of the build and I am glad to say that now things are really progressing, the fitters and painters are hard at it and Joyce and myself, along with help and advice from Brian are madly buying all the things needed for the fit out. It is great to have a blank piece of paper and start from scratch; we sold most of our furniture along with the apartment to a first time buyer, so we are able to furnish the boat as we want. We have already ordered the furniture for the saloon and this week have ordered all the wet room and day toilet fittings and tiles. We are in the process of planning the kitchen, this has not been possible until now because we need the insulation in and boarded out to get exact measurements and we are tight for space.

The kitchen is Joyce’s domain, so she tells us what she wants and Brian and myself try and fit it in. Her list is; oven, induction hob, microwave, warming drawer, cooker hood, dishwasher, washing machine, fridge, freezer, sink, and various cupboards and drawers, all in a space of 7’6” x 12’! It is amazing what you can do with a bit of careful planning; Brian has been building boats for over twenty years so he can use literally every inch of space. All the insulation and boarding out will be completed before the Christmas break, then the central heating system will go in, it can then be used during the rest of the fit out, we have to keep the fitters warm, they will work better and this should help make the deadline! The hybrid engine is ordered and should be here early in the New Year; that will be a major stage and is an exciting prospect.

On a personal note, our car of twelve years and 160,000 miles finally gave up the ghost a couple of weeks ago. We had been over in Sheffield and were on our way home when it just died; fortunately it was right outside my mate Mak’s house! Thanks Mak for the lift to my sisters and thanks to Ann and Malcolm for putting us up for the night. The car was going at the end of December, so it is not a big deal, as we don’t plan to have one when we are on the boat.

That’s all for now, Merry Christmas and Happy New year, watch this space for the next blog in the new year, hopefully we will have a gallery to post more photos by then.

10th January 2014

The build is progressing nicely; not very exciting at the moment, but it's the things you don’t see, such as insulation, that are important. Get that wrong, then you are in trouble later on. It’s the same with the painting, Alan the guy who is painting the boat is a true perfectionist, he had primed and undercoated the whole boat but was not happy with the finish, and some of the welds were showing, so he got to work with the angle grinder, smoothed them off and started again with the primer and undercoat. He is now putting on the final coats, so I should be able to start the sign writing next week, hooray!! I will then be involved on a daily basis with the build and will be on site as the exciting work begins. Look out in the next few weeks for more interesting photos!

On a different note we went to Roydon Village Marina this week where the boat will to be moored, it’s very nice and the people are very friendly. A bit more rural than we expected though, but it has all the facilities we need. There are all the usual maintenance facilities for the boat, and a clubhouse with cafe, bar, toilets, showers and laundry facilities. And there is also a restaurant on site. Roydon village itself is very up market with three pubs, a lovely old church and village green that is mentioned in the Doomsday Book, but on the downside there is just one small shop that contains the off licence, post office and grocery store. On the up side though Roydon Railway Station is only 10 minutes walk away and there are local trains that link all the nearby towns, and fast trains into London Liverpool Street, which is only thirty minutes away.

We had a quick look around the area, Broxbourne looks like a great little town with lots of interesting shops and Harlow is larger with all the usual chain stores and supermarkets, and both are on the railway line. The whole area is within the Lee Valley Country Park which has plenty of recreation facilities such as walking and cycling routes, RSPB sites and plenty of water sports, so this will be a big plus when we start marketing Art Deco as a holiday destination. That’s all for now, hopefully there will be more to see on the boat build next time.

8th February 2014

Finally, at last I have started painting the graphics on the boat. It’s been a long time coming as Alan the painter is a true perfectionist and was not happy with the finish until he had put EIGHT coats of paint on the sides. I told him it is not a Rolls Royce finish that we are after and that boating on the canals and rivers of England is a contact sport, but he insisted on getting it perfect; it puts me under pressure now to come up to his standards with the painting of the graphics. It has actually gone well, quicker than I expected, it’s been a long time since my hand lettering days on the drawing board before the invention of the Apple Macs and I was not at all confident that I could still do it, but its a bit like riding a bike, it all comes flooding back! The only down side is the actual colours, I had a limited pallet to choose from, there is not a great range of boat paint out there, just one brown and one pink and now they are on the boat they are too vivid, not the subtle colours I wanted so I will have to add white and mix to get the correct colours and repaint. I will have to paint the other side in the original colours first though so that they both look the same and then paint over with the correct colour, not as bad as it sounds as I really enjoy being at the boat yard and being involved in the build.

The up side is that I am on site all the time and can keep an eye on the build and make changes and solve problems as they arise. There is so much involved with the build, not just the usual stuff like where light fittings, switches and plug points go, but things like where to put the water and effluent tanks, and where to hide the pumps for these, and not least of all where to put the TWO TON of batteries needed for our hybrid installation. These will hopefully fit in the engine room at the back of the boat, but there may need to be an adjustment in the ballast as none of us were aware of the scale of the battery requirements; this is the first hybrid installation that Brian has done. We will also have to make sure there is adequate ventilation as the batteries need to be kept cool, I am sure all these little problems will be solved as we go along.

So now its all plumbing and wiring at the moment, all the kitchen appliances are due in next week so we can make a start on the kitchen, the two bathrooms are ready to tile and fit out and then it’s just the bedrooms to complete then the inside will be done. That just leaves the engine, batteries, generator, gearbox, prop shaft, propeller, control gear and power management system to complete - no problem! That’s about all for now, nine weeks to go on Wednesday 12th February, so it’s full speed ahead!

12th March 2014

With Spring defiantly in the air this week we are working to an end date that is now set in stone as we have given notice on our apartment here in Salford: we have to vacate on Tuesday 15 April - 5 weeks time. The fit out is going to schedule and with the first fix now complete, the guys are moving on to fitting out the bedrooms and bathrooms which should be completed in a few days. The living/dining area needs no fittings as we are using domestic furniture - two new leather settees along with the Italian glass “air” units, coffee table and standard lamp from our apartment in Sheffield. We also have an open fire, designed especially for a boat fuelled by Ethanol that will be fitted along with a new 42” Smart TV, and our fold down glass table etched with our rose logo. Then we have the kitchen to fit out which will take around a week, so long as we can squeeze in all the appliances we have! That just leaves the question of the engine that has not arrived yet, but I am assured that it is on its way and should take a week at the most to fit, so we are not panicking yet.

Since the last blog I have repainted all the graphics and I am much happier with the colours now. The photo shows the difference, not much I hear you say, but trust me the colours are much more subtle and give the overall visual effect I wanted. I just have to paint the name on the bows now then all the graphics are complete. That's all for now, hopefully in a couple of weeks I will blog the engine fitting.

9th April 2014

Stressful times, the boat won’t be ready for our deadline and we have to vacate our flat in Salford on Tuesday next week (15th). Fortunately after Joyce’s last email stating that this might happen we were offered a cottage in the Peak District by a couple of our Cafe customers who are absolutely fantastic and we are so grateful, sleeping on a part finished boat did not appeal. We will only need an extra week on the build, so hopefully we won’t be too much of a burden on our kind friends, and there is a rail station near the cottage, so I will be able to get to the boat yard and wave a big stick. Boat builders, I have learned, are notorious for letting deadlines slip. To be fair though the quality of finish and attention to detail is excellent so that is some consolation.

There have also been unforeseen problems, namely with the engine being too long. There is masses of space either side, which is good because we need the space for all the batteries, but it is the hybrid part that fits at the rear of the diesel engine that is the problem. It would just about go in, but servicing would be a problem so we have solved this by cutting away part of the bulkhead between the engine room and the kitchen so that access can be gained from the kitchen. It has actually worked out okay though, as servicing the hybrid, which has three drive belts and many electrical connections will be very easy via a removable panel in the kitchen, which will be hidden behind the rear stairs, and it only encroaches into the kitchen by about three inches.

The rest of the fit out is progressing, the wet room and second toilet are fully tiled, the two bedrooms have their wardrobes and cupboards built and all the kitchen units are in place and the Corian work tops have been delivered, but the kitchen can’t be finished until the engine is commissioned, which is not straight forward as the manufacturers are situated in the Isle of Wight and they have to do the work.

The boat WILL be complete and ready to transport down south by the week of Easter Monday so I have to find a place to drop it in the water, not as easy as I thought due to the size and weight. After many phone calls I have found a marina near Watford who can do the job so that is where we will start our adventure from, nearer to our base than Northampton where I had originally planned, so not as many locks to negotiate which makes Joyce very happy indeed.

30th April 2014

Under normal circumstances our position would be the envy of most people: Idyllic location, comfortable country cottage and great weather. Unfortunately for us things could not be more stressful and frustrating, two weeks after our original deadline and the boat is still not finished. I won’t bore you with all the issues, but we are now at the stage where others apart from Brian and his team are calling the shots. It was difficult enough dealing with one set of craftsmen, but now we have the engine fitter, the battery and electrics engineers and the hybrid manufacturer to deal with, it’s not easy.

On a positive note the diesel engine is fitted and running and the batteries and electrics should be completed today (Wednesday). The hybrid engine has to be commissioned which hopefully will happen before the end of the week, and then Chris can finish off the galley, which should complete the fit out. All we need then is a certificate of worthiness and we are finished! It’s then the logistics of transporting the boat to Watford and getting it put in the water, which hopefully will happen in the week of Bank Holiday Monday. We cannot thank our hosts here enough; they have been fantastic and very helpful and understanding in our time of need. I have included a couple of photos, not much new to see but the French windows are in and lots of detailed finishing off has been done and another major job is the bow thrusters have been fitted. Next week I will post pictures of the lift, transport to Watford and final drop into the Grand Union Canal. I will, I really, really hope I will!!!

Joyce had not been idle while I had been at the yard painting the graphics, she had secured a mooring for Art Deco in Roydon marina on the river Stort, near Harlow in Essex. We had decided to have a marina mooring for the first three months, given the problems we had experienced. We thought this would allow us time to iron out any potential problems before we became continuous cruisers. Exhaustive research had revealed that the nearest place to the Roydon marina with a crane able to lift the 28 tons that Art Deco weighed was at Watford, just by Cassiobury park on the Grand Union Canal. We arranged transport and on the morning of the 21st May a crane arrived at the yard and lifted the completed Art Deco on to a low loader for the journey south. I had managed to persuade the driver to let me travel in the cab with him, and at 10 am I left the yard with a great sense of relief. It had not been an easy build, we had had many heated arguments along the way, especially around the time the build was taking, but eventually we got there and we were now on the final leg.

Well it finally happened, the boat has left the unit but as usual for this project not without Incidents so bear with me this may take a while! The transport and crane were booked in for a 8am start on Wednesday 21st at the boat builders and as we were at that time staying in Sheffield with my sister and brother-in-law (yes we had to beg another bed for a couple of weeks!) I booked into a bed and breakfast in Manchester on the Tuesday evening and although I had pre-booked on the Monday they had no reservation for me. I had taken the phone number from the Internet and had spoken to a guy who booked me in but no males worked at the place, only women ran it, but fortunately they took pity on me and found me a bed for the night.

So at the boat builders for 8am, crane and transport already on site, it’s a hive of activity and we start to slowly pull the boat out of the unit. All is going well until the supporting bogie wheel collapsed and the boat was grounded. Fortunately by this time the boat was 95% out of the workshop so the amazing crane driver was able to manoeuvre the boat out, over the wall and on to the low loader - brilliant although the whole operation took over five hours, not the one hour predicted. So not away until after 1pm, knowing the boat yard we were heading for closed at 5pm sharp, a tight deadline.

We were making good progress and were on schedule to just about make it until the truck had a blow out on the motorway, nothing we could do but wait for rescue, which took two hours so, no boat in the water today. The boat yard could do the lift at 8.30am sharp the next morning so we found a place to park up close by and myself, Ian the driver and Wayne the support vehicle driver went to the pub and drowned our sorrows Did not have too much to drink because I was sleeping on the boat and had a fifteen-foot climb to get on!

Up the next morning and the boat was in the water for 9.15, hooray finally what a relief, but it was not to last. At 3pm I was told that I would have to move now as they had another boat to lift out of the water, panic, I was alone and had not even started the engine on this boat but had no choice but to go for it. Actually I did all right, even filling up with diesel and water on the way to a mooring place on the canal. It was not until I climbed off the boat with the ropes ready to tie up that I realised there were no mooring rings to tie up to, all the other boats had mooring stakes driven into the bank and I had none. Fortunately a fellow boater came along and helped me and that is where we are now.

Joyce came down from Sheffield by train arriving at 3pm on Friday and we have spent the weekend and bank holiday unpacking boxes, resulting in a mountain of cardboard which we have somehow to get rid of, not sure how as we have no transport. Hoping to start the journey to Roydon tomorrow if we have solved the problem of the ballast needed to trim the boat so we can use the bow thrusters.

The time on my own allowed me to familiarise myself with our new home, and get my head around the one area that had been giving me sleepless nights; the electrics. I had been at the yard when the engine was fitted, complete with the hybrid adaption, and watched as the massive bank of batteries were installed and connected up. What concerned me most was the shear thickness of the cabling used, it was a good centimetre in diameter. There was a phrase rolling round in my head, that was used in the manufacture’s literature which stated; ‘There’s enough power in the battery bank to fry an elephant!’ I needed to understand the system and quick. I had watched the engineer as he fitted and connected it all together and he explained each process as he went along and the theory seemed quite simple, but what it would be like in practice was another matter.

We had two separate electric systems; a 12 volt DC system that powered the cabin lights and water pumps and a 240 volt AC mains system, very similar to a domestic set up, that powered the galley and 13 amp plug sockets. The 240 volt system took power from the 48volt battery bank charged by the 48 volt alternator via the inverter, and the 12 volt system from two leisure batteries connected to a 12 volt mains charger. These two systems were independent from the engine electrics which were unchanged from the standard Beta 75 engine. There was a gauge on the back deck which registered the amount of charge in the batteries at any one time and the number of amps generated when the engine was running. It also registered how much power was being taken out of the batteries when the engine wasn’t running.

On my short run from the marina to the mooring I had been too occupied just steering the boat and had no time to look at the gauge, that would be something to address on the long cruise to Roydon. I have to admit that I was concerned about the journey, it was a long way for our first cruise and I didn’t know enough about the electrics, there is a lot of power in the system, and as every school boy knows, electrics and water are never a good combination.

Joyce arrived in Watford at the end of May and stepped aboard Art Deco for the first time on water and was amazed just how stable she was compared to the craft we had experienced on the Norfolk Broads, they seemed to move with every step. We spent a few more days moored at Cassiobury, familiarising ourselves with our new home, stocking the fridge and freezer with food, filling the water and diesel tanks to capacity ready for the journey north via the Grand Union canal, and the rivers Lee and Stort to Roydon marina.

One last job I wanted to do before we set off on our maiden voyage was to get the boat sitting better in the water. There was a large hold in the bow that would normally take the gas bottles, but as we were all electric it was empty, ideal to fill with ballast I thought. I arranged for the local builders merchant to deliver five cwt. of concrete blocks to the service quay of the marina and moored the boat there to load up. As I stepped off the boat I slipped and fell into the canal. With water up to my waist Joyce could not help me as she was in hysterics laughing at my predicament. Fortunately I saw the funny side of my baptism, I now felt like a true boater. After I had dried off, the two of us loaded the concrete blocks in the hold, but unfortunately they only lowered the bow a few inches. It would have to do, we were keen to be on our way. Another task that would have to wait until Roydon marina.

It had been 3 years in the making, but finally on the morning of Wednesday 27th May 2014 we left the mooring at Cassiobury and cruised off into the unknown. It was a new chapter in our lives and we were excited and a little nervous, what lay in front of us we had no idea but we had taken chances before and we were still around to tell the tale.

Whatever happened it had to be better than sitting watching daytime TV!!

River Canal Rescue began its journey in June 2000, when now-retired chief executive officer, Trevor Forman (partner of managing director, Stephanie Horton), had a recurring dream about providing a breakdown service for boaters. He even dreamt the name of the business and logo!
Trevor was a diagnostic mechanic and Stephanie, an electro-mechanical power engineer. They owned and had a love of boats, so possessed the necessary expertise and passion for such a venture. Having found nothing similar existed in the UK on a national scale, the business started with three staff; Trevor, Stephanie and director/chief rescue co-ordinator, Pete Barnett, testing reactions to its service proposition.

Following a formal launch in 2001, by the end of that year, RCR gained 100 members. Now, 25 years on from that initial dream, the company has grown from three staff to 37, and supports 20,000+ members, plus anyone else requiring assistance.

In 2024, RCR engineers responded to 171 major incidents; emergency situations involving submerged, partially sunken or grounded craft, plus salvage work, and 3485 general call-outs, for electrical, fuel and engine issues, flat batteries, over-heating and gear box failures etc. Over the past 25 years, Stephanie estimates its teams have responded to over 60,000 call-outs.

Other services

In addition to breakdown and recovery services, RCR offers maintenance and electrics courses, servicing, a WaterNav app offering offline mapping and route planning for the entire network, and Bilgeaway – the world’s first environmentally-friendly filter that stops fuel and oil pollution from bilge discharges.

Its subsidiary, Key Diesels, supply new and refurbished engines, nationwide and RCR is a distributor for electric motor company, Lynch Motors.

RCR’s Canal Contracting team – soon to be rebranded RCR Plus - helps boaters manage insurance claims and recover costs following an emergency and staff also have access to a nationwide network of over 600 specialist marine engineering service providers, electricians, plumbers, welders etc, with negotiated labour rates and parts’ costs.

No other organisation, whether marina, contractor or engineer has such an extensive in-house team or stocks such a wide range of parts to ensure solutions are sourced and implemented as soon as possible. Similarly, no other organisation works in partnership with a UK-wide network of service suppliers and contractors, addressing boaters’ issues, regardless of their location or issue.

RCR is authorised to handle claims for most boat insurers and is a pre-authorised by the Canal & River Trust (CRT), meaning teams have permission to attend on-site without having to complete in-house paperwork or secure approvals before undertaking a rescue or refloat, saving valuable time.

Awards

RCR’s apprenticeship programme is one of the best in the UK and the company is recognised as a Top 100 apprenticeship employer. RCR has also received awards for customer services, business growth and innovation and Bilgeaway has won the British Safety Industry Federation’s Water Pollution Prevention Award.

Not bad for a company that was at first a dream!

I sometimes think there aren’t many opportunities in our lives when we get to do exactly what we want without having any responsibilities or commitments towards anyone or anything else; I’m not talking about being selfish or narcissistic, but being able to fulfill a dream or desire that’s held deep within you….to follow a path that is uniquely yours.

Most of us start school at 4 or 5 years old and often attend a nursery or playschool of some sort before that; the education system in the UK doesn’t allow for much individuation, so we follow the national curriculum and try to find subjects that interest us and that might eventually inspire us towards a career choice that lights us up.

We leave school as young adults and although we might choose to have a gap year before starting university or work, we’re pretty much thrust into the world of work and responsibilities for the next 4 decades at least.

I read something in a Sunday paper last week where a 70 year woman had had a ‘makeover’; she commented that she was usually dressed in jeans as she spent a lot of her time ‘running around after grandchildren.’ I have a photo of my paternal grandma who died at 52 and she looked at least 20 years older than that, as did many women of her generation; I can’t imagine her ever running around after anybody!

So much of our lives are taken up by education, work and sometimes family life; our children have their children and suddenly, we’re thinking about what our later years might look like.

I have friends who are choosing to continue working in their 70’s, others who’ve retired, but are involved in volunteer work; some are very involved in their children’s and grandchildren’s lives, others less so….

So little of our time is free enough for us to be able to step back and think ‘what do I want from my life?’

When we chose to sell our house and move onto a narrow boat, the primary driver was to have an adventure; being continuous cruisers (we don’t have a home mooring) means that we move around all the time, sometimes without a destination in mind.

We have been moored in a marina over this winter as we’ve been on 2 holidays and we needed to leave the boat somewhere secure, but we don’t have a fixed plan of where we going when we leave in a couple of weeks time.

It’s quite an unusual lifestyle and not having a settled base wouldn’t be everyone’s idea of a good time, but having a choice of where to travel is one of the positive aspects of life on the cut.

There are over 2000+ miles of waterways in the UK (canals and rivers) and travelling at an average of 2-3mph means it’ll take a while to cover the whole network!

As we prepare to leave the marina, our thoughts are turning towards where we’d like to go and what we’d like to do and see this year; we also need to take into account time we want to spend with family and friends and how we can integrate the different aspects of our chosen lifestyle.

Living in a house lends itself towards a more structured lifestyle with more opportunity for a settled pattern in the days of each week, whereas living on a boat often means tentative plans change as locks break down, canals close for a while because of a fallen tree or even completely breach because of a landslide (look up the Bridgewater Canal).

It’s helpful to have a relaxed approach when planning a route as invariably, there will be something that forces us to change direction. We’ve often met boats approaching a junction and shouted ‘which way are you heading’ and they’ve shouted back ‘we’re not sure, we’ll see which way the nose wants to go when we get to the junction’; most continuous cruisers tend to have a very relaxed attitude to route planning!

The last few years have been the first time in our 67 and 72 year old lives where we don’t have to go anywhere in particular at any specific time; we can arrange to meet family and friends to suit their schedules and our life is freer than it’s ever been.

Having said that, it feels like a bit of a golden time as we’re alive (good start), together after 40 years and happy to be so and we’re both fit and well; we actively (no pun intended) take care of ourselves and hope to be able to maintain this itinerant lifestyle for a few years at least, but there are no guarantees.

We always said when we made the decision to radically change our lives that we’d rather do it and regret it, than not do it and regret not taking the plunge…not literally.

So, it feels as if we have a window of opportunity to live a life with less responsibility and we’ve no idea how long that window will last. We had no plans to do any of this before we did it and that surely is the beauty of life….who knows what’s ahead of us?

We want to stay closer to our family this year (we spent last year ‘up north’) so we’ll stay within an hours drive of Birmingham and plan to visit places we haven’t yet been on the boat. Some of those places include Stratford, Worcester, Stourport, Gloucester and wherever else appears interesting along the way.

If you had a year (or more) to do exactly what you wanted to do, what would it be? Life is short, time is precious and although many people wouldn’t want to do what we’re doing, we all have a dream that we’d love to fulfill before we die.

Maybe now’s the time to look for and plan for that window of opportunity, maybe the time IS now…..your dream awaits!

Spring has definitely sprung as we are enjoying some beautiful March sunshine and warmer, longer days. It’s the month of new growth as those fresh young green wild garlic, nettle and dandelion leaves emerge, they are perfect for picking and have lots of uses. Wild garlic shouts out “Pesto” to me but also is a great addition to salads, stir fries and almost any other dish, just wash, chop and add! We had savoury pancakes for Shrove Tuesday with a creamy leek, mushroom, bacon and wild garlic filling.

Now we’re into double figure temperatures I would definitely say it’s time to think about cooking outdoors. My Cobb Barbecue/cooker will be put to good use, it’s efficient, compact and a versatile way of cooking so many meals.

I’m sharing some lighter Spring recipes with you, but keep your eye out for a special Cobb feature coming later on. Who’d have thought you could cook a stir fry on a Cobb! It’s one of my favourite anything goes kind of meals to cook, whether it’s bits and bobs from the bottom of the fridge, chicken, noodles, pork or beef, anything goes!

I’ve got some different salads to share with you, a couple of chicken dishes, some ideas with salmon and mackerel, and a very indulgent chocolate Easter treat!

Frozen green beans, broad beans and peas play a big part in a lot of my recipes. Even if you don’t have a freezer, a part used bag will last a few days in the fridge, you can even pickle them and they will last a few weeks. They marry well with a boiling of new potatoes and mint sauce, or a simple mustard butter using soft butter and 1 tsp mustard with a squeeze of lemon juice and pinch of sea salt. Add them to any crunchy salad bowl, pasta dish, soup or stir fry. Or mix with some cream cheese or crème fraiche, herbs and seasoning.

SPRING GREEN FATTOUSH

Traditionally made from toasted or fried pieces of pita bread, mixed greens and salad veg with a tangy lemony dressing. This salad is perfect for using up an odd leftover wrap, pita or flatbread. Bring a pan of water to the boil and add your choice of green beans or peas. Boil just for a minute or so, until tender then drain and sit in cold water, this keeps the colour and stops the cooking process to keep a nice crunch, drain again. Halve a piece of cucumber lengthways, scoop out the seeds and cut into half-moon shapes. Whisk together 2 tbsp olive oil, juice of half a lemon, ½ tsp sugar and a pinch salt and black pepper. Open up the wholemeal pitta bread into two pieces and cut into bite size pieces, dry fry in a pan to toast, oil can be used but not necessary. Finely chop any fresh herbs such as parsley, coriander, mint or chives. Don’t worry it you don’t have any, you can substitute with mint sauce out of a jar. Combine everything together with some crumbled feta cheese, season with a pinch of sal flakes and freshly ground black pepper to serve.

If you don’t have all the lemon and herb ingredients a great quick marinade or dressing is a bottle of Rapeseed Oil (The Yorkshire brand) infused with lemon, garlic, oregano and thyme!

SUPERFOOD TABBOULEH

Tabbouleh is a Middle Eastern herb salad using finely chopped fresh parsley and mint with bulghur wheat and a simple lemony dressing. Quinoa can be used instead, for a gluten free version. Simply chop your herbs and add whatever you like. For a superfood version use crunchy salad greens, avocado and soya or black beans. My favourite version is a combination of cooked puy lentils, spring onions and tomatoes, with a dressing of olive oil and lemon juice.

Serve with a simple dip made from natural yoghurt, crushed garlic, pinch paprika and squeeze fresh lemon juice.

We get through a lot of lemons and limes and often run out, so I keep a bottle of supermarket lemon and lime juice in, its convenient and not expensive. Likewise fresh mint or coriander aren’t always handy, a good dried leaf version works ok, or mint sauce from a jar.

ROAST RADISH, NEW POTATO AND MACKEREL SALAD

You can use any kind of pre-packed cooked mackerel, such as peppered, smoked, hot or plain. Either leave the potatoes whole or halve or quarter so that they are a similar size to the whole radishes, this ensures even cooking. Drizzle with olive oil and roast in the oven for about 30 minutes, tossing half way through, until golden and tender. Meanwhile make the dressing: whisk together 3 tbsp olive oil, 1 small crushed garlic clove, 3 tbsp natural yoghurt, juice ½ lemon, handful freshly chopped herbs such as parsley or dill. Allow the cooked radish and potato to cool a little, then toss together with the dressing. Flaked mackerel and some fresh salad greens.

SWEET SMOKY CHICKEN

This can be served in a number of ways: over rice with steamed veg, tossed in a stir fry or left overs can be used in a crunchy greens and chicken salad. For the recipe use 4 to 6 Chicken thighs, skin on, if you prefer chicken breasts that’s fine. For the sauce 1 tsp ground allspice 3 tbsp soft brown sugar 2 garlic cloves, crushed 1 tbsp rice vinegar 5cm piece of ginger, peeled and grated 1 tsp smoked paprika 3 tbsp olive oil Preheat the oven to 220 fan (or cook over the barbecue coals). Combine all the sauce ingredients and coat the chicken well. Leave to marinate in the fridge, preferably overnight, or at least half an hour. Place the chicken on a baking tray and cook for about 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through, baste with the sauce half way through cooking. Once cooked the chicken will be dark in colour, sticky and delicious. Slice up and serve with rice, flatbreads or salad and pickles.

CUCUMBER SALSA

This is a lovely side with fishcakes, rostis, falafel, bhajis etc. ½ cucumber, halved, deseeded and finely sliced or chopped 2 spring onions, finely chopped ½ tsp sugar pinch chilli flakes 1 tsp mint sauce squeeze lemon juice Combine all the ingredients and season with salt and pepper to taste

INDIAN SALMON AND SWEET POTATO CAKES

Steam a large peeled and cubed sweet potato until tender. Then mash with a pinch of salt and 1tbsp curry paste. Flake a 180g tin of salmon into the potato with a handful of breadcrumbs and chopped coriander. Shape the mixture into four cakes and chill for 10 minutes. Shallow fry in a little light oil for about 3 minutes each side until golden and warmed through. Serve with some leafy greens, cucumber salsa and natural yoghurt.

SATAY CHICKEN WITH SPRING GREENS ROASTIES

This recipe uses a full 1kg pack of chicken thighs, but can easily be halved, or will freeze. 1kg chicken thighs, skin on and bone in 1kg Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and cut into large pieces 4 tbsp vegetable oil Any choice of greens such as spring onions, broccoli or Spring cabbage, finely sliced Coriander leaves and sliced red chilli to serve (optional) For the satay sauce 4 tbsp smooth peanut butter 1x 200g tin full fat coconut milk 1 tbsp soy sauce 1 lime, juiced 2 tbsp clear honey 2 tsp curry powder

Preheat the oven to 220 fan. Mix the satay sauce ingredients together. Place the chicken, skin side up in a roasting tin and coat in the sauce. Roast for about 45 mins, basting half way through, until the chicken is tender and the skin crisp. Meanwhile, simmer the potatoes in boiling water, drain after about ten minutes, leave to dry. Put the oil in a shallow roasting tray and pop into the oven for about 5 minutes until very hot. Add the drained potatoes, season with salt and black pepper and toss to coat in the hot oil. Roast for about 30 minutes or so until crispy and golden, turning half way through. Add the greens for the last 5 mins. The chicken and potatoes should finish cooking at the same time, serve with extra sliced spring onions, red chilli and coriander. If there is any cooking sauce left, it can be re-heated with some quick noodles for another day.

CARDAMON CHOCOLATE POTS

These are very rich and indulgent, with a lovely aromatic hint of cardamon. They only need to be made in small portions. I use small glass tumblers. These quantities (can easily be halved) make at least 4 pots, depending on size.

300ml double cream, plus extra for drizzling 12 cardamon pods 200g dark chocolate 25g butter 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten (save the whites and add to an omelette or scrambled egg)

Put the cream in pan. Crush the cardamon pods lightly to remove the seeds and pop them into the cream. Gently warm and remove before boiling point is reached. Set aside for about 20 mins for the flavour to infuse. Pour the cream through a sieve to remove the cardamon flecks, then pour back into the pan and warm. Finely chop the chocolate and add to the cream, off the heat, stir until melted. Add the butter in very small knobs and keep stirring to melt. Quickly but gently fold in the beaten egg yolks. Pour into small pots and allow to set in the fridge for about 4 hours. Drizzle with a little cream to serve.

Hopefully we will have a good Summer with lots of fine weather boating days. I’ll be back for the Summer edition, with a few extra’s along the way. In the meantime you can follow more recipes on my Facebook page Canal Cuisine.

Lock coming up Joyce! What already? I haven’t finished preparing lunch yet, came the reply from down in the galley. I know, its been an easy one this morning, the flow is not as strong as yesterday, all that rain we had last week must have finally worked itself out of the system.

We were aboard Art Deco, a wide beam canal barge that has been our home for the last seven years. On the river Thames, we’re cruising up river, heading for Iffley Lock where we are due to meet up with a couple of other boats. There are good moorings there and a pub, the Isis Farmhouse, right on the towpath, in a lovely, remote rural setting and the perfect place to spend a few nights before we head up to Oxford, just a short cruise away.

This is our first cruise of 2022, a chance to spread our wings after the confines of the winter, which has been particularly wet on the Thames, with quite a few periods on red boards. We had spent it around Marlow, a favourite place of ours. There are great moorings by Higginson park, and it’s just a short walk into the town and all its facilities. It even has a railway station, on a small branch line from Maidstone; how it survived the Beeching cuts I have no idea, perhaps a ‘person of influence’ lived there at the time. An extra bonus is a water tap, well hidden and not for public use, but if you know where to look and have an extra long hose, you can fill up, under the covers of darkness of course!. It came in very useful this winter as we were on red boards for over six weeks. Diesel could have been a problem at the time, but one of our fellow boaters had access to a van, so we were able to fill 5 gallon cans from a boatyard at Caversham just a few miles away.

We liked to get in a long cruise as early as possible in the year, before the river becomes busy, and this year is no different. We had set off mid March, heading down river, easy cruising, we were going with the flow of the river as it made its way towards London, and eventually the North Sea. Our journey would take us as far as Kingston on Thames, the last main town before Teddington Lock and the tidal Thames, a no-go area for us as we do not have a licence for that part of the river. We looked forward to this time of year with the anticipation of the better weather and plenty of cruising.

It had become a bit of a tradition on Art Deco to start the new season with a complete cruise of our area, Kingston to Oxford, a distance of 88.5 miles, it would give us a chance to familiarise ourselves with the river, towns and locks again and see what damage, if any, the winter weather had caused. Our first overnight stop would be Windsor, but before there, just above Romney lock is an EA mooring, where we stop for lunch. From the river there looks to be nothing around, but just a few meters away, hidden behind the trees is Dorney Lake, the venue for the rowing events of the 2012 Olympics. It is now owned by Eton College, has an impressive arboretum set in a nature reserve, and remarkably is open to the public. We have spent many an afternoon there wandering around the extensive reserve with its wonderful view of Windsor Castle some miles in the distance.

In Windsor we’re heading for the EA mooring opposite the castle, a small mooring just large enough for a boat of our size, which is much sought after and virtually impossible to get in the summer, but this time of year we have no problem and spent the night there. Its a good mooring, spoilt only by the aircraft coming and going into Heathrow, I swear you can almost see the crew in the cockpit. The noise is deafening but thankfully they aren’t allowed to fly at night, much to the relief of the residents, the Royal family included, although I am told that when they are in residence the planes are diverted.

Our journey next morning would take us down as far as Sunbury where again there is good mooring just the other side of the lock. Not easy to find if you’ve not been there before. On exiting the lock you have to make a 180 degree turn to the left and the mooring is on the right, opposite the boatyard. We like to overnight here, it's a quiet mooring and it will make life easy tomorrow, when we hope to moor outside Hampton Court. To get there we have to pass through Moseley lock, but before we do that we will use the facilities, take on water and dispose of our rubbish. Hampton Court moorings are just after the lock so we will moor there for a couple of days, again, a very popular mooring but we will be okay at this time of year. There is a charge but it's well worth it. Apart from the palace there is Home Park the old hunting ground of Henry VIII, a great place to spend an afternoon wondering around and spotting the deer. Kingston on Thames is a short distance from the moorings and normally we would make a visit, but we decide to start the journey up river to Oxford from here. There is not much to see beyond this point and its only a short cruise to Teddington, the end of the non-tidal Thames and our licence area.

After a couple of nights we decide its time to leave and it's a bright and sunny April morning when we set off, without a firm plan in mind, apart from getting to Oxford around the first of May. There are many favourite places along the way and we will make lots of stops, we know the best moorings and where to stock up on food, water, diesel etc. We will just 'go with the flow', not the best phrase as we will actually be going against the flow, but you know what I mean. That's the beauty of this lifestyle, compensation for the long, wet winters we have to endure. We spend our first night at the Weybridge moorings, just below Shepperton lock, there is not much to see here, so we often walked the mile or so into Weybridge town centre.

We know the area very well, in fact we spent five months stranded here during the Covid lockdown when the river was closed to traffic in 2020. Actually we were very lucky at that time. We had left the boat in a boatyard at Walton on Thames and visited family and friends back in Sheffield, but the day we arrived back the whole of the country was put into lockdown and the river closed. We had no alternative but to stay put and take advantage of the situation, negotiating a deal which allowed us to stay in the boatyard and use its facilities, including shore power! Anyone who has spent time living on a boat will know what a luxury that is, and indeed we need it more than most. Art Deco has an unusual electrical system, not powered using the usual 12volt leisure batteries as most boats are, but a 48volt system consisting of 24 x 2 volt motive power batteries, which coupled to an inverter, gives us masses of 240volt electricity. Enough to power an oven, hob, microwave, dishwasher and washing machine, plus mains plug sockets throughout the boat. As an extra bonus it means we have no need for any gas on board. We have a 12 volt circuit that powers just the cabin lights and water pumps. The beauty of the system is that we are able to have domestic appliances throughout the boat, the downside is that we needed to run the engine to charge the batteries. This is not normally a problem as we are ‘continuous cruises’, cruising most days, but lockdown was an unknown and no one had any idea how long it would last, certainly not 5 months. We considered ourselves lucky compared to what some people had to endure, we were ‘self isolated’ on board and we had Walton town centre just a short walk away with all its facilities.

We like walking, in fact we have walked most of the Thames path, not all in on go, but in stages. Whenever we moored for a few days we would explore the area, not just the riverside but inland as well. Its amazing the places you find hidden away and it was one of the most enjoyable parts of our lifestyle.

We had no desire to stay, so early the next morning we were off, planning to pass through Windsor and moor overnight at Runnymede, another favourite place of ours. There are National Trust moorings on the left bank by the meadows, and we try and spend time here whenever we are passing, but it can get very busy in the summer, so we take advantage and are moored up before lunch. In the afternoon we walk across the meadow to the Magna Carta memorial. It’s in a lovely setting surrounded, fittingly, by English Oak Trees and is a very peaceful place. But that's not the only attraction. Sitting nearby are ‘The Jurors’ by the artist Hew Locke, depicting 12 intricately sculptured chairs cast in bronze. Its very difficult to describe in words but we love it. If that wasn’t enough there is another installation about 500 meters away: ‘Writ in Water’ by Mark Wallinger and is a new memorial celebrating the signing of the Magna Carta, again difficult to describe in words, but as the title suggests, it's very reflective. Add to that the John F. Kennedy memorial and the memorial to all those killed in the service of the Royal Air Force, there is lots of culture to be seen by the river at Runnymede.

There is no hurry to set off the next morning, we have no plan just as long as we are heading up river in the direction of Oxford. We stop for lunch at Maidenhead just below the railway bridge, Brunell's iconic brick built structure that never ceases to amaze me. It seems to defy gravity, in fact when it was finished there were people who would not travel over it for fear that it would collapse. It still stands proud today, testament to Victorian ingenuity and engineering. In the afternoon we passed through Boulters lock and on to what we think is the prettiest part of the river, Cliveden reach. With open meadow on the left and steep wooded chalk hills to the right, topped by Cliveden House, it is the classic English river landscape. We have often moored on the tree lined bank below the house and walked into the gardens, there is an entrance that is never manned, but to ease our conscience we always have coffee in the National Trust cafe. Of course Cliveden will be associated by people of a certain age with the Profumo Affair of 1961 and the scandal around it with John Profumo, Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice-Davis. Even so it is a stunning place to visit.

The next morning we set off for Henley on Thames making the short cruise up to Cookham lock. This stretch can be quite difficult if the river is running fast because of a turn sharp to left, needed to get into the lock cut. If you get it wrong you can be in serious trouble and finish up in the trees on the Cliveden side of the river, it happened to us once, so we are extra careful here. We moor by the church and have lunch and take a walk around the village before we set off for Henley, where we have a dinner invitation from Jean and James on ‘La Bouvier’, good friends who are, like us, constant cruisers. They have spent the winter in Henley, along with a few other boats we know, and they love entertaining on their large boat. There will be eight of us for dinner, and as it's the first one of the year there will be much to catch up on. We know from experience that dinner will be a full on roast with all the trimmings and plenty of good wine accompanied by a few gin and tonics. They are the perfect hosts, the drinks flow and conversation is convivial. We discuss our plans and Jean and James, along with Jan and Mike on ‘Afterglow’ decide to tag along for their first cruise of the year. I don’t like to travel in convoy, its too restricting, so we arrange to meet at Iffley lock moorings in a month's time. We would prefer to meet at Oxford where there are moorings at Osney lock, a short walk from the city centre but it's just not practical, we would struggle to moor 3 large boats on the limited moorings there. At Iffley there is a long stretch of visitor moorings and we know we would have no problem mooring all 3 boats together.

Over the following weeks we slowly make our way towards Oxford, catching up along the way with the lock keepers and hearing the latest river gossip, reacquainting ourselves with the riverside towns and villages we love so much. Staying a few nights here and there, sometimes longer if we find something particularly interesting to see or do. By early June we have reached Abingdon, a pleasant town that is very welcoming to boaters. We moor by the abbey gardens and spend 2 nights here, it's a very pleasant town and good place to replenish the larder. After a relaxing couple of days we are fully stocked and set off once again, up through Abingdon lock, where we have a good old chat with the lock keeper and volunteer, two of the friendliest people we know on the river. There are facilities here so we fill up with water and dispose of our recycling and general rubbish before heading off for our next overnight stop at Iffley lock.

We arrive at Iffley on Saturday lunchtime, ‘La Bouvier’ and ‘Afterglow’ are already there and we are able to moor in front of them. As luck would have it there is a bit of a music festival tonight, advertised as ‘A Mayday Festival’ in the field behind the pub, nothing grand, just a couple of local musicians. I quickly check the calendar on my phone, today is the 30th of April, we have arrived on the actual day we planned way back in March! It's a beautiful afternoon so Joyce decides to invite our friends on board for a buffet and a few drinks before we go to the pub. We are sat on the back of our boat chatting, drinking and eating, enjoying each others company when the music starts up, so we stroll over and join the small crowd already gathered and enjoy the music, which is mainly acoustic folk, and fits very well with the idyllic setting. The pub is unusual in the fact that it has no road access, the only way to get here is either by the towpath or river and because of this it is popular with walkers and cyclists who come down from Oxford, and of course boaters who have a good, safe stretch of moorings. The flip side is that it's impossible for delivery vans to get here, so there is no draught beer, larger or cider, it all comes in bottles, but it's a small price to pay for the atmosphere. It's defiantly a summer pub, almost all the customers sit outside and enjoy the surroundings, the inside, which could be best described as “shabby chic”, reflecting this. Never the less it's probably the best place we know on the river to while away a summer evening. We have a very pleasant time, it's a good crowd and the music is surprisingly good; every one is in a relaxed mood enjoying the perfect combination of weather and location. We chat to fellow boaters and locals alike, everyone is very friendly and welcoming, not like some pubs on the river that seem to view boaters as a lower class, the phrase ‘water gypsies’ often heard, but not here.

The music finishes around 10.30, and folks start drifting away, our little party included. As usual we discuss whose boat to go back to for a night cap but decide instead to make an early start in the morning for Oxford, reasoning that if we reach the moorings at Osney by mid-morning there is a chance we will all get moored. Its a fact that our lifestyle, spent mainly outdoors, and maybe also our age, means we are always glad to get to our beds, usually well before midnight, and indeed tonight is no exception. We bid goodnight to our friends and step aboard Art Deco, open the back doors and reach for the light switch just inside, press, and nothing happens, the fuse must have blown. It's dark on the towpath, but we have left a 240 volt light on in the saloon at the front of the boat so I am able to see enough to find a torch. We have a 240 volt mirror in the bathroom and also bedside lamps in the sleeping cabin so I decide to sort out the cabin lights in morning, it will be easier in the daylight.

Joyce gets ready for bed while I take the torch and go back outside to check that the mooring ropes are secure and everything is shipshape and Bristol fashion. I like to have a walk around before locking up for the night, a habit formed when we were on the canals in and around London. The whole atmosphere there was different to the Thames, more ‘edgy’ and the towpath could get busy in the evenings. It's very quiet here though, not surprising, given its remote location, the pub is closed and all the revellers have long since gone. In fact it''s a lovely evening so I sit on the back deck and enjoy the moment. There is a mist beginning to form, the moon is full and the stars, twinkling in the heavens, giving an almost magical quality to the night. I find myself reflecting on the coming day, Mayday, a festival that has fascinated me ever since I first saw the ‘Wicker Man’ film some 40 odd years ago. In pagan times it was seen as a time of death and rebirth; death of the cold dark winter and rebirth of spring, mother nature waking from her deep sleep. I think about our lifestyle and how similar it is to the natural world, we are metaphorically waking up from our winter confinement and looking forward to spring and the better weather. It's so quiet and peaceful, just the occasional call of an owl or the ‘plop’ of something entering the river, a swan glides past, closely followed by 4 cygnets, no doubt looking for a safe place to roost for the night. I need to go to roost too so I take one last look around, thinking how lucky we are to be here at this moment in time, climb down into the boat and lock the doors for the night.

Joyce is already in bed and I soon join her and begin to drift off as soon as my head hits the pillow. I am at the point where I’m not fully awake nor fast asleep, when Joyce shakes me quite violently and whispers: Dave, Dave wake up, there’s someone on the boat. I am quickly awake and lay for a few seconds before I hear the noise that’s frightened Joyce, a loud metallic rattle and realise that something or someone is at the back doors. It stops suddenly and all is quiet, just the sound of Joyce’s heavy breathing. The adrenaline kicks in and I am out of bed in a flash, out into the galley and hit the light switch, nothing, and immediately remember the blown fuse. I’m quickly up the back steps, unlock the doors and throw them open without a second thought. What greets me is a complete surprise, a figure calmly sat on the rear deck, hands folded on the knees, looking directly into my eyes. For a moment I stand there transfixed, trying to process what I’m seeing. A hooded woman dressed in black, not old, but not young, with a kind smiling face, and piercing stare. She lifts her hands and offers them to me, saying in a clear voice: “would you like some scones?”. For a moment I’m confused, not knowing if or how to reply, so in panic I just shout no! and slam the doors closed. I stand on the steps trying to make sense of what’s happening, eventually coming to my senses, I feel I should engage with her, but on opening the doors find she’s gone. I quickly climb on to the back deck but there's no one there. I look up and down the towpath but there’s not a soul in sight. From the deck I have an elevated view and can see a good way, about 100 metres in each direction, the moon is full, giving off just enough light, and the mist just hangs over the river, but there's no one in sight. Anyone familiar with Iffley lock will know the towpath is dead straight in each direction with no paths leading on or off, quite simply the lady has vanished. This is very weird, it can have only been a matter of seconds from closing the doors to opening them again, no time for anyone to even climb off the boat. I go back to join Joyce in the cabin and immediately she asks who it was that I was talking to. I explain to her the events and say that I must have imagined it, but says she distinctly heard a female voice talking to me. Both of us are very confused, if only I hadn’t panicked but had gone and sat and talked to her, we are sure there would have been a rational reason for her being on our boat, but maybe she knew what my reaction would be. We talk about it for a while, and I wonder if my fascination with Mayday has any significance, but we dismiss that, there is nothing to be done and we are tired so we drift off to sleep.

In the light of day we still have no logical answer, but decide to put it to one side and get on with the day. We meet up with our friends, and relate the nights events. It's soon dismissed by them as a figment of my imagination fuelled by alcohol, so we let it go, but Joyce and myself know better. They plan to turn around and head down river but we decide to cruise up to Oxford and stay overnight at Osney lock. We like the city, the architecture is stunning, ‘the city of dreaming spires’ is an apt description and it's so vibrant, helped no doubt by the students and tourists, a pleasant change after the quiet villages and towns down river. We get a space at Osney, just above the lock, get the boat moored up and have lunch before walking the short distance in to the city, spending the afternoon soaking up the atmosphere. I’m in daydream mode walking round, it’s impossible to visit Oxford without thinking of Inspector Morse, but its more than that, I can’t get the image of the hooded lady and last night's events out of my mind. What’s troubling me most is I think she spoke again just as I slammed shut the doors, it’s been praying on my mind all day. The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that I heard her shout “leave this boat” or words to that effect. The strange thing though is that we have been having conversations over the last month or so about selling the boat and moving back on to dry land.

We have had 7 great years with Art Deco, we conceived, designed and commissioned her and I was involved at every stage, from the shell being delivered to her launch on the Grand Union canal at Watford. The problem is that we are not getting any younger and we want to choose when to leave, rather than waiting for the time when we have to leave. Added to that we have our first grandchild back up north and we want to be involved and see her grow up. I can’t help wondering if last night’s event, either real or imaginary, was a warning, fate intervening to help us decide our future.

We stay a couple more nights on the mooring at Osney, we want to sample the delights of the Perch, a well known watering hole about a mile upstream, a lovely walk by the river. It’s one of our favourite pubs, and features in a few Morse episodes. The beer is good, by southern standards anyway, and they do a great lunch, served, if the weather's right, in the garden overlooking the river. Conversation inevitably falls on the hooded lady, but the more we talk about it, the less it seems to make sense. We decide the best course of action is to forget the whole thing. We vow never again to discuss it between ourselves, and to this day we have kept that vow. Not that others have done the same though. Over the next few weeks as we cruise down river we are teased extensively, especially by the lock keepers who know us. It seems our friends have been talking, taking every opportunity to tell the tale, no doubt elaborating and expanding at each telling. It soon becomes clear that everyone on the river knows the story, because thats what it has become, a story, not just any story but a ghost story. A strange tale of an elderly couple who had too much to drink one night and saw a ghost. We take it all in good spirit, pardon the pun, and laugh along, but we know the truth, and to this day I know what I saw and heard that night, I did not imagine it, it was real.

Over the following weeks, as we slowly make our way down river, I can’t forget the night at Iffley lock, although I try hard to put it out of my mind. I would go days not thinking about it, but suddenly, for no reason, it would jump into my mind and I get a chill run down my spine. Could the hooded lady be somehow haunting me, not manifesting herself in person, but getting to me through my subconscious, haunting my mind. I dwell on the last words I heard her say “leave this boat” they go round and round in my head, like when you hear a song on the radio with a catchy chorus and you're humming it for the rest of the day. Of course I don’t mention any of this to Joyce, as far as she is concerned its forgotten, and I want to keep it that way. The whole incident seems personal, something only between me and the hooded lady, almost like an illicit affair you want to keep secret. I like to think that I’m normally a very rational, level headed person, but I have to admit the whole thing is getting to me; it's becoming an obsession and I think the only way to end it is to give the hooded lady exactly what she wants, for me to leave the boat.

We carry on our discussions about selling the boat and after weighing up the pros and cons decide that the time has come. Apart from what I mentioned earlier, other factors seem to be pointing us in that direction. In the five years we have been cruising the Thames, river life has changed considerably, and not for the better. The funding that the Environment Agency gets for maintenance of the river and its facilities has been cut to the bone. Consequently that shortfall has to be replaced and it falls to boaters to do that. The licence fee has increased and the facilities are not maintained, so when something breaks down it is not fixed. The number of lock keepers has dropped, when we first came onto the river virtually every lock was manned, sadly that is not the case now. The river does not feel as friendly a place anymore and we think it's time to go.

We contact a brokerage in the Reading area and make plans for the sale of Art Deco, and prepare to become ‘landlubbers’ once again, a sad time for both of us, but we knew when we started on this adventure it would not be forever. We agree to have the boat onto the sales mooring by September, giving us a month or so of cruising and time to say goodbye to everyone we have met on the river, be it lock keepers or fellow boaters. It's fitting that we should spend the last weeks aboard Art Deco retracing our well known steps, heading down river to Hampton Court, then back to Oxford before leaving her for one last time at Reading. This way we will see as many friends as is possible and share a few drinks with them for one last time and say goodbye.

It's a couple of days into our final cruise when I realise I have not thought about the hooded lady, not once has she entered my mind, the first time it has happened since that fateful night at Iffley lock some four months ago. Has the ghost finally been exorcised, has she achieved her goal? For some unknown reason I think she has. I have a feeling that a large heavy load has been lifted off my shoulders, my spirt has lightened and I am looking forward to the future and a new chapter in our life. Little did I know that the next chapter would be more life changing than the last.

On the morning of March 18th 2023, after eighteen months on dry land I suffered a stroke while at home in Sheffield. I was rushed into the Royal Hallamshire hospital in the city by emergency ambulance. Fortunately the hospital was able to perform a procedure that dissolves the blood clot and I was spared the full effects of the stroke. I say fortunately because not all hospitals have the specialist equipment or clinical staff to carry out the procedure, which has to be completed within an hour of the event happening. Had I been on Art Deco, it would have been impossible to do so within the time frame, given the remote locations we often found ourselves in. Due to the experienced hospital team who treated me and the subsequent rehabilitation, the effects I suffered are limited.

I like to think that the hooded lady helped me ‘to dodge a bullet’ so as to speak.