my nomadic life
finding my why (and what and how...)
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.